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USCIS Publishes Final Rule for Religious Worker Visa Classifications.

USCIS has new rules for Religous Workers that will hopefully reduce fraud for this category of visa. 

First, according to USCIS the final rule will require individuals seeking to enter the United States through the nonimmigrant religious worker program to provide a consular officer an approved Petition for Alien Worker.   Next, USCIS will verify that the petitioner and the job offer are legitimate prior to the issuance of a visa and admission of the religious worker to the United States.

Second, the new rule reduces the initial period of admission for a nonimmigrant from three years to a period of up to 30 months.  Religious workers will be allowed one extension of up to an additional 30 months.

The final rule has been transmitted to the Federal Register and will become effective immediately after publication.

Even highly skilled professionals have problems getting access to the United States.  For those who hold the opinion that ALL immigrants need to go home.....what about medical doctors, dentists or even nurses?  Many parts of the country have shortages of qualified nurses and doctors.  This is especially true in areas like Longview, Texas.

One of my friends is a dentist who has a difficult time recruiting a dentists to the practice.  Many US born and trained physicians, dentists and nurses, prefer working in urban locations. The people in the following link are the kind of immigrants many will need as the baby boomers age.  See Link: Towns Need Doctors, and the Doctors Need Visas - NYTimes.com. 

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it has received a sufficient number of petitions to reach the congressionally mandated H-2B cap for the first half of Fiscal Year 2009 (FY2009). 

Additionally, USCIS will reject petitions for new H-2B workers seeking employment start dates prior to April 1, 2009 that arrive after July 29, 2008.

USCIS announced it will deny or revoke all petitions filed by an employer for the same H-1B worker if more than one filing is discovered.  If multiple petitions are discovered, whether one or more such petitions are approved, USCIS will data enter all those duplicative petitions, retain all fees, and either deny the petitions or, if a petition was approved, revoke the petition. The petitions will not be returned to the petitioner.

As of June 6, 2008, USCIS has discovered that less than ½ of one percent of the total H-1B cap eligible petitions received involved duplicate or multiple filings for the same prospective beneficiary.

USCIS has announced Cap Count for H-1B and H-2B Workers for Fiscal Year 2009. 

Hopefully, the newly elected officials in 2009 will see immigration reform legislation as important to our nation's national security, economy and future. 

What do you predict will happen in 2009 regarding legislation?  Please comment and let me know.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) transmitted an interim final rule to the Federal Register that prohibits employers from filing multiple H-1B petitions for the same employee.  To punish employers who file multiple petitions, USCIS will deny or revoke multiple petitions filed by an employer for the same H-1B worker and will not refund the filing fees submitted with multiple or duplicative petitions.  Hopefully, this interim rule will assist with the making the process equal for all employers. 

USCIS has announced information regarding cap Count for H-1B and H-2B Workers for Fiscal Year 2009. 

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that on June 16, 2008, it will begin accepting Premium Processing Service requests for Forms I-140 (Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker) filed on behalf of certain alien workers who are nearing the end of their sixth year in H-1B nonimmigrant status.

According to Tulsa World, circus owners say restrictive U.S. immigration laws have left them without enough workers.

Congress has failed to approve a provision that allows foreign workers who were in the country on H-2B visas last year to return, and this has left some circuses short of people to sell tickets, build rides and put up tents.

Generally, H-2B visas are given to seasonal workers who must pass a series of background checks and reviews.  Then workers are allowed to stay in the country for 10 months and must pay all taxes. Congress has set a limit on the number of new visas that can be issued in a fiscal year.

Under federal law, 66,000 visas applicants are issued during the fiscal year. That number has already been met. In past years, Congress has passed legislation that allows existing workers in good standing to return on H-2B visas, but amid the debate for immigration reform, that provision has stalled.