contd....
Currently Available Employment Based Methods To Immigrate Most Applicable To Audience
For those of you in this institute who wish to immigrate to this country through work, the most available method is probably through labor certification from a sponsoring organization willing to go through a recruitment process during which U.S. workers will be assessed for whether they are able, willing, qualified, and available to take the position. If there are not sufficient U.S. workers for the position, you may be able to receive a labor certification approval which is the major step in most cases to immigrating to the United States. You must understand, however, that an employer's application for labor certification does not make you legal at that point in time. You must maintain a legal non immigrant status in order to adjust status to permanent residence in the States. Ways to do such are through a non immigrant working visa such as the H-1B or through continued schooling under F-1 status. In most cases, you must maintain non immigrant status until you are in the last part of your immigration case when you are eligible to file an I-485 adjustment of status application for permanent residence. At that time, you would become eligible for an employment authorization document upon application to the U.S.C.I.S.. I do note that many individuals in the past have been able to adjust status to permanent residency even though illegal because of Congress's passage of section 245(i), which allowed most individuals to adjust status upon the payment of a fine amount (currently $1,000), but you should not depend upon such a forgiveness statute as it was last applicable to cases filed by April 30, 2001, and no one has a solid idea of when another 245(i) will be passed. Now, you do not have to be a big scientist or be in some exotic occupation to obtain a labor certification. We have obtained approved labor certifications for common occupations such as programmers, cooks, governesses, mechanics, carpenters, etc.
Quotas And Timing Of Employment Based Cases
What is the best time to begin a labor certification application? The answer is now. Currently the employment based categories are all open for immigrant visa issuance. The U.S. operates under a quota system for immigration, under which at least 140,000 immigrant visas are set aside each year for employment based cases. At this time, the quota is available for anyone who has an approved labor certification. In the past, individuals with approved labor certifications had to wait for years until their beginning dates became available in order for them to file further papers with the immigration service. Currently, the quota is open, and final immigration papers can be filed as soon as the labor certification is approved. While the speed of the Department of Labor in this region has been slow in the past, the department will receive additional funding under the federal budget for 2005 so that the cases will be processed much faster. Also in the works with the Labor Department is its promised PERM program (Program Electronic Review Management System) which it believes will allow labor certifications to be adjudicated within 21 days of filing. Department of Labor officials believe that the program will come into being this year although I do note that they have been promising the same thing since early 2000.
USCIS Computer Initiatives And What They Mean For You
At the Spanish-American Institute, there is much emphasis on the use of computers, and I encourage you to continue and improve on your computer skills because the world of the future will be largely computer-driven. Looking at the situation just from our limited perspective as an immigration law practice, the use of computers has become even more important to us because of its increasing importance to the USCIS. Some of the programs that the USCIS has recently implemented and is announcing for the future are the following:
1. E-filing: The agency has just expanded the list of forms that it will accept under e- filing to include some of the major ones including the I-129 for non immigrant workers, the I-140 for immigrant workers, and the I-539 for changes or extensions of status for individuals in the U.S.
2. The agency has also implemented on its Website online processing dates and an online case status search system which can be accessed by computer literate individuals. It has also created an on-line portfolio system under which individuals can be updated by e-mail by the agency of all actions taken on cases in their portfolios.
3. With its Infopass system, the agency is now attempting to establish appointments for individuals by e-mail receipt after individuals set up appointments by computer so that they do not have to wait outside the immigration offices for long hours as is the case today. A pilot project using Infopass is being tried with the immigration office in Dallas to one-step I-485 applications under which individuals set up their own appointments and bring the entire package of forms and documents for an adjustment of status to permanent residence interview that can be conducted on the same day as the filing.
4. The agency is also advertising that in the near future, it will create a customer center portal under which individuals will be able to interact with the agency directly through the computer giving in queries and receiving answers through e-mail.
Within our practice and others that deal with the immigration agency, computers are and will be tremendously relevant in the future. You will walk into the law office of the future with the latest computers, high speed scanners and other peripherals which can assist the immigration lawyer in his/her interactions with the agency.
What It May Help You To Know About What Employers Are Looking At In Hiring Non-Immigrants - Our Advice To Client Companies
I am also giving you a handout titled "Our Short Outline to Employers Seeking to Hire Aliens". This is obviously not for you to hire people because you're the people who wish to be hired. I give this handout to you only to show you what our advice is to companies that we represent as to what they should look out for in interviewing potential hires without U.S. Citizenship or the Green Card. You may find some of the information relevant to your own situations when you talk with employers now and in the future.