| | The Business Immigration Monthly is Hammond Law Group’s news eZine, directed at international workers and employers seeking the most up-to-date news on U.S. immigration issues, specifically those that impact workers on H, L, E, and O visas and workers seeking permanent residency. News items will be of particular interest to those in the Healthcare, IT and staffing industries.
Featured Article
A Diagnosis for Disaster: Physician Shortages in the United States & Why You Should Care about Health Care Reform
Written by Katie Jacob, Attorney
http://www.hammondlawfirm.com/monthly/featured-article-november-2009.pdf
December Visa Bulletin
The Department of State has released the December Visa Bulletin here: http://www.travel.state.gov/visa/frvi/bulletin/bulletin_4587.html
Unfortunately, there is not much movement to report. EB3 India moved forward to May 1, 2001, all other categories remained unchanged.
Updated H-1B Numbers for FY 2010 H-1B Cap
As of November 6, 2009, approximately 54,700 H-1B cap-subject petitions and approximately 20,000 petitions qualifying for the advanced degree cap exemption had been filed. Any H1-B petitions filed on behalf of an alien with an advanced degree will now count toward the general H1-B cap of 65,000. USCIS will continue to accept both cap-subject petitions and advanced degree petitions until a sufficient number of H-1B petitions have been received to reach the statutory limits, taking into account the fact that some of these petitions may be denied, revoked, or withdrawn. There are some that are predicting the cap will be reached at the end of this year, if not early next year.
http://www.uscis.gov/
Napolitano's First Speech on Immigration Reform
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano made her first speech on immigration reform to the Center for American Progress (CAP) on November 13th. In this speech, the Secretary not only expressed support for a comprehensive overhaul of our immigration systems, she emphasized that it was imperative for the security of the United States. She remarked, “at the Department of Homeland Security, we need reform to do our job of enforcing the law and keeping our country secure. Over the past ten months, we’ve worked to improve immigration enforcement and border security within the current legal framework. But the more work we do, the more it becomes clear that the laws themselves need to be reformed.” This stance is a dramatic shift for the DHS that used to look at reform solely through a national security lens to now looking at reform by capitalizing on our history as a nation of immigrants. Secretary Napolitano commented on the increased participation in the immigration debate across the American public, “We are seeing more business leaders and more labor leaders engage in this debate in a constructive way than we have ever seen before. These constituencies have all arrived at the same conclusion that prevails among the American people: this is a problem that needs to be fixed- and the best way to ensure that we can uphold our laws is to make sure our laws are rational and enforceable.”
http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/speeches/sp_1258123461050.shtm
Slowdown in Job Losses...Possible Growth in 2010?
Recent reports suggest a possible stabilization in the labor market as October experience the slowest reduction in jobs in more than a year. In October, private employers shed 203,000 jobs, nearly 24,000 less than that which was lost in September (these numbers come from the ADP National Employment Report). “A slowdown in job losses boosts the chances that job growth could appear in early 2010,” reports Reuters. They make this estimate carefully though, taking note that the labor market is still “fragile”. Economists are also cautiously hopeful for the future after seeing slowdowns in both job loss, payroll shrinkage, and planned layoffs. “The US job market will likely grow early next year as the unemployment rate peaks about 10 percent,” predicts Macroeconomic Adviser chairman Joel Prakken. Prakken expects full US employment, however, to not be achieved until the year 2014.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/
USCIS to Temporarily Accept Uncertified LCAS
In an effort to deal with the many problems being encountered by the new icert Department of Labor LCA portal, including a delay in processing of the LCAs, the USCIS has announced for a period of 120 days it will temporarily accept H-1B petitions filed without a certified LCA. This 120 day period commenced November 5, 2009 and will end March 4, 2010. The USCIS will only accept H-1B petition without certified LCAs if they are filed at least 7 calendar days after the LCA was filed with the DOL and only if evidence of this filing is included in the petition. These cases will later be issued an RFE requesting that the certified LCA be submitted within 30 days. Only H-1B petitions containing a certified LCA will be approved.
http://www.uscis.gov/
Don't Drive Away Talent
In a recent Wall Street Journal article entitled “Immigrant Scientists Create Jobs and Win Nobels,” author Susan Hockfield comments on the need to keep our immigration policies flexible and open to young scholars settling into the US. “Graduate and postgraduate student immigrants are essential to creating new, well-paid jobs in our economy,” writes Hockfield, “To be competitive, the U.S. needs to send the unmistakable message that we want scholars to stay.” Hockfield suggest a new broad immigration policy be implemented to allow foreign students earning degrees in science, technology, engineering or math to easily become permanent residents. She further suggests that homegrown talent be aggressively pursued, “In education, the world is accelerating while we are standing still…To be part of that global creative network we must inspire more young Americans to pursue scientific careers, and we must rapidly reform U.S. immigration policies that drive away talented young scholars who would otherwise decide to live, work and innovate here.” http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704322004574477700761571592.html
Did You Know?
In this new section, each month HLG will be sharing a basic rules and regulations that both employers who hire nonimmigrant workers and employees who are on nonimmigrant visas should know.
Did you know?
When you terminate an H-1B employee prior to the end date on their H-1B petition, the Department of Labor looks for three things to consider it a valid termination:
- Did you inform the employee of the termination?
- Did you request the USCIS to withdraw the H-1B petition?
- Did you offer the employee return transportation to his/her home country?
|
|
