Immigration Law

IMMIGRANT OF THE DAY: TARIQ FARID - ENTREPRENEUR

Posted on December 19, 2008
Pakistan-native Tariq Farid is the founder, president and CEO of Edible Arrangements International, Inc. The company makes those gorgeous fresh fruit arrangements that resemble flower baskets and chances are one of the 800+ Edible Arrangements stores is in your area...

IMMIGRATION HUMOR: BRET AND JERMAINE ARE OVERSTAYS!

Posted on December 18, 2008
Wow, the on screen alter egos of my former Immigrants of the Day have serious immigration problems. Here's the full 30 minute episode of the premiere episode of Season 2 of Flight of the Conchords. Season 2 Online Premiere - Flight of the Conchords (US Only) - watch more funny videos

NEW H-2B RULE ABOUT TO BE PUBLISHED

Posted on December 18, 2008
Here is USCIS' summary of the changes. I'll have more to say after I've gone through the full text of the new rule. * Reduces from six months to three months the time an H-2B worker who has spent three years in the U.S. must reside and be physically present outside the United States before he or she is eligible to re-obtain H-2B status; * Prohibits H-2B employers and recruiters from imposing certain fees on prospective H-2B workers as a condition of securing employment; * Eliminates USCIS? current authority to adjudicate H-2B petitions where the Secretary of Labor or the...

IMMIGRATION: THE GRAPHIC

Posted on December 17, 2008
Immigration to the US, 1820-2007 v2 from Ian Stevenson on Vimeo.

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CBP ANNOUNCES THEY'RE UP TO 18,000 BORDER PATROL AGENTS

Posted on December 17, 2008
Those who say we're not securing the border are not paying attention. Customs and Border Protection announced today that they've hired 6,000 additional agents this year and have more than 18,000 agents on staff. That's an increase of 50% since 2006. CPB announces 18,000 new border patrol agents hired - Free Legal Forms

SITE HONORING MICHAEL MAGGIO LAUNCHED

Posted on December 17, 2008
When Michael Maggio passed away last February, it was a real blow to the entire immigration bar and the broader pro-immigration community. The man was a true legend in the field and his influence on immigration law will be felt for many years to come...

OMBUDSMAN: JUDGES HOLDING UP NATURALIZATIONS TO BOLSTER FUNDING FOR THE COURTS

Posted on December 17, 2008
The USCIS Ombudsman has issued a report on naturalization in the US and a lot of very interesting and, in some cases, disturbing practices have been revealed. Some of the worst criticism is directed not at USCIS but at the federal district court judges that administer naturalization oaths...

BATTLING A COLD...

Posted on December 16, 2008
Sorry the posts have been light for the last few days. Hopefully, things will be back to normal tomorrow.

9 IDEAS FOR USING IMMIGRATION TO STIMULATE THE US ECONOMY

Posted on December 12, 2008
Anti-immigrants love recessions because they can whip up fears of foreigners coming to the US and stealing American jobs. But pro-immigration advocates can just as easily make the case that immigrants are job generators for Americans. And immigration can do even more to help the economy than is the case under the current system...

NEW I-9 COMING SOON

Posted on December 12, 2008
USCIS announced on its web site today that it is releasing shortly an interim final rule on I-9s and 45 days after that a new I-9 form must be used by the nation's employers. Not a ton of changes, but there is now a separate box for claiming to be a non-citizen national (up until now there was a single box for citizens and nationals...

ECONOMY TAKES TOLL ON FOREIGN VISITOR NUMBERS

Posted on December 12, 2008
The Washington Post reports on the worries. I originally had a tenth idea on my list of stimulus proposals and that dealt with visitor visas. I wanted to push to revitalize the immigration bonds tool that consular officers have available for prospective visitors to the US...

IMMIGRANT OF THE DAY: FRANK OZ - DIRECTOR AND PUPPETEER

Posted on December 11, 2008
I was one of the original Sesame Street kids, those children born in the 60s who were the first audience members of the show that revolutionized children's television. Early on in my career I had the opportunity to work on the green card petition of a puppeteer involved in creating characters for Sesame Street productions around the world...

KOSHER MEAT SHORTAGE WORSENS IN WAKE OF AGRIPROCESSORS RAID

Posted on December 11, 2008
More fall out from the raid of the country's largest Kosher meat plant. The company, which supplied 60% of the Kosher beef in the US and 40% of the plant is now closed.

JANUARY 2009 VISA BULLETIN OUT

Posted on December 11, 2008
A mixed bag. Family 1st - Advancement of worldwide, China and India numbers by three weeks to 15 JUN 2002. Mexico moves up a week to 1 OCT 1992 and the Philippines moves up seven weeks to 15 JUL 1993. Family 2A - Worldwide, India, China and the Philippines numbers advance six weeks to 1 MAY 2004...

BREAKING NEWS: ILLEGALLY PRESENT WORKERS CLEANING THE CHERTOFF HOUSE

Posted on December 11, 2008
Unbelievable! Turns out the firm contracted to clean the Secretary of Homeland Security's Home was hiring workers unauthorized to be in the US.

PRIVACY GROUP SLAMS NPR OVER E-VERIFY UNDERWRITING

Posted on December 10, 2008
I must confess that my mouth dropped open in shock the first time I heard the phrase ""Support for NPR comes from NPR stations, and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), offering E-Verify, confirming the legal working of new hires. At DHS dot gov slash E-Verify...

IMMIGRATION ISSUES RELATED TO LAYOFFS AND CORPORATE DOWNSIZING

Posted on December 10, 2008
I wish this article wasn't so necessary right now. The Vermont Service Center provided a couple of tips on layoff situations and I've incorporated that info in to my FAQ. Immigration Issues Related to Layoffs and Corporate Downsizing - Get more Legal Forms

IMMIGRANT OF THE DAY: HUGH LAURIE - ACTOR

Posted on December 10, 2008
I've liked Hugh Laurie since his Blackadder comedy days on the BBC. He's now the star of the highly popular Fox drama House where he dons a pretty impressive American accent. This weekend, he'll be hosting Saturday Night Live.

ARE YOU FEELING ROSY OR GLOOMY ABOUT IMMIGRATION REFORM?

Posted on December 10, 2008
Well, depending on who you listen to, immigration reform is going nowhere or it will be one of the first things taken up by the new Congress.

USCIS OMBUDSMAN RECOMMENDS EXPEDITING, CENTRALIZING NURSE GREEN CARD CASES

Posted on December 09, 2008
CIS Ombudsman Schedule A Nurse Recommendation 12-5-08 - Free Legal Forms

IMMIGRANT OF THE DAY: ERIC RIPERT - CHEF

Posted on December 09, 2008
French-born Eric Ripert is one of the nation's best known chefs. He gained fame as the chef at New York's La Bernardin restaurant and has helped the restaurant garner top ratings from the New York Times and Michelin's restaurant guide. Ripert has recently opened restaurants in Philadelphia and Washington, DC...

CAO WINS CONGRESSIONAL RACE

Posted on December 07, 2008
Congrats to Anh Cao who I wrote about yesterday in my Immigrant of the Day column. He is set to become the first Vietnamese-American ever elected to Congress. He's also likely to be one of the most pro-immigration Republicans in Congress. Given the make up of the district and the enormous advantage a scandal-free Democrat will have in 2010, I'm wondering whether Cao will remain a Republican...

IS NO-MATCH RULE DEAD?

Posted on December 06, 2008
It's now definitely on life-support - at least for a few more months. Judge Breyer announced today that he is denying the Bush Administration's request to expedite reviewing whether the recently issued revised social security no-match regulation satisfies the judge's objections and will convince him to lift the injunction barring DHS from implementing the massive enforcement program...

ARMED FORCES TO RECRUIT FOREIGN DOCTORS AND NURSES

Posted on December 06, 2008
The Department of Defense is dropping its requirement that physicians and nurses must have green cards in response to persistent shortages in those fields. The MDs and RNs who sign on will be able to fast-track toward citizenship.

KENNEDY STEPPING DOWN AS IMMIGRATION SUBCOMMITTEE CHAIR

Posted on December 06, 2008
The ailing Senator is quitting the Judiciary Committee and its subcommittees and is planning on focusing on getting major health care reform passed. The Lion of the Senate will be missed on the subcommittee.

USCIS WILL NOT MAKE R-1 CURRENT VISA HOLDERS FILE I-129'S

Posted on December 06, 2008
While this question was not addressed in the recently issued R-1 regulation, USCIS has just notified some of the stakeholder organizations that a worker who holds a valid R-1 issued before November 26th may travel on that visa for the duration of the visa...

IMMIGRANT OF THE DAY: ANH "JOSEPH" CAO - CANDIDATE FOR CONGRESS

Posted on December 06, 2008
There's a very interesting election in New Orleans tomorrow. Louisiana's unusual runoff rules mean that the final congressional election in the Crescent City is actually a month later than the rest of the country. The Democrat in the race is Congressman William Jefferson who has been indicted for corruption (which includes the allegation that he stuffed $90,000 from his bribes in his freezer)...

POST SCRIPT ON IMMIGRANT OF THE DAY CATALINO TAPIA

Posted on December 06, 2008
About 14 months ago I wrote about Catalino Tapia, a San Francisco Bay Area gardener who was raising thousands of dollars to send local Hispanic kids to college. Mr. Tapia's work has gotten some big recognition of late. He's just been awarded a $100,000 National Purpose Prize to support his good work...

DOES FREE SPEECH COVER SITE THAT ACCUSES COMPANIES OF HIRING ILLEGAL WORKERS?

Posted on December 06, 2008
The Dallas Morning News discusses the site www.wehirealiens.com which allows people to anonymously post the names of companies it suspects of hiring unlawfully present immigrants. The site's owner claims no responsibility for the accuracy of the posts and damaged companies are up in arms...

HEAD OF BOSTON DHS ARRESTED FOR HIRING ILLEGALLY PRESENT HOUSEKEEPER

Posted on December 05, 2008
Seems like we've seen this basic story many times over the years. Keith Olbermann makes Lorraine Henderson the Worst Person in the World - quite the honor.

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