The recent decision in Kazarian v. USCIS, — F.3d —-, 2010 WL 725317 (C.A.9 (Cal.)), http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/opinions/view_subpage.php?pk_id=0000010327, goes a long way in discrediting the circularity argument that the USCIS often deploys to shoot down petitions filed under the extraordinary ability category (EB-1). Even though the petitioner lost in this case, the new re-issued decision is still […]
Much has already been written to deservedly criticize the USCIS Memo by Donald Neufeld dated January 8, 2010 (Neufeld Memo), http://tiny.cc/z3ZU8, which suddenly undermines the ability of IT consulting firms to file H-1B visas, http://cyrusmehta.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-uscis-memo-on-employer-employee.html. The latest is an excellent blog post from my friend and colleague, Angelo Paparelli, http://blogs.ilw.com/angelopaparelli/2010/02/my-entry.html, who shows how the Neufeld […]
By Cyrus D. Mehta* and Myriam Jaidi** On February 2, 2010, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published an interim rule, (available at http://tiny.cc/GvK9A), which adopts the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) rule at 8 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) § 1003.102 that provides grounds to discipline practitioners for ethical violations. One specific […]
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has extraordinary power under Section 235 of the Immigration and Nationality Act to summarily remove a nonimmigrant from the U.S. at a port of entry if they find him or her inadmissible either for fraud or for failure to possess the proper visa. Generally, there is no further hearing or […]
In the aftermath of the most devastating earthquake in Haiti, we lawyers are all trying to find ways to help. Assisting Haitians legalize their status in the United States is a good start, and there are pro bono clinics lined up already in New York. Haitians who can work legally can send more remittances to […]
The Requests For Evidence hurled against IT consulting firms after they filed H-1B visa, then the raves and rants of Senator Grassley against allegedly abusive IT firms, followed by the BusinessWeek article on job shops giving prime time to the rabidly anti-immigrant Programmers Guild, along with attacks on the H-1B program by even our own […]
We have personally heard of H-1B workers from India employed by IT consulting firms being subject to expedited removal orders at Newark airport in New Jersey. The grounds seem to be rather spurious. Some H-1Bs have been removed because they were working at client work sites, and the position of the Customs and Border Protection […]
It has now become acceptable wisdom that the State Department should have revoked the visa of the Nigerian, Mr. Abdulmutallab, who attempted to detonate a bomb on the flight to Detroit on Christmas Day. Here is an extract from a New York Times editorial, The System Failed (http://tiny.cc/FwCPz), dated December 29, 2009: “What makes this […]
This post is about a small bore issue. It is about a quibble that I have about a footnote in a decision of the Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals (BALCA) in Matter of Pa’Lante, 2008 PER 00209 . But I think it is worth pointing out so that a future appellant can remind BALCA […]
In preparing for the ethics panel for the AILA 2009 New York Chapter Immigration Symposium on December 1, 2009, I came across an interesting connundrum with my co-panelists. Are the offices within the Department of Homeland Security, such as United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), or other governmental agencies that deal with immigration matters, […]
