06/15/2004 IMMIGRATION ALERT
AILA ROUNDUP 2004

 

In keeping with an annual tradition, Hammond Law Group's Immigration Alerts presents its post-AILA annual conference, "AILA Roundup":

GENERAL IMMIGRATION

There have been 3,000 appeals at the AAO on the issue of ability to pay on I-140 Petitions for Alien Worker.

PERM is coming soon. As to when? .....no one is too sure. We're optimistically projecting that the new regulation will be published this summer and the regulation will "go live" four months later.

The CIS Commissioner is expected to execute a regulation which will allow F-1's and J-1's caught in the H-1b cap to remain in status during the cap.

The Department of State is expected to discontinue the Visa Reissuance process. Currently nonimmigrants may send in their passports for new passports in a process outlined here: http://www.hammondlawfirm.com/visa_issuance_step_by_step.htm.

 

Forthcoming biometric necessities will demand that nonimmigrants present to overseas US Consulates, thus necessitating the shut-down of the domestic program.

The average processing time for I-485 Adjustments of Status is 33 months.
It appears likely that Employment Authorization Document (EAD) validity dates will be for the duration of the process.

There will be new customer service initiatives introduced at the CSC (California Service Center).

The J-1 Waiver Review Division indicated several initiatives to further improve efficiency, including automation of the Waiver number application process. They have already reduced processing of No Objection waivers from 16 weeks to 4 weeks and Advisory opinions from 8 weeks to 2 weeks.
 

It is expected that the DOL's Labor Certification Backlog Reduction Centers will be on-line by August 2004. This could dramatically reduce the lengthy processing times.

LEGISLATION

AILA is set to testify before Congress on the effects that CIS delays are having on foreign nationals.

The L-1 bill proposed by Sen. Chambliss (R-Ga) may come up for vote this summer. See: http://www.nfap.net/researchactivities/globalsourcing/federalBills/s1635.pdf

 
There is no H-1 cap expansion bill on the horizon. Any H-1 bill will likely not raise the cap, per se, but will expand the cap through carve-out provisions (e.g. all US Master degreed professionals are cap exempt).

The Dream Act likely to be passed this year. See: http://feinstein.senate.gov/03Releases/r-dreamact.htm

HEALTHCARE

CGFNS is quoting 35-50 days to approve nurse cases after the file is complete.

A CGFNS computer based exam in the works.

Physicians in the the Delta Regional Authority may have some extra avenues of immigration, as the DRA has formally begun its J-1 Visa Waiver program on May 17, 2004. The program appears "user-friendly" and promising. It had been operating as a pilot program for the last year and a half and allows for the sponsoring of physicians who agree to provide primary care for three years in certain areas of eight state region (Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Arkansas, Tenn, Kentucky, Missouri and Illinois).