Views on Business Immigration

HLG publishes May BIM

admin — Sat, 26 May 2012 14:40:03 +0000

HLG released its May Business Immigration Monthly. This monthly publication provides a summary of news items with quick links to full stories. Subscriptions are free.

HLG announces IT seminar in NJ/NYC

admin — Mon, 21 May 2012 21:36:37 +0000

HLG will be hosting its annual seminar in the NJ/NYC area on Friday, Aug 17th. The seminar will focus on issues impacting IT staffing and consulting firms and their H-1b employees. Check out the full agenda. Both Mike Hammond and Cadence Moore will be in attendance and speaking.

STEM list expanded

admin — Mon, 21 May 2012 21:30:16 +0000

Recently, the DHS updated and expanded the STEM list . Inclusion on the STEM list allows a 17 month extension of one’s OPT if you are employed by an eVerify employer.

June Visa bulletin contains no surprises

admin — Mon, 14 May 2012 21:35:44 +0000

As expected, the June Visa Bulletin, recently released by the Department of State, made EB2 for India and China unavailable. All EB3 categories continued their snail-like pace forward. There was also a warning that cut-off dates for the EB1 category and the EB2 category for all other countries may be necessary before the end of this fiscal year.

H-1b cap count passes 50% mark !

admin — Wed, 09 May 2012 22:14:33 +0000

Most people are now predicting that the H-1b cap will be hit before the end of the month so please make sure you accelerate the filing of any cap subject petitions. We will continue to keep you updated as numbers are released.

Federal Court Charges USCIS H-1b examiner with Incompetence !

Cadence Moore — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 20:31:27 +0000

On March 12, 2012, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio: Eastern Division issued a decision on specialty occupations in Residential Finance Corporation v. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. In this case, Residential Finance Corporation submitted an H-1b petition on behalf of Geza Rakoczi. It hoped to hire him as a market research analyst. The Beneficiary graduated from Franklin University and has a Bachelor of Science degree in marketing and finance. USCIS denied the petition and concluded that there was no specialty occupation involved in the position. It reached this decision after reviewing the Occupational Outlook Handbook classification for market and survey research jobs. USCIS concluded that these positions do not have a specific specialty requirement because the handbook does not include a specific specialty requirement. Instead, the handbook only mentions that a bachelor’s degree is the minimum requirement. Consequently, USCIS stated that there was no specialty occupation involved. The Southern District of Ohio corrected USCIS by stating that the “record indicates that a minimum requirement for entry into the position of a market research analyst is the specialized course of study in which Rokoczi engaged.” Furthermore, the court noted that USCIS’s reasoning and behavior “constitute[ed] a litany of incompetence that presents fundamental misreading of the record, relevant sources, and the point of the entire petition” and suggested that USCIS “should afford Plaintiff and Rokoczi a bare minimum level of professionalism, diligence, and reasoning.”

Why Can’t Our Broken Immigration System be Fixed ?

MikeHammond — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 15:03:44 +0000

I’ll be the first to admit that many of the immigration issues facing our country are highly complex and highly debatable as to solutions however, there are other issues with solutions that seem as plain as the nose on your face so why can’t those be fixed ? A Stanford Law School professor, Mariano-Florentino Cuellar, has just published an interesting article in the UC Irvine Law Review trying to answer this very question. I know that most of my readers, like me, normally only read articles as long as a comic strip but, make an exception and read this if you are a political junkie or just plain curious.

More support for pro-business immigration policies

MikeHammond — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 23:08:20 +0000

Recently, the Harvard Business Review published an article discussing the battle to retain US educated international STEM grads and the need for improved US immigration policies to enhance US businesses trying to retain this talent as opposed to the current climate, where US immigration policy often forces STEM graduates to offer their talents overseas.

Does the Jobs Act Passage Signal Hope for Work Visa Legislation ?

MikeHammond — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 22:02:33 +0000

In a surprising development, both parties in Congress stopped campaigning, posturing, and fighting long enough to actually enact legislation designed to create US jobs and spur development via the passage of the Jobs Act. At least one entrepreneur supporter/venture capitalist, Steve Case, believes that there is a connection between a legal immigration policy that welcomes entrepreneurs and highly skilled immigrants and new U.S. jobs growth and he has the facts to back up his argument. He also believes that the same arguments which resulted in bi-partisan support for the Jobs Act, may be persuasive enough to pass reforms in the legal immigration system. In his way stands Senator Grassley, the staunchest opponent of legal immigration, who like my 2 yr. old grandson, loves the word No ! However, Senator Grassley does like new jobs so there is hope that he will be able to move past his anti-immigrant leanings and support legal immigration reforms. Also, standing in the way are groups that want the issue of illegal immigration tied to legal immigration to more easily enact a type of amnesty or pathway to citizenship. Whether Mr. Case is able to overcome these major obstacles and achieve any meaningful reform is yet to be seen but, the mere fact that he is talking about it, can only be seen as positive.

Major U.S. Employers Urge President Obama on L Visas

MikeHammond — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 15:18:03 +0000

Recently, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, along with a number of large U.S. employers urged President Obama to restore the L visa program. They charge that the changes in the application of the law by the USCIS and the US Consulates in India have gutted a program that promoted international business and spurred U.S. job growth. The fact that the denial rate of L visas has increased over 300% in the past few years with NO change in the legislation or regulatory scheme is alarming. They claim that the change in the application of existing law is politically motivated and being driven by Senators Grassley and Durbin and these efforts have resulted in an increase in outsourcing of U.S. jobs and an impediment to IT job growth in the U.S.