Immigration Visa Attorney Blog

Last month a Congressional bill that would have allotted 55,000 permanent resident visas for foreign graduates with STEM degrees was defeated in the House of Representatives. The fate of the bill is particularly interesting because of the window it provides into the current state of immigration legislation in the United States.

Representative Lamar Smith, a Republican from Texas, sponsored the bill, entitled the STEM Jobs Act. The bill provides thousands of green cards for immigrants who receive degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. On that point many in Congress were supportive.

But the fast-tracked measure failed in its vote, 257-158 coming up short of the two-thirds majority needed. The bill received the vote of the entire Republican caucus, along with that of several dozen Democrats.

Continue reading "Green Card Bill for STEM Graduates Fails" »

In recent weeks we've done some blogging about Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, the program similar in many ways to the DREAM Act most people are familiar with. (If you're not up to date on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, please check out THIS POST.)

An interesting component of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals which will begin to play itself out over the upcoming months deals with how qualified candidates will be made aware of the program. Some estimates say more than 1 million immigrants are eligible for Deferred Action. According to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, less than 85,000 have signed up.

That disparity means there are quite a number of immigrants who are unaware they qualify for the two-year deferment. That is literally hundreds of thousands of children, teenagers and younger adults who don't have access to information that could impact their lives significantly.

Continue reading "Getting Creative to Reach DREAM Act Candidates" »

Last month the Brookings Institute released a study on highly skilled immigrant workers and their demand based upon geographic region within the United States. What Brookings found was that the highly coveted STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) workers who make up the majority of H-1B visas are more often finding a home in the Midwest.

Expected tech hubs such as San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Jose are still at the very top in terms of total H-1B requests. But when Brookings looked at the ranking of cities in terms of H-1B requests per 1,000 workers, it found the Midwest is one of the country's up-and-coming hotbed for these visas.

Continue reading "Increasing Demand for H-1B Workers in the Midwest" »

We wanted to make sure you were aware of an interesting piece of legislation that was recently introduced by two members of the U.S. Senate.

In May, Senators Lamar Alexander, a Republican from Tennessee and Chris Coons, a Democrat from Delaware, introduced Senate Bill 3192, which carries the title: "Sustaining our Most Advanced Researchers and Technology (SMART) Jobs Act of 2012.

According to the authors, SB 3192 is designed to create a path for non-citizens who earn a masters or doctoral degree in a STEM field from an American university to remain in the country for up to a year while they search for employment related to their field of expertise. Once they have received employment, they would be eligible for a green card. Additionally, these STEM-specific green cards would not count towards any caps or limits already in place.

Continue reading "Senate Bill 3192" »

In May the Obama administration decided to increase the parameters for Optional Practical Training (OPT) program, significantly increasing the number of fields involved. This is a somewhat significant development, potentially impacting thousands of students across the country.

For those unfamiliar with OPT, it is a temporary employment program connected with Science, Technology, Education and Mathematics (STEM) students in the United States on F-1 visas. OPT allows F-1 visa students to remain in the country and work for an additional 29 months before or after completion of their education.

In 2008 President George W. Bush added a 17-month extension to the program, increasing the maximum length of the visa from 12 months to its current parameters. To be eligible for the extension, the applicant must have received his or her STEM degree and have an employer enrolled in E-Verify.

The big change unveiled last month is that the administration is adding approximately 90 eligible fields to the total pool of OPT, with raises the number to 400. There will be no change to the 29-month limit.

Continue reading "OPT Visa Program Expanded" »

This week the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it had reached the cap for H-1B petitions in FY 2013. Any petitions received by USCIS on or after June 12 will be rejected.

"June 11, 2012, was the final receipt date for new H-1B specialty occupation petitions requesting an employment start date in FY 2013," the USCIS said in a release.

With the cap season opening on April 2, that means the 85,000 (65,000 regular, 20,000 advanced degree) cap number was reached in approximately ten weeks. This is a significant change from FY 2012, which the cap wasn't filled until late November.

A number of factors explain the increase in H-1B interest this fiscal, first and foremost being a slight improvement in the U.S. economy and the resulting boost in hiring. As we've mentioned before in this space, as the country emerges from its slow-down, companies have been deciding to invest in infrastructure and are making H-1B-heavy areas like information technology a priority.

Continue reading "H-1B Cap Reached" »

Speaking last week at the tenth installment of the Wall Street Journal's "All Things Digital Conference" (ATD10), LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner told the audience he thinks H-1B visas need to be relieved of their cap restrictions.

With more than 160 million users worldwide, LinkedIn is the world's largest professional network. More than two million companies have pages on the site. The company has offices around the world and boasts approximately 2,500 full-time employees.

Weiner spoke on the first day of ATD10 alongside LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman. One of the topics addressed was the issue of H-1B visas and his desire that U.S. companies be allowed to bring in more employees from overseas.

Continue reading "Leading Tech CEO says: 'Free the H-1B'" »

Here is a quick update regarding H-1B cap-eligible petitions for fiscal year 2013.

As of the May 4 report, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) had received 32,500 petitions for the 65,000 (regular) cap and 13,7000 petitions for the 20,000 (advanced degree) cap. This is the fifth update of the fiscal year, with petitions having been accepted starting on April 2.

In USCIS' previous (April 27) update, the cap numbers stood at 29,200 for regular petitions and 12,300 for advanced degree petitions.

At this point in FY2013, the numbers indicate that filings are being accepted at a rate of approximately 3,500 per week for the regular cap and 1,300 per week for the advanced degree cap. We believe that this rate should continue for the next month or so.

Continue reading "Update For H-1B Cap-Subject Petitions" »

The Press Trust of India (PTI) is reporting that the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) received 22,000 H-1B applications in the first four days of Fiscal Year 2013.

A spokesperson for USCIS said the government has received "approximately 22,000 H-1B petitions" since FY 2013 began on April 2. The spokesperson emphasized to PTI that the numbers are preliminary.

The 22,000 figure counts petitions filed for both the regular (65,000) and advanced degree (20,000) caps.

This number marks a significant increase in first week H-1B petitions over the past few years. If accurate, 22,000 would be highest number of early applications since 2009, when USCIS received 42,000 during the first week.

Last week the Department of Homeland Security announced that it had designated the nation of Syria for Temporary Protected Status (TPS). This will be in effect for 18 months and will be reviewed again before the end of that period.

Additional details will be forthcoming from Homeland Security as to who qualifies and exactly how to work through the application process. In the meantime this would be an ideal time for Syrians in the Columbus, Ohio area to seek out assistance from an experienced immigration attorney.

Homeland Security uses the TPS designation in situations where conditions in a foreign country make it unsafe for a foreign national to return safely. Cases like civil war and environmental disaster are common reasons the designation is used by the U.S. government. If foreign nationals are found eligible for TPS they can obtain employment authorization (EAD), can be granted traveling privileges and are not removable from the U.S.

In the case of Syria, the concern is over a citizen uprising related to President Bashar al-Assad. According to the United Nations, more than 9,000 people have died since the so-called Arab Spring made its way to the country in 2011. Currently there are concerns about military snipers targeting unarmed civilians including small children.

Continue reading "Syria Granted Temporary Protected Status" »

Mark Warner, a member of the United States Senate from Virginia, says he will look into concerns regarding recent H-1B denials to applicants from India.

Warner is the co-chair of the Senate India Caucus. This month he spent a week in the country as part of a Congressional delegation. During the trip Warner was informed that some Indian companies believe the percentage of H-1B visas denials in their country has been higher than other parts of the world.

Warner said that in response to the concerns he has recently introduced legislation which would examine the U.S. visa issue and take a look at providing green cards to foreign nationals who graduate from American universities and wish to work in the country.

Warner has said he's in favor of removing the caps on H-1B visas and introducing "additional opportunities for Indian H-1Bs."

Continue reading "US Senator To Look at Indian H-1B Denials" »

In a down economy with higher unemployment, it is easy for programs like H-1B to be cast as standing in the way of Americans finding new and higher paying jobs. Our readers here in Columbus, Ohio have heard us challenge that narrative on a number of occasions.

And that is why a recently released study by the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research has the potential to be of significant benefit in terms of public opinion on the issue.

AEI's study contains a number of eye-opening findings, foremost among them that an average of 262 new jobs for Americans can be linked to every 100 foreign-born workers graduating from U.S. universities with advanced degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). The study looked at the eight-year period between 2000 and 2007.

"Immigrants with advanced degrees boost employment for US natives," the report says in its executive summary.

Continue reading "Columbus, OH Attorney: Study Details Benefit of Skilled Immigrants to Job Creation" »

Readers of the blog know that reform with respect to the EB-5 Immigrant Investor and H-1B visa programs are topics we touch on rather frequently. (Entries can be found HERE and HERE.)

Which is why we find a recent speech by Michigan governor Rick Snyder incredibly positive in terms of bringing attention to what those at the state level are seeing. His remarks are especially relevant to our friends in Troy, Michigan, given the importance of job creation in the state.

In an address last week at Delta College, Snyder said he would petition Homeland Security to make permanent the EB-5 program, which is set to expire in September of 2012. "The EB-5 foreign investor program provides international investors the chance to live here by investing in Michigan's economy and creating job," he said.

EB-5 grants permanent U.S. residence to foreign nationals investing at least $1 million into a business that creates or maintains ten jobs. Other components of the program include a $500,000 category for investment in designated areas with high unemployment.

Continue reading "Michigan governor to push for EB-5, H-1B reform" »

A recent report on the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) paints a disturbing picture of the how the organization charged with overseeing lawful immigration in this country operates. We feel it provides some useful insight for our readers and clients in Columbus, Ohio and Troy, Michigan.

In a report dated November 22, auditors from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said that a $1.7 billion project to modernize operations at USCIS has been plagued by unreliability related to cost and planning.

In late 2008 USCIS awarded a technology and services project to IBM that was supposed to "move the agency to a new centralized and consolidated electronic environment that will enable faster, more efficient and accurate immigration benefits determination and processing." The contract was initially given $491.1 million in options for five years.

Continue reading "Columbus, OH attorney on report of USCIS mismanagement" »

We wanted to touch on a national initiative that the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has undertaken to combat fraud related to immigration services provided by non-attorneys.

Malfeasance related to immigration services provided by those not licensed to practice law is a serious issue and it's important our readers are aware of what the government is doing to tackle the problem.

This year the USCIS has launched a program that aggressively targets scam agencies which prey on the immigrant community by promising unrealistic servicers. Unusually fast acquisition of green cards and work permits are offered using email and word mouth, among other means.

The initiative focuses on enforcement and education, along with collaboration with those in the community. USCIS is targeting unauthorized practice of immigration law and is setting up a database to better manage consumer complaints.

Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division of the Department of Justice Tony West said: "This coordinated initiative targets those who prey on immigrant communities by making promises they do not keep and charging for services they are not qualified to provide."

Continue reading "Columbus, OH immigration attorney on the unauthorized practice of law" »