Immigration Visa Attorney Blog

Here is some of the most recent information regarding the controversy surrounding Indian IT giant Infosys. The actions of a large company based overseas may not initially seem relevant to the average employer or worker here in Columbus, but the way Infosys may or may not have manipulated the U.S. immigration systems could certainly have ramifications at home.

In May an attorney employed by Infosys named Jack Palmer Jr. filed a civil suit alleging his superiors at the company tried to get him to circumvent U.S. regulations regarding visas. Additionally, Palmer claimed that when he informed his employer of illegal activity it did nothing to correct the problem.

The result of Palmer coming forward is that federal prosecutors are currently assembling a case against Infosys. So far Infosys has not publicly responded to the charges, though it denied Palmer's claims in court filings. Late last month the company filed a motion compelling arbitration in the case, the result of which would be to have the case heard behind closed doors.

In his suit Palmer alleges that Infosys wanted him to help them "creatively" navigate around restrictions put in place to make acquiring H-1B visas more time-consuming. According to Palmer Infosys made the decision to use B-1 visas - easier to obtain but used primarily for shorter visits - to game the system.

Infosys, Palmer says, asked him to write letters on behalf of the workers to be used in the B-1 application process. In those letters he was to state the employees were only visiting for short periods of time, when the truth was they had full-time employment waiting in the U.S.

Palmer refused to write the letters, after which he says he was told he was "not being 'a team player.'"

Continue reading "Columbus, OH Attorney Updates the Infosys Investigation" »

The U.S. Open golf tournament took place last month at Congressional Country Club just outside of Washington D.C. It is considered among the most prestigious tournaments in the world. This year it also had a connection to the world of immigration.

While we don't imagine many among our readership are members of the PGA tour, we thought those here in the local community would appreciate a story about the hurdles everyone has to jump through.

Robert Rock, a professional golfer from England, qualified for the tournament two weeks prior to the event, which began play on June 16. But traveling to Bethesda, MD for the event meant Rock would have to acquire a visa.

And though he started the process on May 30, a driving-under-the-influence offense committed as a teenager would delay the proceedings for 34-year old Rock and create one of the tournament's more interesting sub-plots.

After winning the Italian Open on June 12 (the first victory of his career), Rock found he was not approved to travel and couldn't fly from Turin to the U.S. So instead he flew back to London. In England he met with U.S. immigration officials, approximately 72-hours before his tee time at the Open.

Rock's visa was finally approved at about 4pm on Wednesday, meaning he had approximately 22 hours to get himself to the states or lose his place in the field. The golfer was complimentary of the U.S., saying afterwards he thought "(The US Embassy) rushed it through as fast as realistically you can do . . . they did a great job for me."

Continue reading "Professional Golfer Faced Visa Struggles to Play American Tournament" »

Recently the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) rolled out a new program it hopes will help improve delivery of some documents related to the immigration process. Obviously this could prove to be a significant upgrade for anybody in the local community who deals with the department in an official and time-sensitive capacity.

In a May 2 memo the USCIS said it had put in place what it calls a "Secure Mail Initiative" (SMI). The SMI will take advantage of the Priority Mail with delivery confirmation option within the U.S. Postal Services (USPS).

The USCIS has essentially partnered with the USPS in an effort to allow customers the ability to keep on top of the status of paperwork critical to travel and employment authorization.

Permanent Resident cards (green cards), Employment Authorization (EADs) and Advance Parole can all now be tracked through the SMI. Obviously timely receipt of green cards and EADs will be very important to some of our readers.

The USCIS highlighted two key benefits in its memo:

-Tracking the status of documents with USPS tracking information.

-Increases in the speed documents are received by the USCIS. The memo said that "on average, documents sent through USPS Priority Mail should arrive two to four business days sooner than with first-class mail."

A signature is not required for SMI delivery, so it will still be possible for a piece of mail to be lost - only the delivery of the package or envelope is recorded. But given that the USPS keeps a record of each delivery, the USPS's customer service can be utilized for inquiries.

The USCIS said that customers who receive an approval notice (Form I-797) should contact its Customer Service Center and request tracking information for their particular documents.They will then be given their most recent delivery status and a tracking number. Their document can then be monitored on the USPS's website, usps.com.

Continue reading "USCIS Unveils 'Secure Mail' Initiative" »

Readers of this blog are aware Shihab & Associates supports reforming immigration, specifically lifting the cap on visa programs like H-1B. We feel the United States and its economy will benefit in numerous ways from the addition of more of these kinds of skilled workers.

A component of the visa debate that seems to get less discussion has to do with the families the workers bring to the U.S. To that end, the nonprofit National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP) released a policy brief last month entitled: "The Impact of the Children of Immigrants on Scientific Achievement in America."

The brief focused on the Intel Science Talent Search, a 69-year old research competition that allows high school seniors to present original scientific research. Each year a small group of students are chosen as finalists, with the top-three awarded prizes totaling more than $225,000.

NFAP found that "while only 12 percent of the U.S. population is foreign-born, 70 percent of the finalists in the 2011 (Intel competition) were the children of immigrants." Additionally, 60 percent of the 40 finalists were children of parents who entered the country on H-1B visas, despite former H-1B holders making up less than one percent of the country's population.

China was the country of origin for 16 of the finalists, with ten hailing from India, one from Iran and one from South Korea. The information came from a series of interviews and follow-up interviews conducted by NFAP.

Continue reading "Study Shows Children of Immigrants Among America's Brightest." »

Sam Shihab & Associates would like to wish everyone a happy and safe 4th of July holiday.

This is another interesting decision handed down recently by the Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals (BALCA). In May the Department of Labor's appeals arm handled a case which spoke to the importance of clearly providing evidence for why local recruitment efforts came up short. For our friends in and around Columbus it is yet another instance of why expert counsel is so critical in the employment certification process.

In September of 2007 a company filed an Application for Alien Employment Certification for a position titled "Software Engineer." According to the Employer, the position required a Master's degree in Computer Science and either two years experience in the specific job offered or a "suitable combination of education, training, or experience."

Later that year a Certifying Officer (CO) issued an audit that requested all recruitment documentation, including a report required by the Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.). The response from the Employer stated that two candidates were evaluated for the position. But based on the resumes submitted, their experience with respect to key web-related software "indicated a serious gap in the skill sets required to meet the goals and objectives of the company."

In September of 2009 the Employer's request was denied by the CO on five separate grounds. The CO felt the recruitment report made only a "generalized statement" about the U.S. workers not meeting the position's minimum requirements. A failure to include an "unaltered" copy of the notice of filing, wage determination and web advertisement was listed, as were three cases where the Employer's paperwork was inconsistent or lacking a requisite piece of information.

In October the Employer requested reconsideration. With that request the Employer attached an amended report explaining its rejections of the two U.S. candidates, as well as information clearing up the issues with its paperwork.

And while in June of 2010 the CO found the information regarding wage determination and job order to be acceptable, they still did not find the recruitment report met C.F.R. standards. The CO stated it did not even consider the amended recruitment report.

Continue reading "BALCA: Local Recruiting and Labor Certification" »