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Beach-Oswald
is a full-service law firm, concentrating on immigration law. We have
special expertise in work visas, family based visas, visa waivers,
green cards through family and employment and asylum. We have staff
members who speak many different languages to assist you.
We succeed when others don't!
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A New Approach
to Workplace Enforcement
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 The Obama administration is taking a starkly different
approach to combating illegal immigrant labor than what has been the
practice in recent years under the Bush administration-the new
administration's strategy is to focus on the employers who hire
illegal immigrants rather than on the workers themselves. Instead of
conducting large-scale raids and arresting workers who are found to
be illegal, the new approach will instead use fines and other civil
sanctions to discourage employers from hiring illegal immigrants and
from engaging in wage and labor violations.
Immigration
and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has recently sent notices to hundreds
of companies across the country informing them that they will be
performing audits of their hiring records, and warning them that they
will have to fire all unauthorized workers and possibly face civil
fines if they are found to be in violation of the law.
To read the
New York Times article on the subject, please click
here.
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Special
Immigrant Religious Workers Now Eligible to File Concurrent Green Card
Applications
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A recent
district court decision has changed the way that I-360 Petitions for
Special Immigrant Religious Workers will be processed. Previously the
requirement was that religious workers must have an approved visa
petition before they are able to file for adjustment of status.
However, the court in Ruiz-Diaz v.
USA held that
this rule was invalid and unenforceable, and directed USCIS to:
- Accept
I-485 Applications for Permanent Residence and I-765
Applications for Employment Authorization that are filed
concurrently with the I-360 petition, and
- Adjudicate
the religious worker applications in the same manner that USCIS
handles non-religious worker applicants.
This means
that anyone who has a pending I-360 religious worker petition is
immediately eligible to file Form I-485 and/or Form I-765.
To read more
about the case, see Ruiz-Diaz v.
USA, No.
07-1881 (W.D. Wash. June 11, 2009) or click here
to read the USCIS notice.
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USCIS Has
Eliminated the FBI Name Check Backlog for Green Card Applicants
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 After several years of waiting, USCIS has announced
that the FBI National Name Check Program backlog has finally been
eliminated. Previously, many green card applicants had been
left waiting for months or even years for their permanent residence
applications to be adjudicated due to the fact that the FBI was
delayed in processing their name checks. The elimination of the
backlog means that applications for permanent residence will now be
processed in a timely fashion. To read more, click
here.
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Premium
Processing Service is Back for I-140 Petitions
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As of June 29, 2009 USCIS will once again be providing premium
processing service for I-140 Immigrant Petitions for Alien Worker for
all employment based visa categories except the following two
categories:
- EB-1
Multinational Executives and Managers and
- EB-2
Members of Professions with Advanced Degrees or Exceptional
Ability seeking a National Interest Waiver
Premium
processing gives applicants the option of paying an additional $1,000
processing fee, which guarantees that their I-140 Petition will be
adjudicated within 15 calendar days.
To read the USCIS update, please click
here.
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The information contained on
this email is for informational purposes only and does not
constitute legal advice. The transmission of information to or from
this email does not create an attorney-client relationship between
the sender and receiver. We take our privacy policy seriously and
will never sell, rent or share our email list. View our Privacy Policy here. To
schedule a consultation with one of our immigration lawyers, please click here.
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Happy Fourth of July from Beach-Oswald Immigration Law
Associates!
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USCIS To Adjudicate U Visa Applications by Sept. 30,
2009 Deadline
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USCIS has stated that the Vermont Service Center is
working on adjudicating as many U Visa applications as possible
before September 30, 2009.
USCIS is encouraging anyone who received
a request for more evidence (RFE) to respond to
the RFE as quickly as possible so that their application could be processed by
September 30.
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