An Important disclaimer! The information provided on this page is not legal advice.
Transmission of this information is not intended to create, and receipt by you does not
constitute, an attorney-client relationship. Readers must not act upon any information
without first seeking advice from a qualified attorney. © Copyright 2000 American Immigration
LLC, ILW.COM
Editor's Comments of the Day
The severe weather in the Chicago area on Wednesday and the crash of a Continental Airlines
jet into a terminal at Newark airport continue to effect the attendance at the AILA Annual
Convention in Chicago.
The Department of Labor announced that its proposal for the PERM program scheduled to be
in place by April 1, 2001, will include a $1500 fee for labor certification applications.
There has also been an indication that the department will increase its efforts to clear
the backlog of existing regular and RIR cases to clear the decks for the new program.
The prospect for obtaining labor certification for pending cases and cases filed in
the next few months is good. The implication is that now is the time to file for labor
certification.
The election for AILA treasurer saw three times the activity of elections in past years.
The final count was 707 for Debra Notkin, 677 for Tammy Fox-Isicoff and over 300 for Ellan Ma Lee.
It is good to see a healthy exercise of democracy in the organization.
Congressional News of the Day
House Committee on the Judiciary to Hold Hearings on the "Immigration
Reorganization and Improvement Act of 1999"
The full House Committee on the Judiciary is scheduled to hold a hearing on
H. R. 3918, the "Immigration Reorganization and Improvement Act of 1999,"
on Wednesday June 21, 2000.
INS News of the Day
ILW.COM invites the submissions of correspondence about matters of
immigration law from government agencies. Submissions may be published. Please
send to editor@ilw.com.
Bo Cooper, General Counsel of the INS, who was scheduled to attend an open forum, was
unable to attend due to the weather related flight delays.
DOL News of the Day
Breaking News For AILA
Jim Norris, Special Counsel for Foreign Labor Certification Division of the U.S.
Department of Labor announced at a panel at the American Immigration Lawyers
Conference in Chicago on June 15th that the Department will be sending proposed
regulations for the implementation of the PERM program to the Office of Management
and Budget for review. The proposal will include a $1500 fee to offset the cost
of processing the applications.
Both Mr. Norris and Mr. Dale Ziegler, Chief of the Foreign Labor Certification Division
of the U.S. Department of Labor announced at another panel at the American Immigration
Lawyers Conference in Chicago on June 16th that the US Department of Labor is currently
implementing a reorganization of the US Department of Labor Regional Offices. One of the
changes at the Regional Office level is that regular cases from the old Region 8, based
in Denver and covering Colorado and surrounding states, will now be sent to the Regional
Office in Dallas for adjudication. RIR cases and Limited Review cases in the Denver Regional
Office will not be affected by this change.
DOS News of the Day
Breaking news from AILA
Half of the invited participants in the Department of State Open Forum on June 15
were unable to attend due to the weather related travel delays. Stephen Fischel,
Director, Legislation, Regulations & Advisory Assistance at the Department of State,
updated attendees on the opening of new Immigrant visa issuing posts in Tirana, Albania
(DV still handled in Athens) and Skopia, Macedonia which will also handle immigration
visa for Kosovo. The immigrant visa post in Freetown has been closed and its duties
transferred to Dakar, Kinshasa transferred to Abidjan, and Belgrade to Budapest.
The visa revalidation center has handles more than 43,000 applications since moving to
St. Louis. Although the center experienced some backlogs, the current processing time
is around 3 weeks.
Mr. Fischel expressed frustration with the transfer of the United States Information
Agency (USIA) to the Department of State. He gave several reasons for the huge delays
in processing J-1 waiver requests including lack of staff, incompatible systems and lack
of familiarity with precedents.
Guyle Cavin, Post Liaison Divison of the Department of State, spoke about the
Department's plans for the future. He noted that the Department of State's role in processing
immigrant visas is only part of the picture with large parts of the process being done by the INS.
The DOS plans call for moving more of their processing to the US. This will be accomplished partly
by a system of replication where information entered at a post abroad is stored almost simultaneously
in the database in the US. Although labor costs for handling data in the US may be higher, the
Department still hopes for a savings because security concerns have increased the costs of building
abroad. Plans also call for allowing applicants abroad to designate a US agent to facilitate mail
handling and fee remittance.
Jeff Gorsky, Advisory Opinions Chief, reminded the audience that the posts make factual
determinations and the Advisory Opinions branch will comment only on legal issues.
For purposes of 222(g) and the three year/ten year bars the DOS defers to INS as to
whether an alien's stay in the United States was authorized by the attorney general.
ILW.COM Featured Article of the Day
ILW.COM invites the submission of articles about immigration law. Please send
articles to editor@ilw.com.
Immigration News of the Day
Elian Raiders Got Rough,
Suit Claims
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer more than a dozen protesters and bystanders who claim
they were beaten or sprayed with tear gas during the raid to seize Elian Gonzalez two months
ago are suing federal officials.
"Non-Immigrant" Plan Targets Worker Shortage
The Denver Post writes that thousands of US employers are counting on a new class of work visa proposed by a Colorado immigration lawyer.
ILW.COM Highlights of the Day
ILW.COM at AILA
The members of the ILW.COM team who were able to make it to the AILA Annual Convention
in Chicago despite the challenges of severe weather and cancelled flights have been showing
attorneys the benefits of a listing on ILW.COM, Immigration Daily and the soon to be
released Case Tracking Application.
July Visa Bulletin
ILW.COM Chats and Discussions of the Day
Changing Jobs With H1
What can someone who entered the United States with an H-1B visa do if she stops working for the company that petitioned for her? Join the discussion!
Letters to the Editor
We encourage correspondence on any immigration related matters and comments
on the ILW.COM site. Send letters to editor@ilw.com.
Letters may be edited for clarity, legal and space considerations, and may be published and otherwise used
in any medium.
|
