Group Claims Discrimination, Targets Employers Recruiting H-1B Workers
Via ERE.net
As special interests pressure the U.S. Senate to lift the cap on H-1B
visas, a computer programmer advocacy group is filing complaints with
the U.S. Department of Justice against more than 300 IT services
employers whose ‘Help Wanted’ ads it believes discriminate against
American citizens, denying workers here equal access to U.S. jobs.
American dream sours for an exile
Via MiamiHerald.com
08/28/2006
For 12 years, Julio Rosell has lived, worked and paid taxes from his
roomy, idyllic Hollywood home — his lawn freshly mowed; his two cars
polished; his boat luxurious.
He fathered two American-born children: 10-year-old Jeannette and 9-year-old Julio Jr.
As a Cuban exile, he expected his American dream to continue.
But now Rosell finds himself in a situation unfamiliar to most Cuban exiles. His immigration status is in limbo.
The 41-year-old Havana native lost his bid for a green card because
he came to the United States as a stowaway. While he won’t likely be
deported, he cannot legally drive or work now.
”No one seems to care,” said his wife, Caroline Rosell, whose own
status depends on her husband’s. “My husband has no driver’s license,
mine’s about to expire and we are supposed to be supporting two kids
financially. I wonder how they really expect us to live — without
papers or a driver’s license.”
In the decade he adjusted to the American way of life, no one told Rosell he shouldn’t be here.
US proposes raising H1-B visas for Indians
Via The Times Of India
08/28/2006
NEW DELHI: The US on Friday said it
has a proposal to raise the H1-B visa quota for Indians by 25 per cent and is
taking steps to reduce the waiting period for visa applications, particularly
students, of this country.
It also denied that religion was any
criteria for issuance or denial of visa to anybody.
Efforts are
underway to raise the quota for H1-B (short duration stay) visas for Indians and
there is a proposal to hike it by 25 per cent, Peter G Kaestner, newly-appointed
Minister for Consular Affairs at the US Embassy said.
At present, the
limit of such visas meant for those employed temporarily is 80,000. Last year,
the cap was one lakh.
The issue is political in nature and US
Congress has to decide on it finally, the official said.
Kaestner,
who has served at the US Embassy earlier also, said he felt the number would
remain inadequate even after the hike.
The US H1B visa is
non-immigrant visa, which allows a US company to employ a foreign individual for
up to six years. The H1B visa-seekers could be those employed temporarily in a
speciality occupation or as a fashion model of distinguished merit and
ability.
Kaestner said the number of Indian students in the US was
growing, recording an increase of 30 per cent last year.
The US
Embassy is making efforts to reduce the waiting period for visa seekers,
particularly students and cut down on the backlog.
USCIS Creates E-mail Addresses for Questions on International Adoption Applications
USCIS News Release
USCIS MAKES IT EASIER TO ASK ABOUT ADOPTION APPLICATIONS
District Offices Create Email Boxes to Respond to Questions
WASHINGTON, D.C. -U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
invites parents with questions on pending international adoption
applications to make use of newly designated email addresses devoted
solely to international adoptions. Each USCIS District Office will have
a dedicated electronic mail address reserved solely for customer
service on international adoptions.
Given the complex and highly charged issues surrounding
international adoptions, prospective adoptive parents frequently have
difficult and urgent questions that are not easily addressed through
routine customer service channels. The new e-mail service will expedite
customer communications with USCIS on issues ranging from the
completion of application forms to questions involving case status. The
email addresses can be obtained by calling the USCIS National Customer
Service Center information line at 1-800-375-5283.
USCIS anticipates that this new service will offer prospective adoptive parents more timely answers to their questions.
-USCIS-
On March 1, 2003, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
became one of three former INS components to join the U.S. Department
of Homeland Security. USCIS is charged with fundamentally transforming
and improving the delivery of immigration and citizenship services,
while enhancing the integrity of our nation’s security.
Deported Man Was Actually U.S. Citizen
Via Forbes.com
Duarnis Perez became an American citizen when
he was 15, but he didn’t find out until after he had been deported and
then jailed for trying to get back into the country.
He was facing his second deportation hearing
when he learned he was already a U.S. citizen. Still, federal
prosecutors fought to keep him in custody.
Last week, a federal judge scolded prosecutors for the mistake.
“In effect, the government is arguing that an
innocent man who was wrongly convicted should not be released from the
custody of the United States,” U.S. District Judge Lawrence Kahn wrote.
He ruled that Perez never should have been deported.
The case has gotten the attention of
immigration observers, who call it a striking example of the gaps in an
overworked immigration system.
Perez became a citizen when his mother was
naturalized in 1988 but apparently wasn’t aware of it. His lawyer, J.
Jeffrey Weisenfeld of New York, declined to release details other than
to say that Perez, now in his early 30s, remains in the United States.
U.S. turning to DNA to prove family ties
Via The Seattle Times
08/24/2006
After waiting nearly 12 years to help his sister and her family
obtain green cards so they could move to the U.S., Nak Sieng faced one
final hurdle: proving he and his sister really are related.
An exercise that might have been simple for some was a monumental
challenge for the siblings who had lived through Cambodia’s
revolutionary war and, as a result, couldn’t obtain certain documents —
like birth certificates or school or medical records — to prove their
relationship.
Childhood photos the family was able to save from the war years were
too old, authorities told them. And photos from Sieng’s more recent
visits to Cambodia in 2000 were too new.
Then U.S. embassy officials in Thailand asked for a kind of evidence
that attorneys say is becoming increasingly common in immigration
cases: a DNA test.
The test proved unequivocally that the two are brother and sister.
USCIS Expands Premium Processing Service to EB-3 I-140 Petitions, New I-907 Premium Processing Form Released
Via AILA
On August 18, 2006, USCIS announced that, beginning August 28, it will begin
accepting premium processing requests for I-140 petitions involving EB-3
Professionals (i.e., immigrant workers with bachelors degrees who are
members of the professions) and EB-3 Skilled Workers (<!–
D(["mb","i.e., immigrant \nworkers capable of performing skilled labor requiring at least two years of \neducation, training or experience). Premium processing will not be available to \n"other workers" in the EB-3 category for jobs that do not require two years of \neducation, training or experience. The press release is available on AILA \nInfoNet at document #06081867: http://www.aila.org/content/default.aspx?docid\u003d20317
\n
USCIS issued a revised I-907 premium processing form which does not request \nany additional information but does include the newly designated classifications \nand a revision date of August 28, 2006. USCIS will not accept any premium \nprocessing requests for Form I-140 before August 28 and any premium processing \nrequests for Form I-129 received before August 28 must use the current Form \nI-907 with the revision date of April 1, 2006. All premium processing requests \nreceived on or after August 28, 2006 will be rejected unless they are on the \nI-907 form bearing the August 28, 2006 revision date. The revised form is \navailable on AILA InfoNet at document #06082161: http://www.uscis.gov/graphics/formsfee/forms/files/I-907Rev082806.pdf
\n
\n
3. Action Alert: Support Legislation to Protect Vulnerable Refugees and \nAsylum Seekers
\n
Urge your Representative to support H.R. 5918 and protect innocent refugees \nand asylum seekers from becoming unintended victims of the war on terrorism! \nCertain overly broad provisions in the PATRIOT Act and the REAL ID Act have in \npractice worked to deny protection to vulnerable refugees and asylum seekers. \nThe "material support" provisions affect anyone who has given any amount of \nmoney, goods or assistance to any armed group — including groups resisting \noppressive regimes and factions that extort such assistance with threats of \nviolence. In practical terms, our government is denying safety and freedom to \nrefugees and asylum seekers who, before the current provisions, would clearly \nhave qualified for protection. “,1]
);
//–>i.e., immigrant
workers capable of performing skilled labor requiring at least two years of
education, training or experience). Premium processing will not be available to
“other workers” in the EB-3 category for jobs that do not require two years of
education, training or experience.
USCIS issued a revised I-907 premium processing form which does not request
any additional information but does include the newly designated classifications
and a revision date of August 28, 2006. USCIS will not accept any premium
processing requests for Form I-140 before August 28 and any premium processing
requests for Form I-129 received before August 28 must use the current Form
I-907 with the revision date of April 1, 2006. All premium processing requests
received on or after August 28, 2006 will be rejected unless they are on the
I-907 form bearing the August 28, 2006 revision date.
AAO Unpublished Decision on “Specialty Occupation” for Film and Video Director
VIA AILA
In an unpublished decision provided to AILA courtesy of member Daniel
Huang, the AAO addressed whether the occupation of “film and video director” is
a “specialty occupation” for H-1B purposes. The AAO concluded that, despite the
fact that the DOL’s Occupational Outlook Handbook does not state that a
baccalaureate level education in a specific specialty is normally the minimum
requirement for entry into the position of director, the duties of this
particular position are so specialized and complex that knowledge required to
perform them is “usually associated with the attainment of a baccalaureate
degree or higher degree”.
IMMIGRATION WOES: U.S. gives teenager approval to work
Via The Toledo Blade
08/12/2006
|
|
PANDORA, Ohio – In time to start college this
fall, a German-born teenager who has been fighting to stay in the
United States has been granted employment authorization by U.S.
immigration officials, his attorney said yesterday.
That means Manuel Bartsch can for the first time get a Social Security
number, a driver’s license, a job, go to college, and as he put it, “be
normal.”
Mr. Bartsch, 19, made international headlines in December when he was
jailed and ordered deported after meeting with immigration officials in
Cleveland to try to iron out his legal status.
He ultimately was released and allowed to finish his senior year at
Pandora-Gilboa High School, but his future remains uncertain as he
awaits an as yet-unscheduled hearing in immigration court.
“The key thing is, he’s not subject to immediate removal or detention,”
his attorney, David Leopold, said. “This development is a good one
because it permits him at least in the interim to continue to get his
education.”
Mr. Bartsch said in a telephone interview that he was scheduled to
begin business courses at the University of Northwestern Ohio in Lima
on Oct. 3. He took a placement test at the private college Thursday, he
said, but was not able to register for classes because he lacked a
Social Security number.
Shawn Saucier, spokesman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services,
confirmed that an employment authorization document would enable Mr.
Bartsch to get a Social Security number and legally work in the United
States. Admission to college is dependent upon the college, he said.
Mr. Bartsch, who was accepted to the University of Northwestern Ohio
before he graduated in May, said he was encouraged by the latest
development in his case.
“I’ve been hanging out with my uncle and friends – just trying to have
a good time,” he said. “That’s about all I could do. I’m not allowed to
work at all. I’ve had some boring days. I’ve done a lot of Xbox
playing.”
The teenager was born in 1987 in Germany, where he was reared by his
grandparents. His grandmother was killed in an auto accident in 1993.
His step-grandfather, Toby Deal, brought him to Putnam County on a 90-day visa waiver when he was 10.
Mr. Bartsch didn’t learn until he was much older that Mr. Deal never
filled out the necessary forms that would have made it legal for him to
stay in the country. Over Christmas break, he went to Cleveland to try
to straighten out his situation with immigration officials, but instead
he spent two weeks in jail.
Mr. Leopold, a Cleveland immigration attorney, took his case for free
and was able to get a federal immigration judge to listen to Mr.
Bartsch’s story.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agreed to release Mr. Bartsch,
and his case is now on hold while two private immigration bills
intended to give him permanent resident status make their way through
Congress.
Mr. Bartsch, who is now living with Mr. Deal’s brother, Chuck, near
Ottawa, Ohio, said he was “just glad that I got the work authorization
so I can go to school and hopefully wait it out.”
Accused Ethiopian torturer loses appeal
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Kelbessa
Negewo, the former Atlanta bellhop accused of torturing political
opponents during the brutal period in Ethiopia’s history known as the
Red Terror campaign, has lost an appeal to stay in the United States.
Negewo’s case was significant because his was the first removal
order obtained by ICE under the Intelligence Reform Act of 2004.
Michael Keegan, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) in Washington, said Negewo, who is currently being
detained by immigration authorities in Atlanta, can still appeal.
Negewo fled his homeland in 1987 and came to the United States under a
student visa.
A few years later, he was identified by one of his accusers,
Edgegayehu Taye, who worked at the same hotel. Taye notified two other
Ethiopian women who identified Negewo as the man who had tortured them
during the bloody regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam.
“We are pleased that this process has come to a definitive
conclusion that will result in an added measure of justice with Mr.
Negewo being removed from this country where he should never have been
allowed to enter and receive asylum,” said Michael Tyler, a partner
with the firm of Kilpatrick Stockton, which represented the women. “And
it’s altogether fitting and proper that he be returned to Ethiopia
where he has been convicted for his acts of murder and torture and
sentenced to life imprisonment.”
Tyler said he had spoken to his clients who are “pleased with this result.”
Negewo had vigorously fought deportation claiming that if he were
returned to Ethiopia, he would likely be tortured. He denied any
wrongdoing.
In its ruling earlier this month, the Department of Justice’s Board
of Immigration Appeals, upheld a federal judge’s determination that
Negewo committed acts of persecution, torture and extrajudicial
killings against political opponents in his homeland. It also said
Negewo could expect to receive “at least some aspect of due process in
the Ethiopian court system.”
In 2002, Ethiopia convicted him of crimes in absentia.
Negewo’s case also garnered much attention because of the way in
which he was identified, which had the makings of a Hollywood script.
Taye, one of Negewo’s accusers, worked at the same hotel as a waitress.
According to previous AJC articles, about 15 years ago, a shocked Taye
recognized Negewo as she stepped off an elevator.
In a 2005 interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Taye,
recalled that period in Ethiopia. “There were a lot of things going
on,” she said. “People were arrested, tortured and people
disappeared… . You lived in fear and in terror always.”
Neither Taye nor the other women could be reached for comment.
Taye said she was arrested and taken to a place where she was forced
to strip to her underwear. There, she was hogtied, a wooden pole placed
between her hands and feet, suspended between two pieces of furniture
and beaten.
She didn’t see Negewo again until she moved to Atlanta. Taye said
she was horrified to see him on the job. “It was very hard for me to
see him,” she said. “I thought I was dreaming. “
Taye said she went home and cried uncontrollably. “He was the primary reason for me to flee my country.”
In 1990, according to a previous AJC article, the women sued Negewo.
Several years later a federal judge ordered him to pay $1.5 million in
civil damages.
But that wasn’t the end. In 1995, the former Immigration and
Naturalization Service granted Negewo citizenship. “That obviously
should not have happened,” Kenneth Smith, an ICE official, was quoted
as saying in that same article. In 2001, the government sued to revoke
his citizenship, which he later voluntarily relinquished.
Then last year, authorities arrested Negewo at his Union City home.
Gonzales Changing Immigration Courts
The Associated Press
Wednesday, August 9, 2006; 10:24 PM
WASHINGTON
— Immigration court judges will undergo periodic evaluations and
additional immigration appeals judges will be hired, Attorney General
Alberto Gonzales announced Wednesday.
Gonzales opened a review of
the immigration courts, which operate as part of the Justice
Department, in January after chastising some of them for “intemperate
or even abusive” conduct toward asylum seekers.
“This review has left me reassured of the talent and professionalism
that exists in the immigration courts and at the Board of Immigration
Appeals,” Gonzales said in a statement. But he found room for
improvement.
The more than 200 immigration judges handle hundreds
of thousands of cases each year. Some of the judges have criticized the
quality of their colleagues’ work and the disparaging way some judges
have treated foreigners seeking to remain in this country.
Gonzales’
predecessor, John Ashcroft, overhauled immigration reviews in 2002, but
his changes have been highly criticized. Ashcroft’s overhaul led to
more asylum and other cases being decided by a single judge rather than
a three-judge panel of the Bureau of Immigration Appeals. The reforms
were followed by a marked increase in the number of cases later taken
to regular federal appeals courts.
Gonzales declined to return to
the three-judge format, but made other tweaks to Ashcroft’s reforms,
such as allowing for the return of a case to the immigration appeals
panel if it warrants reconsideration.
The U.S. Immigration Law Blog by Ashwin Sharma 
First PERM BALCA Decision – Re: Harmless Error on Application
Via ILW.com
This article discusses the first PERM BALCA decision, In the Matter of HealthAmerica, No. 2006-PER-00001 (BALCA, Jul. 18, 2006).
The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and the American
Council on International Personnel (ACIP) jointly filed an amicus brief
on this case.