Entries by Cyrus Mehta

COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM THROUGH EXECUTIVE FIAT

By Gary Endelman and Cyrus D. Mehta While the Obama administration struggles to get votes to overhaul our dysfunctional immigration laws in Congress, http://tinylink.com/?Pky1KrfcfI, and Arizona passes its shameful immigration bill, SB 1070, which legalizes racial profiling, http://tinylink.com/?a2IUa39ATc, there is a growing yearning for Congress to pass Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR) that would provide more […]

Save The Children

By Gary Endelman and Cyrus D. Mehta When Congress enacted the Child Status Protection Act, it wanted above all else to soften the harsh blows of long delays by the USCIS in the adjudication of “green card” cases. How? Congress did so by extending this generous benefit to protect vulnerable children who would otherwise be […]

TWO H-1B SPOUSES AND ONE LABOR CERTIFICATION: BOTH SPOUSES SHOULD BE ABLE TO SEEK SEVENTH-YEAR H-1B EXTENSIONS UNDER AC21

By Gary Endelman and Cyrus D. Mehta We post some of the ideas that we have proposed in the forthcoming article, The Tyranny of Priority Dates, https://blog.cyrusmehta.com/news.aspx?SubIdx=ocyrus20103925436, on this blog. This post advocates that an H-1B seeking an extension beyond the six years may do so even though the other spouse is the beneficiary of […]

GEARING UP FOR FY2011 H-1B FILINGS: USCIS STOPS ALLOWING FILINGS WITH UNCERTIFIED LCAs AND AILA PROTESTS NEUFELD MEMO

  In continuation of our previous article, H-1b Update: Filing Date Approaches; Scrutiny At POEs Increases; USCIS Issues H-1B Guidance Under Economic Stimulus, dated February 19, 2010, http://tinylink.com/?7h4K85wN87, USCIS has announced on March 10, 2010, that it will not extend the period in which it temporarily accepted H-1B petitions filed with uncertified labor condition applications […]

KAZARIAN V. USCIS: DISCREDITING THE CIRCULARITY ARGUMENT IN EB-1 PETITIONS

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 […]

HALCYON DAYS IN H-1B VISA PROCESSING

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 […]

WILL THE NOTICE OF ENTRY OF APPEARANCE REQUIREMENT BY AN ATTORNEY HINDER PRO BONO ASSISTANCE TO IMMIGRANTS?

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 […]