US consulate denies H1B visa curtailment for Indians
Legislation introduced to limit H-1B and L-1 visa programs
Owner of Mandarin restaurant to be deported after jail
VIA Jacksonville.com
“The co-owner of a popular Jacksonville restaurant received a three-month sentence Monday for harboring illegal aliens and faces certain deportation to his native India.
Sanjit Kumar Rajak, who was head chef and manager of Cilantro Indian Cuisine in Mandarin, will complete his prison sentence in about a week because he has been behind bars since his January arrest. He agreed to a $5,000 fine.
His lawyer, Shawn Arnold, said he expects deportation proceedings to begin immediately, a bitter end for a successful businessman who lived a rags-to-riches story. Arnold said Rajak won’t be allowed to re-enter the United States for five to 10 years.
Rajak admitted hiring four illegal workers and leasing their Sunbeam Road apartment. He has no other criminal record.”
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USCIS Reminds all U.S. Employers of Requirements to Use Revised Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification
WASHINGTON, April 3, 2009 — U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services (USCIS) issued a reminder that the revised Form I-9,
Employment Eligibility Verification (Rev. 02/02/09), goes into effect
today for all U.S. employers. The revision date is printed on the lower
right-hand corner of the form.
The interim final rule, published
Dec.17, 2008 in the Federal Register, revised the list of documents
acceptable for the Employment Eligibility Verification (Form I-9)
process. Employers may no longer use previous versions of the Form I-9.
The
revised list improves the security and effectiveness of the Form I-9
process. The list specifies that expired documents are no longer
acceptable forms of identification or employment authorization.
Allowing for expired documents makes it more difficult for employers to
verify an employee’s identity and employment authorization and
compromises the Form I-9 process.
USCIS also updated the
Handbook for Employers – Instructions for Completing Form I-9 to
reflect the requirements of the revised Form I-9.
Employers who do not have computer access can order Forms I-9 by calling our toll-free forms line at 1-800-870-3676.
USCIS
forms and information on immigration laws, regulations, and procedures
can also be requested by calling the National Customer Service Center
toll-free at 1-800-375-5283.
USCIS Continues to Accept FY 2010 H-1B Petitions
WASHINGTON – April 8, 2009, USCIS announced it continues to accept
H-1B nonimmigrant visa petitions subject to the fiscal year 2010 (FY
2010) cap. USCIS will continue to monitor the number of H-1B petitions
received for both the 65,000 regular cap and the 20,000 U.S. master’s
degree or higher educational exemption cap.
Should USCIS receive
the necessary number of petitions to meet the respective caps, it will
issue an update to advise the public that, as of a certain date (the
“final receipt date”), the respective FY 2010 H-1B caps have been met.
The final receipt date will be based on the date USCIS physically
receives the petition, not the date that the petition is postmarked.
The date or dates USCIS informs the public that the respective caps
have been reached may differ from the actual final receipt date.
To
ensure a fair system, USCIS may randomly select the number of petitions
required to reach the numerical limit from the petitions received as of
the final receipt date. USCIS will reject cap subject petitions that
are not selected, as well as those received after the final receipt
date.
Petitions filed on behalf of current H-1B workers, who
have been counted previously against the cap, will not count toward the
congressionally mandated FY 2010 H-1B cap.
Therefore, USCIS will continue to process petitions filed to:
-
Extend the amount of time a current H-1B worker may remain in the United States.
-
Change the terms of employment for current H-1B workers.
-
Allow current H-1B workers to change employers.
-
Allow current H-1B workers to work concurrently in a second H-1B position.
H-1B in General –
U.S. businesses use the H-1B program to employ foreign workers in
specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise
in fields, such as scientists, engineers, or computer programmers.
H-1B Updates – Via AILA
VIA AILA
USCIS has confirmed that if USCIS determines that they have received
a sufficient number of cases in the first five business days of April
to reach the cap, then the “lottery” will be based on petitions
received all five days. USCIS will not begin to issue receipts,
however, until a determination is made that sufficient H-1B petitions
have been received within the first five business days of April, ending
April 7, 2009. After the “lottery” is conducted, the USCIS will then
issue receipts for those cases which are selected, and the receipts
will likely all have the same receipt date, April 8, 2009. USCIS has
indicated that guidance will be issued to explain that all petitions
received between April 1, 2009, and April 7, 2009, will have the same
receipt date. This is important for those F-1 beneficiaries whose OPT
will expire between April 1st and April 7th so that Designated School
Officers will know that an H-1B petition was timely filed and that a
beneficiary may be eligible for cap-gap employment authorization or
status based on the actual filing date.
As the regulation provides, if USCIS concludes that insufficient
H-1B petitions have been received within the first five business days
of April, USCIS will continue to receive and accept petitions until the
day upon which USCIS concludes that a sufficient number of petitions is
reached. USCIS will then conduct the lottery for those cases received
on the last day. While USCIS believes that the cap will be reached
before October 1, 2009, they are not able to make any further
predictions, although they have heard from various stakeholder groups
(including AILA), that fewer petitions are expected to be filed during
this H-1B cap season.
Obama Signs Bill Extending Two Immigration-Related Programs
On 3/20/09, President Obama signed H.R. 1127 (PL 111-9), which extends two immigration related programs –Religious Workers and Conrad 30– through 9/30/09.
The bill was passed by the House of Representatives on 3/4/09, and by the Senate on 3/11/09.
‘H1B quota expected to be filled up in the first few days’
Via The Economic Times
Amid speculation that there would be reduction in number of H-IB visas, which has attracted large number of Indian professionals, a top immigration expert has said that the quota of 65,000 will get capped as the filing opens on April 1.
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Experts slam ban on bailed-out firms hiring H-1B holders
Via The Times of India
WASHINGTON: Economic experts have slammed a provision in the $787 bailout package that US President Barack Obama signs into law on Tuesday barring banks and other financial institutions receiving government funds from hiring foreign workers.
But analysts also suggest that the impact of the provision in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act barring such firms from hiring foreigners through the H-1B visa programme, largely cornered by Indian techies, may not be as severe as some prophets of doom fear.
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02/27/2009
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