“IMMIGRATION LAW CONNECTION”

Yesterday, President Obama signed into law the Fiscal Year 2010 DHS Appropriations bill (P.L.111-83).
The law extends the non-minister religious worker (section 568), the “Conrad 30″ for J-1 visas (section 568), the EB-5 pilot program for regional center investments (section 548), and the E-Verify (section 547) programs through September 30, 2012.
The bill was previously [...]

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Not too long ago, USCIS made some changes regarding the Optional Practical Training (OPT) for academic students on F-1 status, who are in certain classified fields known as “STEM” (essentially, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).
To read more about STEM and its occupation classifications, please refer to my previous post on this issue.
To qualify for the [...]

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Various sources in the immigration legal communicty suspect that under Obama’s administration, significant changes in worksite enforcement actions are coming. However, it appears that traditional procedures of ICE regarding unauthorized employees (those not legally authorized to hold employment in the United States) are likely to be significantly changed.
Instead of being put into detention and removal [...]

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ICE and SEVIS, who oversee the regulation and monitoring of foreign students and trainees in the United States, have recently published updates to the list of so-called “STEM” occupations.
The updated list of Classifications have been designated by ICE as science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM) degrees for the purpose of approving a 17-month STEM extension [...]

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Some USCIS adjudication officers at local District Offices are apparently beginning to request copies of Forms I-9 from applicants who are applying for their Green Cards, via the process known as “adjustment of status” (from non-immigrant to permanent resident).
The instruction letters sent out by the USCIS (to the clients whose interview appointments at the [...]

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Just last month, when due to ’sunset’, President Bush signed a Bill Extending EB-5 Regional Center Pilot Program and Basic Pilot E-verify Program, making the extensions of each program law of the land.
The FY2009 Continuing Resolution entitled the “Consolidated Security, Disaster Assistance, and Continuing Appropriations Act, 2009″ (H.R. 2638), was narrowly extended, giving a [...]

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At its annual meeting in June, the U.S. Conference of Mayors officially adopted a resolution recognizing the important economic and cultural contributions immigrants have made to this country.
The resolution also called on ICE to exercise better and more reasonable judgment when engaging in worksite enforcement activities.
Read the adopted resolutions here. (offsite)

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DHS Secretary Chertoff addresses Worksite Enforcement in a new DHS Blog. Read what Secretary Chertoff says regarding the increased efforts by DHS and what to expect.
Myth vs. Fact: Worksite Enforcement
Opponents of immigration enforcement continue to propagate mythical objections to the Department’s enforcement efforts. Some have claimed we are unfairly targeting low-level employees and not the [...]

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As part of the ongoing frustrations felt by the U.S. public and immigrants alike, American businesses are feeling the pressures of the Fed, who is taking active steps to beef up worksite enforcement and to curb illegal employment, all with some major immigration reform looming on the horizon, in the wake of the ongoing presidential [...]

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If you have any foreign workers in your business, you must comply with I-9 verification procedures. You should consider a voluntary records audit to ensure compliance. Ask me how. … An audit by the Labor Dept. or ICE is not a good time to find out flaws in your employees’ records.

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