Near the end of his first year in office, President Obama signed into law amendments to the Immigration & Nationality Act (INA) reversing the longstanding rule that visa petitions filed for relatives are automatically revoked upon the death of the Petitioner. This law ameliorates the harsh, unfair consequences resulting to thousands of beneficiaries of family […]
The Reduction in Recruitment or "RIR" method of filing Labor Certification Applications has been a very popular topic in the press lately. Attorneys tout the RIR request as a much faster way of obtaining a green card than the traditional labor certification process. Although RIR is definitely faster if successful, applicants should be aware of […]
Reconciling several years worth of inconsistent Federal Court rulings, Board of Immigration Appeals precedent and contrary argument from the defense bar, the United State Supreme Court issued a ruling restoring 212(c) relief to thousands of deportable aliens in the United States. The case, INS, v. St. Cyr, decided June 25, 2001, held that Federal Courts […]
As policymakers, special interest groups, health care professionals and others discuss the need for health care reform in the US and debate how this reform should take place, one of the most important issues to health care is being left out of the debate: the national nursing shortage. So far, the debate over health care […]
On October 28, 2009, President Obama signed into law amendments to the Immigration & Nationality Act (INA) reversing the longstanding rule that visa petitions filed for relatives are automatically revoked upon the death of the Petitioner. The new law will ameliorate the harsh, unfair consequences resulting to thousands of beneficiaries of family and employment-based visa […]
The INS published a rule on June 1, 2001 to implement the amnesty provision of the Legal Immigration and Family Equity Act ("LIFE") of 2000. Affecting some 400,000 "illegal immigrants" in the US, the LIFE Amnesty law should bring closure to an enormous class of individuals who have resided in the United States since at […]
The processing times for some applications pending at the US Citizenship & Immigration Services ("USCIS") are longer than ever before. The USCIS holds a monopoly over all immigrants applying for green cards, citizenship and other applications, since the USCIS is the only agency authorized to adjudicate requests for immigration benefits. The USCIS cannot, however, force […]
Perhaps due to a perceived lack of legitimate need for certain employees in the economic downturn, or lack of case load in new filings for the same reason, the US Department of Labor has recently increased the number of PERM labor certification cases selected for audit. Since March 2005, the US Department of Labor (DOL) […]
The past two years have seen an increase in the rate of denial of applications for adjustment of status. With the denial of these applications, particularly employment-based adjustment of status, the USCIS is almost immediately issuing a Notice to Appear (NTA) in removal proceedings. With the USCIS sending almost all employment cases to the Nebraska […]
On December 21, 2000 President Clinton signed the Legal Immigration and Family Equity Act ("LIFE") bill into law. LIFE extends the "grandfathering deadline" of Section 245(i) of the Immigration & Nationality Act ("INA") until April 30, 2001. Section 245(i), which allowed many otherwise ineligible applicants for adjustment of status to apply for and receive green […]
