Categories
Updates

USCIS Adopts Final Rule Regarding Employment Eligibility Verification

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Earlier this week, USCIS announced a final rule that adopted without
any changes an interim rule to improve the I-9 Form process. The
federal agency had received 75 public comments in response to this
interim rule, which had been in effect since April 2009. All employers,
agricultural recruiters and referrers who work for fees are required to
verify the identity and employment authorization of each person they
hire for employment in the U.S. Key changes made to the process by
which eligibility is verified that were introduced in the interim rule
and adopted in the final rule include prohibiting the acceptance of
expired documents as proof of eligibility and the additional and
modification of a number of acceptable documents of proof.

This final rule takes effect May 16, 2011. View an FAQ published by USCIS at: http://1.usa.gov/ijBf96.

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Updates

USCIS Posts Number of FY 2012 H-1B Petitions Received

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The first information about petitions submitted for the Fiscal Year
2012 H-1B program has just been posted by USCIS and, as expected, the
amount of petitions received by the federal agency are low. As was seen
last year, only a small handful of companies have submitted requests
for highly skilled workers under the H-1B program. As of April 7, 2011,
a total of 5,900 petitions have been received for the regular cap
program and 4,500 petitions have been received for the H-1B Master’s
Exemption category.

A total of 65,000 H-1B visas are available each year, according to
current federal regulations. USCIS has also receipted 20,000 H-1B
petitions for foreign workers with advanced degrees, leaving no
additional available visa under that exemption.

Categories
Updates

ICE Changes Policy on Deportation to Haiti

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Earlier this week, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) posted a
new policy that may lead to additional deportations to Haiti. Just
after the January 2010 earthquake that gravely affected Haiti, ICE
halted all deportations to Haiti out of concern for people that would
have been deported. In late January, however, ICE shifted its policy
and deported 27 people to Haiti. One of those people died within days
of arriving in Haiti, potentially of cholera, and another became very
sick soon after arriving.

Many immigration and human rights organizations have voiced their
concerns with ICE’s reversal of policy and are asking that the federal
agency return to a halt of deportations.

“One year after the earthquake, Haiti remains in ruins and is now
confronting a cholera epidemic. Our government is sending people back
to horrific circumstances, possibly even death,” said David Leopold,
president of the American Immigration Lawyers’ Association. “AILA urges
the Obama Administration to immediately suspend deportations while
life-threatening conditions in Haiti persist.”

Categories
Updates

New Filing Location for Change of Address Forms

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On April 1, 2011, all USCIS Change of Address and Alien’s Change of
Address forms (Forms AR-11 and AR-11 SR) changed filing locations. The
new address to file these forms is as follows:

U.S Department of Homeland Security
Citizenship and Immigration Services
Attn: Change of Address
1344 Pleasants Drive
Harrisonburg, VA 22801

USCIS notes that any change of address forms mailed to the old location
will be forwarded to the new Harrisonburg address until May 16. The
option of notifying USCIS of a change of address online is also
available at uscis.gov, but only for Form AR-11.

Categories
Updates

Technology Companies Speak to Congress about H-1B/Green Card Reform

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Last week, a number of high-tech companies were given the opportunity
to speak to Congress about the H-1B visa program. In the meeting,
representatives from various companies spoke about the importance of
the H-1B program to technological companies in the U.S. and a few
additionally made the case for easing the process to obtain green cards
as opposed to changing H-1B regulations.

“These two groups don’t agree on everything…. They see the IT benefit
of permanent residents as key,” said former Rep. Bruce Morrison (D-CT),
who testified on behalf of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers.

The American Council on International Personnel also shared its
perspective in a statement that said: “American employers need an
immigration system that includes both temporary and permanent visas as
well as a timely, consistent and predictable process.”

Categories
Updates

Obama Voices Support for Path to Citizenship

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In an attempt to maintain support from Hispanic Americans concerned
about U.S. policies toward immigration, President Obama recently
commented at a town hall meeting that he has not abandoned his efforts
to overhaul U.S. immigration policies. Last year, Congress failed to
pass the Dream Act, which would have provided a path to citizenship for
many illegal immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as young children.

Obama publicly supported the Act at an event at a school in Washington,
DC earlier this month. “We have to have a pathway for citizenship for
those who are just looking for a better life and contributing to our
country,” he said, “and I’ll continue to fight for that.”

The town hall event, which was held in English and translated into
Spanish was sponsored by a Spanish-language TV station and is part of a
larger initiative to support the importance of education funding.

Categories
Global Pinoy

Is the Nurses Petition Still A Passport to Work Abroad? Study Reveals Patient Mortality Increases as Nurse Staffing Decreases

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For several years now, the retrogression of visa availability for employment-based petition for nurses has resulted in a backlog in the issuance of visas. The number of years that a nurse will have to wait to become an immigrant is now an average of five to six years. With the decline in the migration of nurses to the US, a new study shows that lack of nurses in hospitals have caused an increase in mortality of patients.

Blesilda finished her nursing degree in 2009. She planned to migrate and work in the US as a registered nurse. After she passed her board exam and the NCLEX, she paid a substantial sum to a recruiter to find her a US employer. Thereafter, a US employer filed a petition for her immigrant visa in 2010. This petition was eventually approved with a priority date of April 1, 2010.

The approval of the Blesilda’s petition did not guarantee her the immediate issuance of an immigrant visa. She has to undergo a wait of many more years before she is processed for a visa. The visa petition was filed under the 3rd preference employment-based category where the priority dates currently being processed are petitions that filed in 2005. This means that it may take approximately five (5) more years before she is processed for the visa. In the meantime, Blesilda is finding a job in local hospitals in her own town.

Major Changes in Hiring

Before 2007, the registered nurses recruitment in the US was at its height. The US Congress recognized the severe shortages and the adverse effect it had on health care. Thus, more visas were made available for foreign nurses. With immediate visa availability, nurses at that time had the luxury of choosing which US employer to work for. There was even a buying of contracts from one employer to another. That situation has changed. Currently, it is not unheard of for Nurses to pay for employers to file petitions for them.

Beginning 2008, hiring of nurses in the US started to decline. This was also the beginning of the US economic recession where employees started getting laid off and companies began folding up their operations. Though there are still a few nurses being hired by US employers, their numbers are not significant. Many still hold approved petitions by their employers hoping that when their priority dates becomes current, their petitioning employers will still be in operation and will still be in need of their services. There are many instances where petitioning employers have revoked approved petitions for varied reasons ranging from lack of financial ability to pay to just change in corporate structures.

Future of the ‘Nursing’ Career

The migration history of Filipino nurses goes way back.  There is no exact statistics on the number of Filipino nurses in the US but almost every hospital has a Filipino nurse on staff. It would not be hard to envision a scenario where if all Filipino nurses walk out of US hospitals there would be a disaster in the provision of health care.

A recent study published March 17, 2011 by the reputable New England Journal of Medicine found that there is an increase of 2% in patient’s risk of death for work shifts in hospitals that are understaffed. Using scientific methods, the study found that there is a clear connection between in-patient mortality rates and nursing shortage.

Despite the immigration changes that cause delay in the issuance of immigrant visas to foreign nurses, the fact remains that there is still a “shortage of nurses” in the US. Although lay offs are being experienced by US based nurses, this phenomenon is largely brought about by ‘budget’ cuts in state and federal government.

One of the many agenda of the Obama administration is the overhaul of the health care system. While the Republicans are opposing attempts by the Democrats to improve on the health care system, the importance of improving health care remains a priority. However, it may still be some time before these shortages of health care workers will be addressed.
Passion for Care

In the hope of going abroad, many families sacrifice so much for the nursing education of their children. It is the potential of working abroad that motivates many young Filipinos to enter nursing schools. Disappointments are high as these young nurse graduates are faced with limited jobs locally and abroad. The hope, however, is that the current trend is just temporary and it will be a matter of time before the nursing shortage is addressed once again because of the increasing demand for their services in the health care industry. Congratulation to all the new nurses who just graduated and those who just passed the board. If caring is indeed your passion, then you will never allow this temporary situation to affect you. Eventually, you will find yourself practicing your profession wherever you are needed.

(Tancinco may be reached at law@tancinco.com or at 887 7177 or 721 1963)

Categories
Updates

Secure Communities Program Now Active in All 100 Counties in North Carolina

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U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement’s (ICE) controversial Secure
Communities program is now active in all 100 counties in North
Carolina, the program reported this week. North Carolina is now the
tenth state to implement the program; the Obama administration hopes to
have all 50 states enrolled in the Secure Communities program within
the next two years.

The Secure Communities program has been the source of much debate and
controversy. Supporters of the program believe it is necessary to
indentify and target criminal illegal aliens; immigration rights
advocates, however, believe that the program creates a deep level of
distrust between immigration communities and law enforcement.

The Secure Communities program enables local law enforcement to check
fingerprints of arrested individuals against the FBI criminal database
and ICE’s IDENT database to find out if the person is in the U.S.
legally or illegally. Undocumented persons are taken into custody by
ICE, who then works to deport those persons.

According to ICE, the Secure Communities program “improves and
modernizes the identification and removal of criminal aliens from the
United States.”

Categories
Updates

USCIS to Accept Fiscal Year 2012 H-1B Petitions on April 1

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On April 1, 2011, USCIS will begin accepting H-1B petitions subject to
the annual cap for Fiscal Year 2012. All cases will be considered
accepted on the date that USCIS receives a properly filed petition with
the correct fee. The postmark date will not be considered the accepted
date.

U.S. businesses that employ foreign workers engaged in specialty
occupations that require technical or theoretical expertise, such as
scientists, engineers and computer programmers, may use the H-1B
program.

The cap for 2012 is 65,000; the first 20,000 petitions filed on behalf
of people with U.S. master’s degrees or higher will be exempt from this
65,000 cap.

Please note that petitions filed on behalf of a current H-1B worker who
has previously been counted against an annual cap will not count toward
the 2012 annual cap. USCIS states that it will continue to process
petitions filed to extend the amount of time a current H-1B worker may
remain in the U.S., change the terms of employment for an H-1B worker;
allow a current H-1B worker to change employers or allow a current H-1B
worker to work concurrently in a second H-1B position in the U.S.