We have just received another H-1 approval for an end-client placement. There were two intervening vendors and the end-client declined to provide a letter stating that there is no requirement in law for them to provide any such letter. We had to get together convincing secondary evidence. I was highly doubtful we will get the approval, but we did. So, despite the January 8 memo from USCIS, there is life yet for consulting industry.
[Federal Register: January 19, 2010 (Volume 75, Number 11)]
[Notices]
[Page 2879-2880]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr19ja10-63]
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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
[Docket No. DHS-2009-0162]
RIN 1601-ZA08
Identification of Foreign Countries Whose Nationals Are Eligible To Participate in the H-2A and H-2B Visa Programs
AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, DHS.
ACTION: Notice.
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On Jan. 18, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano, in coordination with the U.S. Department of State (DOS), today announced a humanitarian parole policy allowing orphaned children from Haiti to enter the United States temporarily on an individual basis to ensure that they receive the care they need—as part of the U.S. government’s ongoing support of international recovery efforts after last week’s earthquake.
On the one-year anniversary of implementing the Electronic System for Travel Authorization, the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Customs and Border Protection reminds U.S.-bound travelers from Visa Waiver Program countries of the ESTA requirement. Beginning January 20, CBP will initiate a 60-day transition to enforced ESTA compliance for air carriers; VWP travelers without an approved ESTA may not be allowed to board a U.S.-bound plane.
Questions & Answers: Information for U.S. Citizens in the process of adopting a child from Haiti
On Jan. 12, 2010, Haiti experienced an earthquake of devastating proportions. This set of questions and answers provides information for United States citizens in the process of adopting a child from Haiti.
USCIS warns Haitians applying for temporary protected status to be aware of immigration scams. USCIS has a dedicated website providing guidance on its response to Haiti at www.uscis.gov/haitianearthquake.
Representation
All U.S. consulates and embassies will soon require nonimmigrant visa applicants to use Form DS-160, the Department of State’s fully electronic nonimmigrant visa application, instead of Form DS-156, the paper-based application. Form DS-160 has been in use at selected U.S. diplomatic posts for some time, but the State Department announced late last year that all U.S. posts will require the online form by April 30, 2010 at the latest. Many posts have already adopted the form, and more will begin to require it as April 30 approaches.
We were retained to assist a single US Citizen woman to adopt a child from India. Due to India’s rigid regulations pertaining to who is eligible to become an adoptive parent of an Indian orphan, our client was initially worried this dream would never come to fruition. She had received very discouraging advice from several sources. Nevertheless, within about one year’s time after we started working, the process is completed. Both immigration related petitions (I-800/I-800a) were approved within a few weeks after submission.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it would allow H-2A workers in the sheepherding industry more time to fully transition to the three-year limitation of stay requirements under the agency’s final rule that became effective on Jan. 17, 2009. USCIS is making the one-time accommodation in deference to the industry’s prior exemption from the 3-year limitation. This exemption does not impact other H-2A categories.
The publication of the H2B regulation in December 2008 and the corresponding changes to PERM, H1B, H1B1, H1C and E3 regulations governing temporary professional, nonagricultural or registered nursing programs changed the roles of the SWAs and NPCs in the prevailing wage determination process and necessitated the issuance of policy and procedural guidance to be used by the National Prevailing Wage and Helpdesk Center (NPWHC).
We were recently retained at the I-140 Appeal stage for an I-140 denied on grounds of fraud/willful misrepresentation. USCIS denied the I-140 citing inconsistencies between the ETA 9089 job requirements, the advertisements, and a subsequent letter sent by petitioner with an RFE pertaining to the job requirements. Due to what USCIS termed as "material inconsistencies," the I-140 was denied on the grounds that the labor certification submitted was gained through fraud or willful misrepresentation of a material fact.
Casa Quivira Cases: DOS issued an alert on December 28, 2009 informing that the Office of the Solicitor General's (PGN's) appeal of the 2009 decision determining the adoptability of the children taken into custody from Casa Quivira was upheld by the appeals court. Note, these children include those who are already residing in the U.S.
I-485 Pending Inventory has been updated for the month of January 2014. The “Pending Employment-Based Form I-485 Report,” displays the total number of pending adjustment of status applications, per preference classification. The report shows how many pending adjustment of status (green card) applications in each preference classification have priority dates in a given month and year.
In order to implement the Department's IT modernization initiative and new cloud computing requirements, the OFLC Chicago National Processing Center (NPC) deactivated the following email boxes on February 3, 2014:
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Processing Updates: 2012‐2014 First Quarter
See the Customer Servce Guide: How Do I Request Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals in multiple languages below.
According to the latest report from "Indian Express"
he Obama Administration has expressed hope that the US Congress would be able to pass the immigration reform bill, even as the House of Representative Speaker John Boehner remained doubtful about it.