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November 12, 2019

DACA

DACA Resourses

DHS Memo Rescinding DACA

Administration's Plot to End DACA

Supreme Court DACA Case

Supreme Court DACA oral arguments regarding whether the Trump Administration acted correctly in attempting to terminate the program are scheduled for November 12.

DACA is short for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which was announced in 2012. DACA allows some persons with unlawful presence in the US after being brought to the country as children to receive a renewable 2-year period of deferred action from deportation and EAD work permits.

The Court will review the decisions in the following 3 Court of Appeals decisions on DACA:

1. Trump v. NAACP (US Court of Appeals, District of Columbia)
2. McAleenan v. Vidal (US Court of Appeals, 2nd Circuit)
3. DHS v. Regents of the University of California (US Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit)

In each of the above decisions, the US Courts of Appeals left DACA in place.

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Outcome #1 - Allow DACA to Remain in Place

The Obama Administration stated that because the Federal Government only had enough funding to deport 400,000 of the millions of undocumented immigrants present in the U.S., it would exercise "prosecutorial discretion" and focus on deporting criminals and frequent border crossers. It established the DACA program to allow certain persons who had been brought to the U.S. by their parents at a young age to get work and travel permits.

Back in 1985, the Supreme Court held that "An agency's decision not to prosecute or enforce is a decision generally committed to an agency's absolute discretion."

The Trump Administration argues that if the Executive Branch has the sole authority to decide whether or not to exercise prosecutorial discretion, the Courts lack the jurisdiction to force them to continue the DACA program.

The other side maintains that even though the Courts cannot intervene in policy decisions made by the Executive Branch, the Courts maintain the authority to rule on the legality of Executive actions. In the 2017 Memorandum ending the DACA program, DHS held that DACA was "unconstitutional". Thus, since DHS made a legal determination, it is within the authority of the Federal Courts to decide whether this decision is legally correct.

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Law Offices of Carl Shusterman
600 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 1550
Los Angeles, CA, 90017
Phone: (213) 623-4592, Ext. 0
Fax: (213) 623-3720

November 15, 2019

USCIS Proposed Rule

Comment on Proposed Rule

Increase in Citizenship Fees

Fees for Asylum Applications

USCIS Proposes Huge Filing Fee Increases

On November 14, 2019, the USCIS issued a proposed regulation which would substantially increase filing fees for many types of immigration benefits.

"USCIS is required to examine incoming and outgoing expenditures, just like a business, and make adjustments based on that analysis. This proposed adjustment in fees would ensure more applicants cover the true cost of their applications and minimizes subsidies from an already over-extended system," said Ken Cuccinelli, Acting Director of the USCIS.

Increase in Filing Fees

Filing fees for adjustment of status and for naturalization would increase dramatically. Adjustment of status applicants would have to pay over $1,000 extra in order to cover the costs of applying for EAD work permits and AP travel documents. The total filing fee for an I-485 packet would be $2,195. In addition, adjustment applicants would have to pay each time that they renew their work and travel permits. The new naturalization fee would be $1,170, an increase of 83% from the current fee.

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When I worked for the INS, the fee for filing an application for naturalization was only $15 and I had to interview 14 applicants and 28 witnesses per day. Why should a 30-minute interview cost over $1,000? Is this just a political ploy to keep immigrants from becoming US citizens and voting?

Employers sponsoring persons for H-1B and L-1 visas would also see large fee increases. The fee for filing an H-1B petition would increase to $560 while the fee for filing an L petition would increase 77% to $815. Employers with a high proportion of H-1B or L employees would be saddled with paying an additional border security fee of $4,000 to $4,500 per petition.

Assuming DACA is still in existence when the fee increases take effect, the DACA renewal fee will rise to $765, a 55% increase.

For the first time, many asylum applicants would no longer be exempt from paying filing fees. There would be a $50 fee imposed on persons applying for asylum or withholding of removal. In addition, they would, for the first time, have to pay a fee of $490 in order to apply for an EAD work permit. Only 3 other countries in the world charge filing fees for first-time asylum applicants: Iran, Fiji and Australia.

A fee for asylum applications could prevent many persons in immigration detention from filing I-589s since they earn $1 a day through ICE's so-called "voluntary work program."

USCIS wants to abolish most fee waivers...

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Law Offices of Carl Shusterman
600 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 1550
Los Angeles, CA, 90017
Phone: (213) 623-4592, Ext. 0
Fax: (213) 623-3720

Volume 24, Number 12
December 2019

1. Restrictive Immigration Rules Proposed: What You Need to Know

2. December 2019 State Department Visa Bulletin

3. Visa Bulletin Predictions for Fiscal Year 2020

4. Immigration Government Processing Times

5. USCIS Proposes Huge Filing Fee Increases

6. Trivia Quiz: The Immigrant Origins of Christmas

7. Ask Mr. Shusterman: Supreme Court DACA Case - 3 Possible Outcomes

8. Shusterman's Upcoming Immigration Seminars

9. Jobs & Green Cards for RNs & MedTechs: Free Legal Help!

10. Winner of Our November 2019 Immigration Trivia Quiz

SHUSTERMAN'S
IMMIGRATION UPDATE

SHUSTERMAN'S IMMIGRATION UPDATE is the Web's most popular e-mail newsletter regarding U.S. immigration laws and procedures with over 40,000 subscribers located in more than 150 countries. It is written by a former INS Trial Attorney (1976-82) with over 40 years of experience practicing immigration law.

 

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NEWS FLASHES

December 9, 2019

Tech Visa Denials Spike

H-1B Visa Registration System

H-1B News

Challenging H-1B Denials in Federal Court

H-1B Online Registration Starts on March 1, 2020

The H-1B online registration system will go into effect on March 1, 2020. Employers must submit the required information online for each H-1B beneficiary whom they wish to sponsor between March 1 and March 20. However, the details of the system have yet to be released by the USCIS.

The fact that the current Administration has been hostile to the H-1B program is no secret. The percentage of H-1B petitions which have received Requests for Evidence, Notices of Intent to Deny and Denials has increased dramatically during the past few years.

For example, in fiscal year 2015, the denial rate for initial H-1B petitions was 6%. By fiscal year 2018, without any changes to our immigration laws and regulations, the denial rate skyrocketed to over 30%. H-1B visas are for professionals: physicians, teachers, computer programmers, engineers and other professions which require a minimum of a 4-year university degree. In other words, H-1B visas are for "merit-based" immigration, exactly the type of immigration that the President claims to favor.

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H-1B Online Registration System Announced

On December 6, 2019, the USCIS announced it had completed a "successful pilot testing phase" and would implement an electronic H-1B online registration process starting on March 1, 2020.

The announcement states as follows:

"Under this new process, employers seeking H-1B workers subject to the cap, or their authorized representatives, will complete a registration process that requires only basic information about their company and each requested worker. USCIS will open an initial registration period from March 1 through March 20, 2020. The H-1B random selection process, if needed, will then be run on those electronic registrations. Only those with selected registrations will be eligible to file H-1B cap-subject petitions."

If needed?

During each of the past few years, employers filed around 200,000 initial petitions for 85,000 H-1B visas. This means that well over 50% of the H-1B workers that employers would like to hire are prevented from being employed in the U.S. While this may be great news for Canada, Australia, the UK, etc., it makes it difficult for U.S. employers to hire talented foreign-born professionals, even those who earned their degrees in the U.S. As a result of this misguided policy, the next Google, Facebook and Amazon may be developed abroad rather than in the U.S.

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Law Offices of Carl Shusterman
600 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 1550
Los Angeles, CA, 90017
Phone: (213) 623-4592, Ext. 0
Fax: (213) 623-3720

December 19, 2019

Visa Bulletin Predictions

Priority Date

EB Green Cards: How to Speed Up Your Case

Family Green Cards: How to Speed Up Your Case

January 2020 Visa Bulletin

The January 2020 Visa Bulletin is, for the most part, disappointing although there are a few bright spots.

Employment Categories

The best news in the employment-based categories is that worldwide EB-1 moves forward 2 1/2 months and that the other worldwide EB categories remain current.

There is minimal movement in the EB categories for persons born in China where the average advancement varies from 1 to 4 weeks.

The same is true for Filipinos where the EB-3 category moves forward by only 2 weeks.

The worst news in the EB categories is for persons born in India. Outdated per-country quotas have frozen the EB-1 and EB-3 priority dates while the EB-2 category inches forward by 3 days. The only good news is that India EB-5 advances by 4 months.

The EB-4 category fails to advance for the 3 backlogged Central American countries while EB-4 Mexico moves ahead by 2 weeks.

EB-5 Vietnam inches forward by 1 week.

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Family Categories

The best news is that the family-based 2A category for spouses and children of green card holders remains current in January. However, with one exception, the other worldwide family-based categories remain frozen or move forward by a single week. The exception is the worldwide family 1st category for unmarried adult sons and daughters of U.S. citizens which advances by 2 months.

The biggest movements in the family-based categories in January are for persons born in the Philippines. Each of these categories jump ahead between 2 and 4 months. However, waiting 10 to 20 years for a green card simply because of your country of birth shows how broken our immigration system is.

The 4th preference category for brothers and sisters born in India inches forward by 1 week.

Due to per-country caps, none of the family-based categories for persons born in Mexico advance more than 3 weeks and the 1st and the 2B category fail to advance at all.

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Law Offices of Carl Shusterman
600 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 1550
Los Angeles, CA, 90017
Phone: (213) 623-4592, Ext. 0
Fax: (213) 623-3720

Volume 25, Number 1
January 2020

1. Good Moral Character Rules Restricted by USCIS

2. January 2020 State Department Visa Bulletin

3. Visa Bulletin Predictions for Fiscal Year 2020

4. Immigration Government Processing Times

5. Success Story: Helping a Foreign-Born Physician Get a Green Card

6. Trivia Quiz: Immigrant Inventions that Americans Use Every Day

7. Ask Mr. Shusterman: H-1B Online Registration System Starts on March 1, 2020

8. Shusterman's Upcoming Immigration Seminars

9. Jobs & Green Cards for RNs & MedTechs: Free Legal Help!

10. Winner of Our December 2019 Immigration Trivia Quiz

SHUSTERMAN'S
IMMIGRATION UPDATE

SHUSTERMAN'S IMMIGRATION UPDATE is the Web's most popular e-mail newsletter regarding U.S. immigration laws and procedures with over 40,000 subscribers located in more than 150 countries. It is written by a former INS Trial Attorney (1976-82) with over 40 years of experience practicing immigration law.

 

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NEWS FLASHES

January 13, 2020

Check Case Processing Times (USCIS)

Historical Average Processing Times (USCIS)

Visa Appointment Wait Time (DOS)

AAO Appeals Processing Times

USCIS Processing Times
Continue to Rise

USCIS processing times have almost doubled over the past few years.

Sometimes it takes over 2 years for the agency to complete the processing of an I-485.

Here are some of the reasons why this is happening:

1. In 2017, USCIS announced that persons seeking to adjust their status through employer sponsorship (aka "merit-based immigrants") would, for the first time in over 20 years, be subject to in-person interviews at District Offices. Since most employment-based (EB) immigrants adjust their status in the U.S. as opposed to most persons in the family-based preference categories, this greatly increased I-485 backlogs.

2. Since most EB applications for adjustment of status have been adjudicated in USCIS's Service Centers for decades, officers at District Offices often lack experience in EB immigration. Many professionals receive RFEs, NOIDs and denials, sometimes based on USCIS errors. Recently, we assisted an IT professional in overcoming a NOID when the officer clearly did not understand how the 180-day portability rule worked

3. The Administration encouraged officers to look for reasons to deny I-485s and other benefits.

In a news alert published in 2019, USCIS stated:

"USCIS remains committed to adjudicating applications, petitions, and requests for immigration benefits as effectively and efficiently as possible in accordance with all applicable laws, policies, and regulations while securing the integrity of the immigration system."

We appreciate USCIS's concern, yet we are not seeing significant improvements in processing times, especially for persons applying for adjustment of status.

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How You Can Find I-485 Processing Times

To learn how long processing times are for each type of immigration benefit, go to the USCIS website, place your cursor on "Tools" and you will see a megamenu. Under the heading "Online Resources", click on "Case Processing Times". You will see 2 menus on the left side of the screen.

Click the down arrow under "Forms" and chose the form which corresponds with the immigration benefit you are seeking. For example, if you are applying for adjustment of status through employment, investment, marriage, relatives or the green card lottery, click on "I-485".

Then, choose the location of the "Field Office" where you will be interviewed.

Finally, click the Blue Box which says "Get Processing Time".

Unfortunately, the USCIS website shows such a wide range of processing times that this may not be very helpful. For example, the processing times for I-485s in Los Angeles range from 7 ½ to 17 months while the times in New York City are between 18 ½ and 32 ½ months.

We list of the current I-485 processing times in some of the largest USCIS District Offices from our Immigration Waiting Times page.

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Law Offices of Carl Shusterman
600 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 1550
Los Angeles, CA, 90017
Phone: (213) 623-4592, Ext. 0
Fax: (213) 623-3720

January 20, 2020

Visa Bulletin Predictions

AOS Filing Charts (USCIS)

Green Cards through Employment

Green Cards through Family

February 2020 Visa Bulletin

Employment-Based Categories

EB-1 Worldwide will advance by 2 months while EB-1 China and India will remain frozen.

All other EB Worldwide categories will remain current in February although EB-3 Worldwide is expected to retrogress in March.

EB-2 China will advance by 2 weeks while EB-2 India will inch forward by a single day.

EB-3 Philippines will advance by 2 ½ months, EB-3 China by 1 month and EB-3 India by 1 week.

EB-4 Mexico will move forward by 3 weeks while EB-4 for backlogged Central American countries will remain frozen.

EB-5 India will advance by 4 months while EB-5 China and Vietnam will each move forward by 1 week.

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Family-Based Categories

The Good News: F-2A will remain current and each of the FB categories for the Philippines will advance between 2 ½ to 4 months.

The So-So News: Most of the FB Worldwide categories will advance between 1 and 5 weeks, India F4 by 2 weeks and the Mexico FB categories between 1 and 3 weeks.

The Bad News: F4 Worldwide will retrogress 7 months to July 1, 2006.

AOS and Visa Bulletin Predictions

Later this week, USCIS will announce whether they will use the Dates of Filing Charts for submission of Adjustment of Status applications as they have for the past few months, and the State Department will release its latest Visa Bulletin Predictions.

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Law Offices of Carl Shusterman
600 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 1550
Los Angeles, CA, 90017
Phone: (213) 623-4592, Ext. 0
Fax: (213) 623-3720