Employment Immigration

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it will transition the intake function of several of its forms from the Service Centers to a Lockbox network. USCIS has decided to centralize its form and fee intake which it hopes will improve efficiency in the initial process.

The current forms scheduled for this transition include:
I-817, Application for Family Unity Benefit
I-526, Immigrant Petition by Alien Entrepreneur
I-539, Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status
I-129F, Petition for Alien Relative Fiance
I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker

The transition period started in the middle of last month with the Service Centers forwarding applications to the USCIS Dallas and Phoenix Lockbox for processing. Later on this month, USCIS will post the revised filing instructions, update the web page for each form, and announce the address change.

Please refer back to this site for the most updated information and resources related to U.S. immigration law.

The Department of State, in an effort to raise revenues and dig itself out of an economic hole, has decided to raise fees for many nonimmigrant visa applications. The actual purpose of a fee hike is to bolster administrative processing and to cover the high costs for certain processes that require in-depth consideration. But at the end of the day, it is still a hike in fees. All visa applications that are not petition based (B1/B2 for example) will see an increase of $9.00, raising the non immigrant visa application fee to $140.00. Fees for all petition based applications will be $150.00. The biggest fee increase is in the area of treaty (E) and fiancé (K) visas, which will be going up from $131.00 to $390.00 and $350.00 respectively. The proposed increases are just that proposals, the new fee schedule won’t come into effect for a while but make sure to contact your local U.S. embassy or your qualified attorney before filing any visa application. Submitting an application without the proper fee is basis for an outright rejection which will cause a delay in getting that interview and visa stamp.

This is a reminder that effective September 8, 2009, federal contractors and subcontractors will be required to use the E-Verify system to verify their employees’ eligibility to work in the United States.

In July, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano strengthened employment eligibility verification by announcing the Administration’s support for the regulation that will award federal contracts only to employers who use E-Verify to check employee work authorization.

E-Verify, which compares information from the Employment Eligibility Verification Form against federal government databases to verify workers’ employment eligibility, is a free web-based system operated by Department of Homeland Security in partnership with the Social Security Administration (SSA). The system facilitates compliance with federal immigration laws and helps to deter unauthorized individuals from attempting to work and also helps employers avoid employing unauthorized aliens.

Source: United States Citizenship and Immigration Services

There are only five days left for special immigrant religious workers who have pending or approved petition to file for an adjustment of status. Time is of the essence because visas for the employment based fourth preference category will become unavailable effective September 1, 2009. Therefore, USCIS will summarily reject any application for adjustment of status based on a pending or approved petition seeking the special immigrant religious worker classification or a concurrent religious worker petition and adjustment application submitted on or after September 1, 2009. Contact your immigration lawyer immediately if you qualify because time is running out. To read more: USCIS Reminds Eligible Applicants under Ruiz-Diaz to File Adjustment of Status Application before End of August