USWorkVisa.com News Archive
for July 5th, 2009

President Barack Obama met on June 25, 2009, with several members of his cabinet, advisors, and Congress to discuss immigration reform. President Obama noted that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano will lead a group that will work with key members of the House and the Senate on immigration issues. President Obama said that “we’ve got a responsible set of leaders sitting around the table who want to actively get something done and not put it off until a year, two years, three years, five years from now, but to start working on this thing right now.”

Meanwhile, Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), chair of the Senate’s immigration subcommittee, said on June 24 that he will hold hearings on employment-related immigration in July. Stay tuned.

The July cut-off date for the India and China EB-2 categories is January 1, 2000. The Department of State reports that these categories could become unavailable in August or September and remain unavailable indefinitely. The Department said there is a backlog of at least 25,000 India EB-2 cases awaiting visa numbers. Charles Oppenheim of the Department of State’s Visa Office reportedly stated that without legislative relief, the waiting time for Indian EB-2 applicants may be measured in years, even decades.

Meanwhile, the EB-1 category for India and China is not likely to stay current, although the EB-1 category worldwide is expected to remain current. EB-3 visa numbers worldwide and for India, China, and Mexico are expected to remain unavailable for the remainder of this fiscal year at least. The EB-3 category for India could remain unavailable indefinitely.

The third preference and “other workers” employment categories are unavailable in July.

The Visa Bulletin for July 2009 is now available.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced (PDF) that the I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification Form (rev. 2/2/09) currently in use will continue to be valid beyond June 30, 2009.

USCIS has requested that the Office of Management and Budget approve the continued use of the current I-9. While this request is pending, the form will not expire.

USCIS will update the I-9 when the extension is approved. Employers will be able to use either the I-9 with the new revision date or the I-9 with the 2/2/09 revision date at the bottom of the form.

The ability to file an H-1B extension or change of employer petition for an H-1B employee on a same-day, or even same-week, basis will end on July 1.

In the past several years, employers have become used to immediate turnaround of H-1B petitions, made possible by the Department of Labor’s (DOL) electronic system for filing and certification of the required Labor Condition Application (LCA). Effective June 30, 2009, the new iCert system for LCAs will eliminate same-day LCA approvals in many cases. Instead, the DOL may take up to seven business days to certify the LCA. Early experience with the system indicates that DOL is using all seven business days or more.

In the era of iCert, advance planning is a must. Employers should monitor the expiration dates of H-1B employees and allow sufficient time (4-6 months) for the preparation and filing of H-1B extensions and amendments. This delay in filing H-1B petitions will also affect the usefulness of H-1B portability, because an individual in H-1B status will only be authorized to work for the new employer upon the filing of the new petition, and a certified LCA is required to make that filing. Under the new system, LCA delays will likely add at least a week to 10 days to that process. Unfortunately, employees who fall victim to the economy will also feel the impact of the delayed LCA certification timing because it will delay their ability to file a new H-1B petition once they have obtained new employment.

If you have further questions on how iCert affects your workforce, contact your Mr. Mark Ivener.

The effective date to require federal contractors to use the E-Verify system to confirm the work authorization of new hires has been delayed again, to September 8, 2009. There is strong bipartisan support for electronic verification of new hires using federal systems, so the Alliance of Business Immigration Lawyers (ABIL) cautions all employers not already using E-Verify to be prepared for it in 2010.

Contact your ABIL attorney for guidance on I-9 audits, transitioning from paper to electronic I-9s, E-Verify training and policies, and related matters. We have many tools and resources available for employers to use in navigating through the new era in employment verification.

For more on this topic, see U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) response to the USCIS Ombudsman on E-Verify: PDF.