This morning, Donald Neufeld, Associate Director for the USCIS, testified before the House Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement on "H-1B Visas: Designing a Program to Meet the Needs of the U.S. Economy and U.S. Workers."
As I explained in an earlier blog, H1B visas are temporary visas for foreign workers to work in the United States for a certain period of time. They do not lead to permanent resident status or citizenship, and there are a limited number of visas for a great many applicants, forcing every petitioner to rush their applications before the visa numbers are exhausted, and they are exhausted very quickly each year.
The Associate Director explains procedural requirements to petition for an H1B visa, talks about Requests for Evidence (RFEs) which many petitioners and attorneys have complained about being repetitive and unduly burdensome (concerns that Neufeld dismisses) and also talks about fraud-prevention measures, including surprise on-site visits, that resulted in approximately 13%-14% of fraudulent petitions that were revoked.
The entire testimony can be read here.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Immigration Attorney sentenced to 17 years for corruption
In my practice, I often get clients from so called "developing" nations sometimes referred to as "third world" countries where government corruption is high. Actually, it is a daily facet of life. For many clients, paying off a government official to speed up a case or get an approval is not only routine, it IS the rule of law. So sometimes, we engage in an awkward, uncomfortable conversation where they are assuming that I, as a private attorney, have some know-how or behind the scenes "connection" to guarantee a speedy or successful outcome in their immigration cases. Of course, that is not the case but even when I protest that not only I don't have any such connections, it is completely morally unethical and criminally illegal to engage in such practices, they often shrug their shoulders or smirk like they don't believe me.
News stories like this one about Constantine Kallas, a former government immigration attorney who DID take hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to obtain immigration status for foreigners, (including his housekeeper's daughter!!!) make my protestations seem even less credible. I would like to think that people like this are aberrations and that on the whole our government is not rampant with corruption. At least, there is some comfort knowing the federal prosecutors went against him with all their might and they did not just slap him on the wrist. He was sentenced to 17 years in prison. But it does not make the situation any better for all those individuals who obtained what they thought was lawful status through Mr. Kallas.
What I mean is that it could certainly be possible that the people who paid the bribes to this government attorney, who falsely claimed to them sometimes that he was an immigration judge, and basically let them know it was within his power to grant them relief in what was often a life and death situation, could very well have believed that this was just more of the same bureaucratic corruption that ran rampant in their own countries. That this was the way things were done here. So does that make them accomplices in a crime? Or victims of fraud themselves?
I actually had a client once who was told by a man posing as an immigration officer (with a uniform and badge and everything)at a seminar she was attending that he would speed up her work permit application if she paid him a "fee". My gullible client did, not believing she was doing anything wrong but actually thinking this was a legitimate filing fee, since she was filing her green card application by herself and without any assistance from an immigration attorney. When she came to our office and my then boss researched her case and told her due to the fraudulent activities of that fake officer, she had been placed under a deportation order unbeknownst to her, the poor woman actually FAINTED right then and there in our office, because she was in such shock. Fortunately, when we exposed all the facts to the Immigration Judge and the Department of Homeland Security attorney, they agreed with us that this was case where she should get a chance to undo the mistake and she actually eventually obtained her Green Card. This case was many many years ago when there was not such a frenzy of anti-immigrant sentiments in the popular media. How many victims of Mr. Kallas today will get the same understanding by authorities?
More information about this particular case can be found on the Los Angeles Times website here.
News stories like this one about Constantine Kallas, a former government immigration attorney who DID take hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to obtain immigration status for foreigners, (including his housekeeper's daughter!!!) make my protestations seem even less credible. I would like to think that people like this are aberrations and that on the whole our government is not rampant with corruption. At least, there is some comfort knowing the federal prosecutors went against him with all their might and they did not just slap him on the wrist. He was sentenced to 17 years in prison. But it does not make the situation any better for all those individuals who obtained what they thought was lawful status through Mr. Kallas.
What I mean is that it could certainly be possible that the people who paid the bribes to this government attorney, who falsely claimed to them sometimes that he was an immigration judge, and basically let them know it was within his power to grant them relief in what was often a life and death situation, could very well have believed that this was just more of the same bureaucratic corruption that ran rampant in their own countries. That this was the way things were done here. So does that make them accomplices in a crime? Or victims of fraud themselves?
I actually had a client once who was told by a man posing as an immigration officer (with a uniform and badge and everything)at a seminar she was attending that he would speed up her work permit application if she paid him a "fee". My gullible client did, not believing she was doing anything wrong but actually thinking this was a legitimate filing fee, since she was filing her green card application by herself and without any assistance from an immigration attorney. When she came to our office and my then boss researched her case and told her due to the fraudulent activities of that fake officer, she had been placed under a deportation order unbeknownst to her, the poor woman actually FAINTED right then and there in our office, because she was in such shock. Fortunately, when we exposed all the facts to the Immigration Judge and the Department of Homeland Security attorney, they agreed with us that this was case where she should get a chance to undo the mistake and she actually eventually obtained her Green Card. This case was many many years ago when there was not such a frenzy of anti-immigrant sentiments in the popular media. How many victims of Mr. Kallas today will get the same understanding by authorities?
More information about this particular case can be found on the Los Angeles Times website here.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Japanese citizens: no TPS yet but other benefits
Though USCIS has not issued TPS status for Japanese citizens yet, which I hope they will do in light of the increasingly horrific news about the dangerous radiation levels caused by their nuclear meltdown, it has agreed to assist Japanese citizens in the US or Japanese LPRs (Green Card holders) abroad with extensions of their visas in some cases. I personally think being hit by an earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown all at once would qualify them for temporary protection from USCIS and I really hope that we soon see an announcement for that. For more information about humanitarian assistance and other assistance programs offered by USCIS, you can go to their official website here.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Temporary Protected Status for Japan?
With the news of the devastating earthquake and tsunami hitting Japan, and President Obama's pledge for assistance, I wonder if the next step is for the Secretary of Homeland Security to declare Temporary Protected Status for Japanese citizens.
Temporary Protected Status or TPS is a form of protection for citizens of a certain country who find it impossible to return safely to their country of origin due to the conditions there. The USCIS may grant TPS to eligible nationals of certain countries (or parts of countries), who are already in the United States. Eligible individuals without nationality who last resided in the designated country may also be granted TPS. The Secretary of Homeland Security may designate a country for TPS due to the following temporary conditions in the country:
-Ongoing armed conflict (such as civil war)
-An environmental disaster (such as earthquake or hurricane)
-Other extraordinary and temporary conditions
During a designated period, eligible individuals:
-Are not removable from the United States
-Cannot be detained by DHS
-Can obtain an employment authorization document (EAD)
-May apply for travel authorization
Although having TPS, by itself, does not lead to permanent resident status (a green card), a TPS beneficiary may immigrate permanently under another provision of law if qualified.
The last 2 countries that were granted TPS by the Secretary are El Salvador and Haiti (although not too effectively, according to a former chief counsel for USCIS, which I blogged about previously).
While the application of TPS may leave a lot to be desired, it certainly may be the only option available to many. More information about designation of countries, the application process and whether the applicant can find a path to citizenship based on TPS can be found on the uscis website here.
Temporary Protected Status or TPS is a form of protection for citizens of a certain country who find it impossible to return safely to their country of origin due to the conditions there. The USCIS may grant TPS to eligible nationals of certain countries (or parts of countries), who are already in the United States. Eligible individuals without nationality who last resided in the designated country may also be granted TPS. The Secretary of Homeland Security may designate a country for TPS due to the following temporary conditions in the country:
-Ongoing armed conflict (such as civil war)
-An environmental disaster (such as earthquake or hurricane)
-Other extraordinary and temporary conditions
During a designated period, eligible individuals:
-Are not removable from the United States
-Cannot be detained by DHS
-Can obtain an employment authorization document (EAD)
-May apply for travel authorization
Although having TPS, by itself, does not lead to permanent resident status (a green card), a TPS beneficiary may immigrate permanently under another provision of law if qualified.
The last 2 countries that were granted TPS by the Secretary are El Salvador and Haiti (although not too effectively, according to a former chief counsel for USCIS, which I blogged about previously).
While the application of TPS may leave a lot to be desired, it certainly may be the only option available to many. More information about designation of countries, the application process and whether the applicant can find a path to citizenship based on TPS can be found on the uscis website here.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Stop Notario Fraud
The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) has set up a website to help victims of immigration fraud at www.stopnotariofraud.org. As I mentioned in a previous blog, USCIS Director Alejandro Majorkas has only recently addressed years of complaints by private immigration attorneys, immigration clients and governmental immigration officers about the practice of "notarios", basically unregulated, unlicensed, and often unknowledgeable and unreliable if not outright criminal individuals posing as immigration experts in vulnerable immigrant communities, bilking people out of hundreds of thousands of dollars to apply for immigration benefits they were never eligible for in the first place. The "Stop notario fraud" website provides useful information for victims of this type of fraud, pending more information from USCIS on how exactly they are going to implement the goals of their initiative against notarios.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Haitian earthquake refugees: Dreadful mistakes made
In the March issue of Arizona Attorney Magazine, former USCIS chief counsel Roxie Bacon does not mince words when it comes to highlighting some dreadful mistakes made in the case of Haitian immigrants seeking refuge in the United States in the midst of the worst crisis the country has experienced after the devastating earthquake last year. And she echoes the sentiments of many attorneys in the private bar regarding the lack of funding for USCIS, the branch of the Department of Homeland Security that is about conferring immigration benefits to people rather than deporting them.
The full article can be read online here.
The full article can be read online here.
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