Immigration Reform News

US News says that while many believe immigration reform would effectively take away jobs from Americans, "a new report by the conservative-leaning American Action Network, is evidence that the bill might just be the stimulus Congress has been looking for to put the stagnant economy into overdrive." Immigration reform could also mean a $2 billion a year increase in state and local tax revenues." Meanwhile Salon says "Immigration reform just got punched in the gut" as they report that Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and top GOP immigration bill writer, says: "''I would not give what I call a special pathway to citizenship to anyone who’s illegally in the United States.'"

The Nonimmigrant Consular Process

Once foreign nationals receive an I-797 approval notice for the I-129 petition from United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), many assume they are done. Many think that this I-797 approval notice is a “visa.” It is not. For most nonimmigrant categories, there are three distinct stages that foreign nationals must go through in order to be admitted to the US in a valid nonimmigrant status:

1. Obtain an I-797 approval notice for a nonimmigrant visa petition from USCIS, confirming a foreign national’s eligibility for a specific visa classification;

2. Attend a visa appointment at a US Embassy/Consulate abroad to obtain a visa stamp in their passport; and

3. Gain admission to the US by passing through Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Customs and Border Protection (CBP) at the port of entry.

This post focuses on the second stage—the consular process.

 

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THE WAll STREET JOURNAL: "For Small Firms, Visas Are a Big Headache"

The Wall Street Journal suggests H-1Bs are more difficult for smaller companies to obtain:

Kelsey Falter, founder of New York startup Poptip, says the headaches of immigration paperwork have put her venture in limbo.
Last year, Ms. Falter hired an Arizona-based software developer who had helped create a program that she used to get her startup—a website that analyzes real-time social media surveys—off the ground.
But there was a hitch: The developer, 25-year-old Rolando Fentanes, was a Mexican citizen who needed to apply for a separate immigration status before Ms. Falter could file the paperwork for an H-1B visa—a temporary work permit the U.S. issues to highly skilled foreign workers. That separate application wasn't approved until June, two months after the annual cap for H-1B visas was reached. Now, Ms. Falter and Mr. Fentanes will have to wait another year to apply.

Will the H-1B cap increase? Will April 1, the first day H-1B cap cases can be filed, become just an ordinary day at immigration law firms across the country? We await the results of immigration reform.

[Read on The Wall Street Journal] 

USCIS'S New ID Requirements

There is sincere concern at immigration about identity fraud. I can only imagine the stories that Immigration employees must tell about twins attempting to switch identities for immigration benefits or people masquerading as someone else at a green card interview. Now, however, any impersonations will be much more difficult (if not impossible) since in an effort to combat identity fraud during the immigration process, USCIS has implemented a new program called Customer Identity Verification (CIV).

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Huffington Post: "Undocumented Immigrant, Sergio Garcia, Fights To Become A Lawyer In California"

Although he passed the California State Bar exam on the first try, Sergio Garcia cannot obtain a law license. The reason: he is an undocumented immigrant. The Huffington Post reports:

A majority of California Supreme Court justices appeared reluctant Wednesday to grant a law license to Sergio Garcia, who graduated law school and passed the state's bar exam but has been living illegally in the United States for 20 years. A federal law passed by Congress in 1996 bars immigrants in the country illegally from receiving 'professional licenses' from government agencies or with the use of public funds unless state lawmakers specifically vote otherwise.

Sergio Garcia, who self-financed his way through law school by working at a grocery store and publishing a self-help book (is this it? If so get that man a law license immediately), states in the article: ""This is about trying to live the American Dream and showing other immigrants that hard work and dedication does mean something in this country... "

The Obama Administration is arguing against Garcia obtaining his law license.  Rather confusing, as Immigration Impact notes: "...Garcia is precisely the type of person the Obama Administration has been urging deserves an opportunity to obtain lawful status and get on a path to citizenship."

UPDATE: California Governor Brown signed AB 1024 into law. This allows applicants who are not lawfully present in the United States, to be admitted as an attorney at law.  The Huffington Post interviews Garcia here.

UPDATE II: Garcia has been granted a law license.

All About the (Paperless) I-94

Starting on April 30, 2013, US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) made a major change with the I-94 procedure. Except for certain cases, CBP eliminated the issuance of paper I-94 cards when foreign nationals arrive in the US (for visitors from Visa Waiver Program countries, I-94s were eliminated last July). Now, upon entry to the US, instead of receiving a paper I-94 card, most foreign nationals will receive only an admission stamp in their passport. This admission stamp notes the date and place of entry, category of admission, and expiration of stay. CBP will upload the foreign nationals’ information into its new electronic I-94 system, and foreign nationals can, at a later time, print their I-94 document at CBP.gov/I94.

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New Electronic Form DS-260

The State Department has recently made a change for immigrants applying for a green card through a consular post abroad. Prior to September 1, 2013, The National Visa Center (which processes and organizes all paperwork for the State Department before sending the case to the US consulate abroad) required applicants who were permanently immigrating to the United States through a consular post to submit the paper DS-230 biographic form along with all the other required documentation. A paper immigrant visa application such as this has been required since the Immigration and Nationality Act was enacted back in 1952. It’s been pretty much the same process since Harry Truman was president, the average new car cost $1,700, and the Big Bang Theory was a new scientific idea, not a television show.

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2013 SUMMER BOAT DANCE

Every summer for the past three years the staff of Daryanani Law Group (and their significant others) have taken a brief rest from preparing work visas and green card petitions for a boat trip around New York City. This year the trip was on a beautiful summer evening. There was good food, good conversation, and a few alcoholic beverages were responsibly consumed (well, mostly). Of course, there was dancing. Overall, a fun evening, and no one fell in the water. Success! Managing Partner Protima Daryanani and Paralegal Matthew Innes took some photos.

NEW YORK TIMES: "TA-TA LONDON HELLO AWESOME"

Sarah Lyall's time in London as foreign correspondent to The New York Times has ended, and she writes about the British:

Why did rain surprise them? Why were they still obsessed by the Nazis? Why were they so rude about Scotland and Wales, when they all belonged to the same, very small country? And — this was the hardest question of all — what lay beneath their default social style, an indecipherable mille-feuille of politeness, awkwardness, embarrassment, irony, self-deprecation, arrogance, defensiveness and deflective humor?       

Not that Americans get off easy:

After years of using pound and euro coins, I find dollar bills cumbersome and idiotic. After years of living happily among Britons who by New York standards would be considered functioning alcoholics, I now find my old friends’ tendency to order wine by the glass, not the bottle, unnecessarily Puritanical.       

It's an excellent and amusing piece.

Along these lines, in an effort to help the two countries better understand each other as well as examine the cultural divide, Guardian's New York newsroom has a very informative tumblr called English to English. Especially helpful is their link to this brilliant chart.