ImmInfo Newsletter
Contents   Vol. 3, No. 5,
May, 2009

  • Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR): What's happening?

  • CIR: What does it mean for you?

  • CIR and PERM - Is now the time?

  • CIR: Likely H1B reform.

  • The CIS issues a new policy memo on "unlawful presence"

  • H1B change of employer tips

  • The June Visa Bulletin

  • The FY 2010 H1B quota remains open.

  • The 2009 AILA annual convention

    •
 

 

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Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR): What's happening?
Comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) is picking up momentum. President Obama will meet with key members of Congress on June 8th to discuss specific proposals. We can expect to see a concrete legislative proposal coming together soon.
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CIR: What does it mean for you?
 With the increasing likelihood of the passage of Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR) legislation, it is important for foreign nationals in the United States to take a moment and reflect on how this might affect them and what they can do to position themselves to deal with it.
More details, click here
CIR and PERM - Is now the time?
 Now that the Department of Labor has resumed PERM processing, now is a good time to consider whether to proceed with a labor certification at this time. We are now receiving PERM approvals for cases filed less than six months ago. It is likely that this interval will soon drop to less than four months. Including mandatory recruiting, this means that PERM processing, start to finish, will soon take less than seven months.
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CIR: Likely H1B reform
Had CIR been enacted three years ago, the H1B quota would have been increased to 195,000 and all beneficiaries with advanced degrees from US schools would have been exempt. Unfortunately, it didn't become law. In the three years since, things have changed.
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The CIS issues a new policy memo on "unlawful presence"

On May 6, 2009 the CIS released a new memo on the subject of “unlawful presence.” In doing so, they explicitly withdrew all previous policy memos they had issued on this subject. They also turned their backs on decades of precedent and policy to implement these new changes. Not only is the new memo poorly reasoned, it is also poorly written. The inept writing style, poor syntax, and numerous grammatical errors make it extremely difficult to understand.
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H1B change of employer tips
In light of the new “unlawful presence” memo from the CIS, H1B change of employer applicants need to exercise caution. Section D (IV) of that memo states: 
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The June Visa Bulletin
The June Visa Bulletin has been released and it pretty much confirms what we had suspected. It appears that the CIS really has been working on AOS adjudications at an unprecedented rate. The employment based third preference category appears to have been exhausted for the balance of this fiscal year. The second preference category has also seen very heavy demand, resulting in retrogression of the Indian EB2 cutoff date.
More details, click here
The FY 2010 H1B quota remains open
According to the latest update from the CIS (May 18, 2009), that agency has received a total of 20,000 "advanced degree exception" petitions and approximately 45,500 "regular cap" petitions.

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The 2009 AILA annual convention
The 2009 annual convention of the American Immigration Lawyers Association will be held June 3rd through 6th. All attorneys and some paralegals from our office will attend this event and will not generally be available in the office for these three days.

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