Month: August 2007

Our office had one more set of checks for an EB case filed in Nebraska on July 2, 2007 that were processed by our bank.  From our experience and what other lawyers are saying, the USCIS receipting of these cases is extremely slow.

Another Receipting Update from the USCIS should be released today.  My guess is there has not been much progress  since last week.  I will post the latest Update as soon as it becomes available.

The following is not legal advice. Please consult a qualified immigration lawyer for advice on your particular matter.

Employment-Based I-485 Applications that were current pursuant to the July 2007 Visa Bulletin must be received by the USCIS by tomorrow. Remember to enclose the correct filing fees (those in effect prior to July 30th) and sign all the forms correctly. Failure to do so may lead to the case being rejected.

If you miss this opportunity, you will have to wait for numbers in your EB category to become available for your priority date again. Check the Visa Bulletin monthly to see which EB categories are current, backlogged or unavailable. A link to the DOS Visa Bulletin can be found to the left.

According to a Boston Globe article:  “Republican presidential candidate John McCain said Wednesday that the issue of illegal immigration angered people unlike no other, including the unpopular war in Iraq, and sparked unprecedented death threats against him.”

The Department of State has released the Visa Bulletin for September 2007.  Surprisingly, some employment-based numbers remain available…go figure!

New York City’s Mayor Bloomberg welcomes immigrants.  According to an article in the New York Sun,  “‘Boy, let them come,’ Mr. Bloomberg said yesterday when asked about Mr. Romney’s recent remarks denouncing New York as a “sanctuary city” for illegal immigrants.”

I was reading an article in the National Post, a Canadian newspaper, about how the PQ, a political party, wants full immigration control for the province of Quebec. This is analogous to a US state demanding it have control over who immigrates to that state.

As I have pointed out in recent postings, some cities and municipalities through ordinances (that are inevitably ruled unconstitutional), try to deter undocumented aliens from living in them while others declare themselves “sanctuary cities” in which the authorities are specifically told that the undocumented are welcome. Some cities even offer identification cards that document the undocumented to allow them to open bank accounts and receive other benefits. As it stands now, there is a hodgepodge of rules that attempt to affect immigration in various parts of the country.

Given the divisiveness over this issue, one wonders if viewed geographically, some areas of the country are more tolerant of immigrants than others. If some states had more liberal immigration policies and others had more restrictionist policies, which states would be better off?

Of course there would be major constitutional hurdles to such a plan, each state would have its own border (perhaps fences or walls would do the trick – definitely a pain for interstate commerce or for traveling across country for Thanksgiving family reunions!), and the country would hardly be true to its name, the United States of America…but it is food for thought.

According to a Business Week article:  “Employers and immigrant rights groups are speaking out against rules announced Aug. 10 by the Bush Administration requiring employers to fire workers without valid Social Security numbers. Opponents argue that the regulations, effective in one month, will create a disastrous ripple effect in the U.S. economy and disrupt the lives of an estimated 12 million undocumented people in the U.S.”

I will post a summary of the new rule shortly.

Latest Update from the USCIS on processing times:

“August 10, 2007

USCIS ISSUES SERVICE CENTER AND LOCKBOX RECEIPTING UPDATE

WASHINGTON – USCIS announced today that it has experienced a tremendous increase in the number of applications filed, which has resulted in a front log of cases awaiting data-entry. USCIS is making every effort to address the delay.

USCIS will prioritize data entry for specific form-types. Delay in data entry and fee receipting will not affect Change of Status or Extension of Stay eligibility, assuming all other eligibility
requirements are satisfied. USCIS would also like to assure its customers that requests for Premium Processing Service will continue to be processed within 15 days, consistent with existing policies and procedures.

The actual received date will be honored and recorded on the receipt notice. This date will appear in the “Received Date” box on Form I-797, Notice of Action. The received date on Form I-797 is different from the “Notice Date,” which also appears on the Notice and identifies the date the receipt notice was actually generated.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) will provide weekly updates to give our customers accurate information about current receipt times and service level commitments. As of the date of this notice, USCIS has completed data entry and has issued receipt notices for applications and petitions received on or before the following dates:

California Service Center

N-400 7/18/2007
All Other 8/2/2007

Nebraska Service Center

I-131 7/1/2007
I-140 7/1/2007
I-485
Employment
Based 7/1/2007
I-765 7/2/2007
N-400 7/24/2007
All Other 8/5/2007

Texas Service Center

I-131 6/28/2007
I-140 7/31/2007
I-485
Employment
Based 6/28/2007
I-765 6/28/2007
N-400 7/11/2007
All Other 7/30/2007

Vermont Service Center

I-129 7/26/2007
I-130 7/22/2007
I-539 7/26/2007
N-400 7/11/2007
All Other 7/26/2007

USCIS Lockbox

I-485 Family
Based 7/26/2007

USCIS would also like to remind the public to wait at least 14 days from the dates indicated above for their receipt notice to arrive in the mail before inquiring.”

The number is 877-CIS-4MIL (877-247-4645) and is dedicated for the exclusive use of military personnel,

Apparently, receipt notices have started trickling in for I-485 applications that were received by the Nebraska Service Center on July 2, 2007. So if your application was filed in July and you have not yet heard any news, it shouldn’t be too much longer.

Remember, this is the last week (August 17th is the deadline) to file Employment-Based I-485 applications that were current per the July visa bulletin.