Philadelphia Immigration Lawyer Blog

H-1B employers need to be aware that June 30, 2009 will be the last day that the Department of Labor’s LCA Online system will be operational. As of July 1, 2009, all LCAs for H-1B and E-3 cases will need to be submitted through the iCERT portal and that means the end of instant LCA certifications.

This has very important implications for the timing of H-1B and E-3 applications as they relate to new hires and extensions. Employers will need to allow for delays in LCA certifications of at least 7 days rather than the instant certifications that were previously issued.

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Posted In: H-1B , News

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As I reported in an earlier blog posting, I represent Superman is Dead and I was successful in obtaining their P visas for Warped Tour ’09.

The Whittier Daily News reports here on their opening show on June 26.

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As of June 26, 2009, approximately 44,800 H-1B cap-subject petitions and approximately 20,000 petitions qualifying for the advanced degree cap exemption had been filed.

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The USCIS announced on June 22, 2009 that effective June 29, 2009, it is going to resume Premium Processing Service for most Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker.

The USCIS will accept Premium Processing requests for Form I-140 Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker involving EB-1 Aliens with Extraordinary Ability, EB-1 Outstanding Professors and Researchers, EB-2 Members of Professions with Advanced Degrees or Exceptional Ability not seeking a National Interest Waiver, EB-3 Professionals, EB-3 Skilled Workers, and EB-3 Workers other than Skilled Workers and Professionals.

It will still NOT accept premium processing requests for Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker, that involve EB-1 Multinational Executives and Managers and EB-2 Members of Professions with Advanced Degrees or Exceptional Ability seeking a National Interest Waiver.

This is very welcome news.

With premium processing service, the USCIS guarantees that for the $1,000 processing fee (in addition to the usual application fees), it will decide an application within 15 calendar days. If it doesn’t meet that deadline, the USCIS refunds the $1,000 fee but still continues to process the request as part of the Premium Processing Service.

I have never had a premium processed application not decided within the 15 days so the program definitely works.

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Posted In: Employment Based Immigration , News

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I am happy to report that the USCIS has approved the P-1B visa application that I filed on behalf of Superman is Dead, an Indonesian band, that will be appearing on Warped Tour ’09.

I will post again with more details about the approval in the next day or two.

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I am happy to report another successful Writ of Mandamus action that I filed on behalf of a client whose N-400 Naturalization application was delayed by the USCIS for almost 3 years.

My client filed his N-400 Naturalization application on March 1, 2006 and he had his naturalization interview on June 20, 2006. Then nothing for almost three years.

After my client tried on his own to contact the USCIS to get action on his N-400 and was told only that his N-400 was still pending, he contacted me.

I promptly filed a Writ of Mandamus on his behalf in the United States District Court for New Jersey on April 7, 2009, naming among others, Eric Holder, the Attorney General of the United States and Robert Mueller, the Director of the FBI (responsible for background checks).

Almost immediately after I served the government with the Writ of Mandamus, I was contacted by a U.S. Attorney who told me that the USCIS was going to approve the N-400.

My client’s naturalization ceremony was held on June 10th!

Writs of Mandamus work.
.

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Posted In: Citizenship and Naturalization , News

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On April 3, 2009, the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. issued a very helpful legal analysis of civil laws regarding the issuing of marriage licenses to undocumented aliens.

The report mainly concludes that anyone in the U.S. without proper immigration documentation can’t be denied a marriage license just because of their immigration
status or only because they don’t have a Social Security number.

County clerks in many states have been refusing to issue marriage licenses to undocumented immigrants because they think that an applicant for a marriage license has to have a Social Security number. But, according to the report, this is a misunderstanding of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), which was enacted in 1996. But that law dealt mainly with child support issues, not marriage and immigration issues.

As of January 2009, eight state attorneys general have issued legal opinions regarding
whether a state can deny a marriage license to an applicant who does not have a Social
Security number and in every case the attorney general found that a state cannot deny a license to applicants who do not have a Social Security number.

Here is a link to the entire report.

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