Congress passes $600 Million Border Bill

Congress today passed legislation to strengthen security along the border with Mexico. It now goes to President Barack Obama, who had requested the $600 million the measure provides and is expected to sign it into law. The money will fund some 1,500 new border patrol agents, customs inspectors and other law enforcement officials along the southwestern border, as well as two more unmanned aerial "drones" to monitor border activities.Congress' speedy approval of the border security funds marked a rare display of bipartisanship in the hot-button immigration debate. More on this here.

Immigration Chief vows to fix problems at California Service Center

For those of us practicing in SoCal, the problem of repetitive, unduly burdensome and sometimes overreaching Requests for Evidence is nothing new. Now, it seems that enough complaints have reached Congress to trigger a promise by USCIS Head Alejandro Mayorkas to take steps to resolve the situation.

Requests for Evidence (known as RFEs) are formal written requests sent by USCIS officers after a visa application has been filed, if after review they realize the application is either missing some supporting documents or needs clarification. For example, if you file a marriage petition, the USCIS may request additional documents asking for proof that you are cohabiting or that you are commingling your finances or what not. For employment visas, the USCIS may ask for additional evidence that the employer has the financial ability to pay the prospective employee (tax returns, payrolls, etc), or that the employee is qualified for the position (degrees, letters of experience etc).

RFEs are great if used appropriately. Rather than incurring the waste of time and money in rejecting a visa application, the USCIS cashes the filing fee, gives it a case number and a priority date (very important) and then allows the person to supplement whatever is missing.

The problem is that in practice, those of us who are in the private bar, have seen too many RFEs, particularly in the employment visa category, that demonstrate the officer has either not looked at the application or else is deliberately trying to stall the processing. This is particularly egregious when you pay an extra couple of thousand dollars in a premium processing fee to ensure that your application is processed faster and more efficiently. I can't tell you how many responses I had to write back beginning with the sentence "The evidence requested has already been attached to the initial filing application, please see Exhibit Tabs A, B, C etc."

As I wrote in an earlier blog, these types of undue delay can jeopardize a job particularly if the job is time sensitive. Foreign actors, or musicians, hired for a particular concert or theatrical performance, cannot afford to miss their scheduled appearance without causing significant financial backlash.

To be fair, I think the problem is not that the officers are lazy or incompetent. Actually I have always believed and always stated that they are overworked and underpaid. Naturally, they then try to shift their incredible burden onto the customer. I hope that Mr. Mayorkas and Congress can recognize that the first step in improving procedures at the California Service Center and other particularly busy centers is to hire more and train better. If they cannot spend more money, at least rearrange the budget to fill these needs. You can read more about this issue in the Los Angeles Times here.

New online case status tool for USCIS customers

USCIS announced the launch of a new online inquiry tool designed to expand users’ access to their case information. Say for example, if you filed your application for citizenship months ago, and there has been an unusual delay in obtaining results. In Los Angeles, it used to be that you would have to stand in a long line going around the block at the crack of dawn and then wait several more hours inside the office before you could speak to an officer. Then, a few years ago, USCIS started offering online appointments through INFOPASS so clients or their attorneys could come in at set times to make their case status inquiry, thus eliminating a lot of delay. While at the beginning, this INFOPASS system did improve some time delays, recently, it is back to business as usual, with some case inquiries taking up to 4 hours, even if you asked for the earliest appointment slot available. Hoping that with this new tool, which gives more information than previous online case inquiry tools, there will be less of a need to make in person inquiries. This would save time and resources not only for the public and attorneys but for the already over-extended USCIS officers. More information can be found at the USCIS official website here.

10,000 U visas approved

The Los Angeles Times reports that USCIS has reached the 10,000 cap on U visas for the first time since it began implementing them in 2008. U visas provide a path to citizenship for nonimmigrant victims of certain specified major crimes.

The first eligibility requirement for U nonimmigrant status is that the alien must have suffered substantial physical or mental abuse as a result of having been a victim of one of the crimes considered by USCIS to be "qualifying."

The second requirement is that the crime must be on a list of activities that violate Federal, State, or local criminal law – from murder, rape, torture, sexual exploitation, and extortion to witness tampering, obstruction of justice, false imprisonment, etc. This is not an exclusive list – in fact, the list of qualifying crimes represents the myriad types of behavior that can constitute domestic violence, sexual abuse, trafficking, or other crimes which vulnerable immigrants are often targeted.

Third, the petitioners must obtain certification from law enforcement that they have cooperated with the authorities to identify and prosecute the criminals who targeted them.

Before U visas were available, I remember certain clients with horrific circumtsances who would have greatly benefited from this type of visa. Just to give one example, without revealing too much of course, one case involved a woman who was trafficked into the country as a child, repeatedly raped, beaten, and kept under locks, before she was able to escape. She did seek out law enforcement and a restraining order was granted against her abuser though I am not sure if he was ever caught and/or prosecuted. The woman fortunately was able to adjust her status to a lawful permanent resident through other means, although it took years and a full on court case before an Immigration Judge to obtain relief. The fact that the cap was already reached for U visas this year confirms that stories like hers are, unfortunately, all too common.

The Los Angeles Times article can be found here. More information on U visas can be found on the USCIS official website.

USCIS to make reforms in 10 areas

The USCIS has announced on its official website that it has selected 10 areas to conduct internal review and possible reform after an unprecedent survey asking both its own employees and members of the public what issues were the most urgent to them and in need of change. I applaud the efforts of the USCIS to both engage in communication with the general public where it has traditionally been very difficult to address complaints and concerns, and also, to make some efforts to have a consistent policy. How many times have we heard that Officer X handled a certain problem in one way while on a different day, Officer Y said he had no idea what Officer X said and decided to handle it in a different way? Consistency is something that all of us, whether we are federal employees, customers or lawyers, welcome. The results of the USCIS survey can be found here. The USCIS announcemebt about which 10 areas it will review, can be found here.

US companies seek increase on H1B visa cap

A very interesting article from the Arizona Republic details the efforts of various American companies to lobby Congress to raise the cap on H1B visas, which are temporary employment visas for foreign born workers. Statistics show more than 50% of PhDs and Masters degree graduates from American universities are foreign born in fields that are very needed such as engineering, math, etc. H1B visa holders currently represent 0.06% of the American labor force. I remember the days when H1B cap was not an issue as the number of visas issued hardly reached the numbers allowed by Congress each year. After a drastic reduction of more than 50% of the available visa numbers a few years ago, the H1B process became a race with uncertain results, as I spoke about in an earlier blog. The Arizona Republic article can be found here.