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UPCOMING EVENT:
US Immigration Law Basics (NJICLE) - A Primer for House Counsel, HR Managers and New Immigration and Nationality Lawyers.
Location:
New Jersey Law Center
1 Constitution Square, New Brunswick, NJ 08901
Time:
9:00 AM - 4:00 PM EST
NEW JERSEY LAW CENTER, NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ.
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WE ARE HIRING!
We are
Presently Hiring Employment-based Immigration Paralegals and Immigration Law Specialists for
our growing Immigration Law Practice.
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Quick Links
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:: 201-670-0006 (X100)
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OUR OFFICES:
NEW JERSEY OFFICE:
VISASERVE Plaza
487 Goffle Road
Ridgewood, NJ 07450
Phone: 201-670-0006 (x100)
NEW YORK OFFICE:
108 West 39th Street
8th Floor, Suite 800
New York, NY 10018
Phone: 1-866-599-3625
INDIANA OFFICE:
Indianapolis City Center
201 North Illinois Street
16th Floor, South Tower
Indianapolis, IN 46204
Phone: 317-936-6600
WE NOW ALSO HAVE A PHYSICAL PRESENCE IN CHICAGO AND BOSTON FOR THE CONVENIENCE OF OUR CLIENTS.
INDIA AFFILIATED OFFICES:
Kaival Chalishazar, Adv.
Kaival Chalishazar & Co.
22 Vasant Kunj
New Sharda Mandir Road, Paldi, Ahmedabad 380007, India
ATT: Call Kaival at x107
(This office provides on the ground services to our Indian clients such as India Divorce, India Real Estate Purchase and Sale, Business Sale Purchase, Adoption, Litigation and High Court Complaints).
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Law Office of Michael Phulwani
F603 Remi Biz Court
Veera Desai Road
Andheri West
Mumbai 400 053, India
Call us at 201-670-0006 (x104) for contact details.
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Dear Readers:
We wish all of our readers a very safe and happy and enjoyable Memorial Day weekend. It is now time to break-out those gills and to get the BBQ-ing back on track! Just by way of some history and trivia . . .
Memorial Day is a federal holiday in the US for remembering the people who died while serving in the country's armed forces. The holiday, which is observed every year on the last Monday of May, originated as Decoration Day after the American Civil War in 1868, and later Memorial Day emerged to honor all Americans who died while in the military service. It typically marks the start of the summer vacation season.
As the month of May winds-down, the Obama Administration has announced plans to continue to round-up and deport Central American asylum seekers and to return them to some of the most dangerous countries in the world. This is very troubling news indeed. It is part of the Administration's deterrence strategy, which is specifically designed to curtail the flow of asylum-seeking women and children migrating from Central America. Day after day, women and children seeking protection in the US are sent back to the Northern Triangle of Central America (Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador), and are forced to face the same dangerous conditions that they fled or worse. The rushed removal of asylum-seeking families raises concerns about the potential harm that these mothers and children are likely to be exposed to after their removal. With no support available upon return, these individuals have limited chances of living a normal, safe, and healthy life. As the greatest Nation in the world, the U.S. needs to carefully consider the ripple-effects of an arbitrary removal process and one that apparently contravenes the 2014 Administrative Actions promulgated by the Obama Administration.
Additionally, and just as troubling, is the fact that residents along the U.S.-Mexico border in Western Texas and New Mexico face continue to face repeated abuse from U.S. Customs and Border Protections (CBP) Officers at ports-of-entry, including excessive use of force, verbal abuse, unwarranted searches and intimidation. These allegations were recently exposed in a complaint filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Widespread and systemic abuse, corruption, and lack of transparency that characterizes CBP has been documented over and over again. It is time for the agency to truly implement more rigorous oversight and to ensure the accountability of its agents and officers. We continue to assist our clients with issues that they face from arbitrary determinations made by Officers at the POEs.
We continue to remind those who were not winners of the H-1B Lottery in April to explore your alternatives. Alternatives to the H-1B nonimmigrant visa may include exploring cap-exempt H-1B nonimmigrant visas, other NIVs for work, green card petitions or perhaps investor visas. We remind all of our readers that we are US immigration and nationality lawyers and attorneys and that we would be more than pleased to assist you, your friends, your family and/or colleagues with regard to any immigration and nationality law issues in the U.S. or Canada. Please feel free to send us an e-mail at
info@visaserve.com
or you can call our office(s) anytime at 201-670-0006 (x107). We look forward to being able to assist.
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USCIS UPDATE: EMPLOYERS MAY SUBMIT ONLINE INQUIRIES FOR CERTAIN I-129 PETITIONS.
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On May 25th, 2016, USCIS announced that as of April 21st, 2016, petitioners who filed Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker, requesting an extension of stay or change of employer, can submit an inquiry after their petition has been pending for 210 days or more. Petitioners may now submit this inquiry online by selecting "case outside normal processing time."
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ANOTHER USCIS UPDATE: USCIS RELEASES NEW WEBPAGE ABOUT THE H-1B AND L-1 FEE INCREASE.
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USCIS has posted a new Webpage about the H-1B and L-1 fee increase required by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 (Pub. L. 114-113). The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 (Public Law 114-113), signed into law by President Obama on December 18th, 2015, increases fees for certain H-1B and L-1 petitioners. These petitioners must submit an additional fee of $4,000 for certain H-1B petitions and $4,500 for certain L-1A and L-1B petitions postmarked on or after December 18th, 2015.
The additional fees apply to petitioners who employ 50 or more employees in the United States, with more than 50 percent of those employees in H-1B or L (including L-1A and L-1B) nonimmigrant status. This fee is in addition to the base processing fee, Fraud Prevention and Detection Fee, American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act of 1998 fee (when required), as well as the premium processing fee, if applicable. Public Law 114-113 fees will remain effective through September 30th.
The new page provides information about who must pay the new fee.
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H-2B UPDATE: H-2 CAP REACHES FOR FY 2016.
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On May 19th, 2016, USCIS announced that it received a sufficient number of petitions to reach the congressionally mandated H-2B cap for Fiscal Year (FY) 2016.
May 12th, 2016 was the final receipt date for new H-2B worker petitions requesting an employment start date before October 1st, 2016.
All petitions received after May 12th, 2016 that request an employment start date before October 1st, 2016 will be rejected. USCIS will continue to accept H-2B petitions that are exempt from the congressionally mandated cap.
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ASYLUM APPLICATION UPDATES: CA4 FINDS IJS ARE NOT REQUIRED TO WARN OF CONSEQUENCES OF FILING A FRIVOLOUS ASYLUM APPLICATION.
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The Fourth Circuit held that the written warning set forth in the I-589 asylum application regarding the consequences of filing a frivolous asylum application satisfies the notice requirement of INA ยง208(d)(4)(A), and that it need not be supplemented with an oral warning by the IJ at the asylum hearing. In one of the recent interesting cases the court upheld the BIA's final order of removal affirming the IJ's determination that the petitioner had filed a frivolous asylum application and was therefore ineligible for adjustment of status.
***THIS INFORMATION IS PROVIDED COURTESY OF AILA - of which David Nachman, Esq., one of the Managing Attorneys at NPZ Law Group, is an AILA Mentor, a Former State of New Jersey AILA Chapter Chair and a former Member of the AILA National Business Immigration Committee.
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OCAHO UPDATE ABOUT EMPLOYMENT VERIFICATION: EMPLOYMENT ELIGIBILITY VERIFICATION VIOLATIONS LEAD TO FINES.
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In a recent OCAHO cases, a staffing company was fined $209,600 with regard to the employment eligibility violations. The staffing company was found liable for 140 violations involving failure to timely present I-9 forms, 236 violations involving failure to prepare and/or present the forms at all, and 89 violations of failure to properly complete I-9 forms.
The case clearly demonstrates the importance for all employers to comply with the IRCA (the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986) to avoid increasing worksite enforcement and fines for minor mistakes that can cause penalties as a result of failure to prepare and/or retain I-9 forms.
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USCIS REACHES CW-1 CAP FOR FISCAL YEAR 2016.
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USCIS has received a sufficient number of petitions to reach the numerical limit (the "cap") of 12,999 workers who may be issued CW-1 visas or otherwise provided with CW-1 status for Fiscal Year (FY) 2016. May 5th, 2016 was the final receipt date for CW-1 worker petitions requesting an employment start date before October 1st, 2016.
All the applications with the request of employment start date before October 1st, 2016 received after May 5th, 2016 will be rejected by USCIS. This includes CW-1 petitions for extensions of stay that are subject to the CW-1 cap. The filing fees will be returned with any rejected CW-1 petition.
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THE JUNE 2016 VISA BULLETIN: DOS REPORTS JUNE 2016 VISA NUMBERS - IS YOUR PRIORITY DATE CURRENT? IF SO, PLEASE LET US KNOW.
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The Department of State's June 2016 Visa Bulletin has announced major retrogression in the Final Action cut-off dates for India and China.
Specifically, in June 2016, India EB-2 Final Action cut-off date will retrogress to October 1, 2004, for the final issuance of immigrant visas. The India EB-2 Final Action cut-off date stood at November 22, 2008, in the May 2016 visa bulletin.
Thus, India EB-2 Final Action cut-off date will retrogress by more than four (4) years in June 2016. India EB-3 will continue to move at the snail's pace. The Final Action cut-off date for EB-3 India will move from September 1, 2004 to September 22, 2004.
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CHECKOUT VISASERVE'S REGULARLY UPDATED YOUTUBE VIDEO LIBRARY (SOME SELECTIONS BELOW) ABOUT U.S. AND CANADIAN IMMIGRATION LAWS:
"IMMIGRATION NEWS AND VIEWS" - NPZ'S NEW PRACTICAL SERIES ON YOUTUBE ABOUT VARIOUS U.S. AND CANADIAN IMMIGRATION LAW ISSUES.
Check us out at . . .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Crfb5L_vlo
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WEBINAR (AUDIO): FY 2017 H-1B CAP REACHED: NOW IS THE TIME TO THINK ABOUT YOUR H-1B BACK-UP PLAN.
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OPT - STEM Extension
If the company is registered for E-Verify, the database that enables employers to verify the legitimacy of work authorization and identity documents at the time of hire, those who have been granted 12 months of Optional Practical Training after graduation, are eligible for a STEM extension of an additional 24 months of work authorization.
O-1 Visa
The
O-1 visa
is suited for individuals of extraordinary ability or achievement. The O classification is a useful and flexible alternative to the H-1B program because there is no overall limit on time in the classification and there is no cap. O-1 beneficiaries in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics must have extraordinary ability "demonstrated by sustained national or international acclaim."
E-3 Visa
The
E-3 visa
classification is limited to Australian Professionals. The E-3 visa is a "specialty occupation" visa similar to the H-1B visa. Therefore to be eligible for the visa, the Australian citizen must possess a bachelor's degree or higher (or its equivalent) in the specialty and the specialty occupation must require the degree. There is a 10,500 annual limit on the E-3 visa.
L-1 Visa
The
L-1 visa
is an option for international organizations with offices in the United States who transfer employees to the United States for temporary periods of time. In order to be eligible for an L-1 visa, the petitioning entity must prove that the beneficiary of the visa has worked for the non-U.S. based sister company/subsidiary for at least one full year within the last three years as an executive, manager or employee with specialized knowledge.
H-1B Visa for FY2018
WAIT
for the H-1B FY2018 Quota! The H-1B FY2018 Quota will open on April 1, 2017 with employment beginning on October 1, 2017. 65,000 visas are annually allocated to foreign nationals who possess a bachelor's degree or higher (or its equivalent) in the specialty and the specialty occupation must require the degree. We can begin to prepare cases for the annual quota now; however, no cases will be filed with the USCIS towards the CAP until after April 1, 2017.
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THANKS TO ALL THOSE WHO HAVE SERVED AND WHO CONTINUE TO SERVE - HAVE A NICE MEMORIAL DAY HOLIDAY!
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