The American Immigration Council has filed a lawsuit against USCIS, demanding transparency in the lottery process that affects the lives of hundreds of thousands of individuals and thousands of companies. With a statutory cap of 65,000 visas in the regular cap and 20,000 visas in the US Master’s cap, the over 230,000 applications that are submitted in the first week of April are subject to a lottery. However, there is no information on how that lottery works. Applications are submitted in early April and then receipt notices and lottery rejections trickle in over the next months.

In some years, the cap is not reached and there is no need for a lottery. However, for the past few years, the number of applications has been over 200,000 and the cap is reached in the first week of April. As this has become consistent, the need for lottery transparency has become urgent for the American Immigration Council. All that is known about the process is that it is random and computer generated. The lawsuit seeks to elicit more information from USCIS in how this process is conducted.

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A federal judge in Seattle has dismissed the Visa Bulletin lawsuit that ensued from the Department of State rescission of filing dates. Back in September 2015, it seemed that the Department of State had made enormous progress in modernizing the Visa Bulletin system, so that individuals (especially in the EB-2 and EB-3 categories and some FB categories) were finally able to file for their Green Cards after years of waiting. Their anticipation lasted about two weeks when the Department suddenly rescinded its October Visa bulletin posting and superseded it with a new October Visa Bulletin.

A class-action lawsuit was filed seeking a temporary injunction, but that was rejected. This most recent rejection occurred because the judge found that the original Visa Bulletin did not confer any rights upon the immigrants. Although the announcement caused a reliance for intending applicants by undergoing medical exams and paying expenses for green card applications, that was not enough. The two week blip on the radar was an inconvenience, but nothing that could create relief for the class. June’s Visa Bulletin contains severe retrogression in many employment and family categories.

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The issue of Syrian refugees has caused legislators and voters in the United States to push the boundaries of immigration law in preventing their resettlement. States have written legislation in selective prevention of resettlement, and they have sued the federal government over the issue.

In Canada, this was the scene for Syrian refugees at a Tim Horton’s, Canada’s iconic doughnut and coffee shop.

Click here for CBC video.

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The Northwest Immigrants Rights Project and The Advocates for Human Rights, using 3 immigrants as plaintiffs, have filed a class action lawsuit against USCIS. The lawsuit was filed in May 2015 and the organizations filing the lawsuit are seeking immigrants they can include in the lawsuit. The claim in the class action suit is that USCIS is taking longer than 90 days to adjudicate Employment Authorization Cards. Federal regulations dictate that USCIS must decide whether an applicant receives a card within 90 days of receiving the application.  The lawsuit charges USCIS with not adhering to the mandatory 90 days.

Employment Authorization Cards are important for many reasons, chief of which is granting someone the legal authority to work. A person can apply for the card for a variety of reasons. Someone applying for an adjustment of status may want the card while the application is pending. An asylum applicant waiting 2.5 years for the interview can obtain the document and work. A VAWA applicant, qualified H-4 dependent, E-2 dependent, DACA recipient, and host of other categories of foreign nationals in the United States can benefit from the Employment Authorization Card. Not having possession of a valid card can have dire consequences for applicants, who need the card for legal work authorization.

The American Immigration Council has a call out for immigrants who believe they have been affected by late adjudications.

With this in mind, it is crucial to file for your employment authorization card as timely as possible. Most applications require a $380 filing fee, so it is important to file on time, meet the requirements, and plan financially.

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Syrian refugees arrived in Texas last night, after the state relented on its legal right to prevent refugee resettlement in the state.

The plight of the Syrian refugees has caused many Western countries to think about their refugee resettlement programs. Countries have argued internally about how many refugees they should accept. Refugees have bounced around the European Union, undergoing the long vetting process before they can be accepted. The United States has had similar discussions, arguing how many Syrian refugees to accept and even whether we should accept any.

Texas filed a lawsuit last week against the federal government and the International Rescue Committee. The governor wants to block the resettlement of a Syrian refugee family in its state. Thirty-one governors have voiced their opposition to Syrian refugees settling in their states. Texas is the first state to take legal action in manifesting its opposition. The federal government has emphasized that governors lack the authority to decide whether or not refugees can settle in their states. Immigration is in the purview of the federal government. The lawsuit contends through the Refugee Act of 1980 and security concerns that the federal government and IRC need to consult with the states. For its part, the IRC has stated it has worked with Texas for 40 years to ensure the smooth resettlement of refugees into the state.

The lawsuit remains pending. On December 4, the state withdrew its request for an order immediately preventing the refugees from entering the state.

The post Refugees in Texas appeared first on Wood Immigration Law.

The federal court has rejected the petition for a temporary restraining order that would have reinstated the original October Visa Bulletin. Instead, the revised October Visa Bulletin – the one that at the eleventh hour revoked the filing dates for thousands of imminent Green Card applicants – remains controlling. A class action suit was filed (Mehta v. DOS) in Seattle in the Western District of Washington. The requested relief was a temporary restraining order, which is an exceptionally difficult standard to meet.

The litigators and main parties suing remain optimistic. They were able to crowdfund 25,000 to fund the legal fight against the Department of State. The hope is that once all of the evidence is presented, the court will rule in favor of the plaintiffs. The other important aspect of the TRO was that it forced an explanation of the rescission of the original visa bulletin.

This lawsuit germinated from the rescission of the original October Visa Bulletin with a revised bulletin that rolled back many of the categories months and years. EB-3 and EB-2 categories were particularly hard hit and are the focus of the lawsuit, though there are many hopeful applicants in the family categories affected adversely. The visa bulletin is published monthly by the State Department in conjunction with USCIS, so that individuals know when they are able to file for their Green Cards based on priority dates. The visa bulletin published just priority dates until last month, when visa modernization manifested through a filing date and action date. The filing dates in the original October Visa Bulletin had many individuals hopeful that their time had finally come.

The November Visa Bulletin is expected Friday.

The post Mehta v. DOS TRO Rejected appeared first on Wood Immigration Law.

Mehta v. DOS is the class action lawsuit that private lawyers have filed to compel the federal government to use the original October Visa Bulletin that thousands of newly eligible Green Card eligible individuals file for permanent residence. The lawyers filed the complaint on September 28. It is replete with declarations and stories from individuals who were convinced from September 9 to September 25 that the government had made an immigrant visa available to them. Many but not all of the individuals in the lawsuit are EB-2 and EB-3 individuals from India and China. There are also concerns for individuals aging out from the Child Status Protection Act. The complaint requests that the federal court reinstate the Visa Bulletin issued on September 9, rather than the revised October Visa Bulletin that is in force. The revised bulletin has dashed many potential applicants’ hopes by rolling back filing times. The original bulletin was feted for “modernizing” the process by including filing dates and priority dates. The modernization was an aspect of the president’s executive actions on immigration from November 2014.

The main update from the lawsuit is that the federal judge is expected to make his decision on whether the government must use the original visa bulletin on Monday. Hopeful applicants who decided to give the application a try anyway have had their packages refused by USCIS. Pressure has been mounting from interested Congresspersons, through media channels, and individuals’ actions, in addition to the lawsuit. For example, some have taken to sending roses to USCIS.

The complaint details the lives of the representatives of the class action lawsuit. The representatives each have different stories, but the common thread is that they had been waiting for visa availability for years and were finally able to file. They continue to wait anxiously, as a decision is expected on Monday. If the revised bulletin is upheld, it is unknown when they will be able to file. The calculations are done on a month-to-month basis.

The hashtag on Twitter is #visagate2015.

The post DOS Lawsuit Update appeared first on Wood Immigration Law.

The past week of the Visa Bulletin has been a whirlwind. Thousands of individuals waiting in line to file for their Permanent Residence thought they had finally become eligible to file through a modernized October Visa Bulletin that the State Department released on September 9. Instead on September 25, the State Department issued a revised Bulletin that undid the changes of the original Bulletin. The consequence is that thousands of individuals, especially those in the EB-2 category with Chinese and Indian chargeability, are no longer allowed to file for Green Cards this month. Thousands of individuals with approved PERM cases and Permanent Residence eligibility are in no man’s land and uncertain as to when they will be able to file.

The rolled back filing dates on the September 25 Visa Bulletin look like this:

EB-2 China – 1/1/2013 – rolled back 17 months

EB-2 India – 7/1/2009 – rolled back 2 years

EB-3 Philippines – 1/1/2010 – rolled back 5 years

FB-1 Mexico – 4/1/1995 – rolled back 3 months

FB-3 Mexico – rolled back 17 months

The modernization of the Visa Bulletin was to include filing date eligibility alongside priority dates. Previous visa bulletins only showed the priority dates. The priority and filing dates are calculated by the available allotment of Green Cards, as there are percentage restrictions for each category (for example, 28.7% of employment-based Green Cards come from EB-1). In November 2014, President Obama announced that he and his administration were taking executive action to modernize the visa system. The Visa Bulletin released on September 9 was supposed to represent the modernized visa system.

Private attorneys have filed a class action lawsuit (Mehta v. DOS) in the Western District of Washington to prevent the filing dates from the revised Bulletin from superseding the original Bulletin’s dates. It essentially seeks to reinstate the filing dates from the original October Visa Bulletin. They have filed the complaint and appeared in court to request a Temporary Restraining Order on the revised Bulletin. A decision is expected today. Representatives Zoe Lofgren and Mike Honda represent the San Jose and Silicon Valley districts and have released press statements against the revision, encouraging the Department of State “to provide discretionary relief to those affected.” They also applaud the efforts of the class action suit.

For now, the thousands of individuals who thought they were finally eligible to file for their Green Cards will have to continue their waiting.

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