• O and P visa processing times have been shortened.
• H-1B processing time has been reduced.
• VAWA applications are at 5 months.
• Employment Cards are still taking over 3 months for the most part.
• U Visa processing is stuck.
• Most EB-1 and EB-2 petitions are around 4 months at the Texas Service Center, but they are taking more time at the Nebraska Service Center. The National Interest Waiver is taking nearly 9 months in Nebraska.
• Fiance and many family-based petitions are taking 5 months for processing.
• An application to remove conditions on permanent residence is taking 10 months for processing.

The post USCIS Processing Times Released appeared first on Wood Immigration Law.

Government agencies have an Ombudsman who issues reports to Congress and liaises between consumers and the agency to resolve problems. The USCIS Ombudsman released its report for 2016 at the end of June. Important issues for attorneys, individuals, and employers have been visa RFEs and visa delays, Employment Authorization Document application delays, fee waivers, the EB-5 program, and processing times in general. The Ombudsman’s report is over 100 pages. Here are some highlights:

• The Ombudsman noted the excessive number of Employment Authorization Document applications that are taking over 90 days to adjudicate, despite a regulation that states it must take place within 90 days. One seventh of the Ombudsman’s caseload related to delayed EAD applications. The Ombudsman writes:

“Thousands of EAD applicants and their employers continue to be negatively impacted by the agency’s failure to timely adjudicate Form I-765. The proposed regulatory changes will not improve processing times absent allocation of significant resources to meet processing times goals. The Ombudsman continues to highlight EAD issues as a systemic issue, and will monitor and engage the agency as long as this matter remains unresolved.”

• USCIS has a proposal to eliminate the 90 day adjudication requirement and replace that with an automatic 180 day extension of the employment card’s validity upon a timely filing. That proposal has not been implemented. The Ombudsman repeated that it has made multiple efforts and recommendations to rectify EAD issues over the past 8 years.
• H-1B, L-1A, and L-1B RFE rates have decreased from the previous year. This has been monitored for years because of high RFE rates. There are also discrepancies in RFE rates between the Vermont and California Service Centers. Those discrepancies persist.
• O-1 and P-1 visa petitions are receiving high rates of RFEs (49% and 65%).
• There is mixed data as to whether the Service Centers issue RFEs toward the end of the premium processing 15 day period as a delaying tactic.
• Processing times for Naturalization applications are highly variable by USCIS Field Office. Times range from 4 months to 9 months.
• Processing times for Permanent Residence applications are highly variable by USCIS Field Office. Times range from less than 4 months to over 10 months.

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It has been a year since the processing times for H-1B cases jumped from an approximate of 2 months to 7 and 8 months. The delays are not just a matter of inconvenience. They have meaningful effects on people’s lives and businesses. A 240 day extension of employment kicks in if an extension of status is filed before the expiration of the previous visa, but there are possible ramifications for renewing Driver’s Licenses and college tuition, among other practical things. The long delays constructively forced businesses and applicants to pay the $1,225 premium processing fee.

Recently many H-1B cases were transferred to the Nebraska Service Center. Our office recently had an H-1B extension case decided in 7 weeks. That seems to signal a return to normal processing times.

Unfortunately, many other kinds of cases are struggling with lengthy delays. Employment Authorization Document applications are not being adjudicated within 90 days, despite regulations that instruct adjudication within 90 days. This is also in spite of case transfers to other service centers. O and P visas are supposed to be adjudicated within two weeks. The Vermont Service Center is hovering at 2.5 months. U visas have finally started to move forward, but the adjudication of those cases has been at a standstill for a year.

The post USCIS Adjudications appeared first on Wood Immigration Law.

U Visa processing times have stalled for a year. Since June 2015, U visa applications have essentially not been adjudicated. Congress has mandated 10,000 U visas are available per year. That means once 10,000 U visas are granted, the other approvable U visas are waitlisted and backlogged. USCIS has a practice of placing U visa candidates on a wait list, so at least they can obtain an employment card while waiting for U visa approval.

The U visa is partly a humanitarian safe haven for immigration. It allows an applicant to overcome many grounds to inadmissibility, though a waiver can be required. The U visa is a grant of legal nonimmigrant status to someone who has been the victim of a qualifying crime. It requires certification from a government agency, such as the police department that handled the crime. The applicant must have also been willing to or actually have helped in the prosecution of the perpetrator. There is the potential for adjustment to Permanent Residence for U visa applicants and their derivative family members.

USCIS has had some dismal processing times recently affecting all swathes of the immigration spectrum. H-1B and L-1 processing times have been abnormally lengthy. This has caused issues for employees with driver’s licenses, college tuition, and travel. It has caused employers to pay the $1,225 premium processing fee for occasions that should not require it. U visa applications are at a standstill. Employment authorization applications are taking triple the amount of time that they mandated to take for first time asylum applications, and they are pushing against their regulatory period for all other types of applications. Green Card applications through employment-based petitions are beyond processing times. O and P visa petitions are 5xs beyond normal processing of two weeks. If you look at processing times for the service centers, you will see that they are well beyond their stated goals for processing times. USCIS has blamed the slow processing on a lack of resources, as evidenced in its proposed comment for increasing filing fees by 21%.

The post Demand to Speed Up U Visas appeared first on Wood Immigration Law.

If you are an employer that files immigration petitions, especially H-1B and L-1 petitions, you might have noticed that there was an additional fee levied upon certain employers on file H-1B and L-1 petitions. That was in December. DHS is proposing to increase its filing fees for all of its petitions by a weighted average of 21%. These are what the proposed fees are likely to look like:

E, H, L, O, P, Q, R Petitions – $325 becomes $460

Immigration Petition Fee – $580 becomes $700

Premium Processing Fee – $1225 still, but USCIS would like an increase

USCIS has maintained its fees since 2010. The primary reason for increasing the fees, DHS claims, is that current fees are not generating enough revenue to fund their operations.

The timing of the fee increase seems particularly unfortunate. USCIS is well-behind their stated goals in adjudicating many of the aforementioned petitions. Change and extension of status petitions are taking over 6 months for H and L petitions. O and P petitions are usually adjudicated within two weeks. They are currently approaching three months. Because the timing of adjudication is lengthy, it is causing problems for many employers and employees. Premium processing requests are being foisted because of issues with driver’s licenses, among others. A 240 day extension for employment authorization goes into effect once the employee hits her final day of work authorization on her visa. The extension only goes into effect if the extension is timely filed. The lengthy adjudications have been problematic for months.

The Administrative Procedures Act gives 60 days for comments. July 5, 2016 is the final day to comment. The link to comment is here.

The post USCIS Proposed Fees for Employers appeared first on Wood Immigration Law.

One of the purposes of the US immigration system is to attract the best, brightest, and most talented foreign nationals to ply their professional trade in the United States. It also tries to make the process as smooth as possible for these individuals. The O Visa encapsulates those ideas, providing up to three years of work authorization for extraordinary individuals. The visa is versatile. The NBA (National Basketball Association) tips off this week, the NHL (National Hockey League) dropped the pick this month, the MLB (Major League Baseball) is in full swing with the World Series, and MLS (Major League Soccer) kicks off its playoffs this week. The O Visa can be used for professional athletes. Artists of all kinds of eligible, a definition that can be expanded to include such professions as sommelier and chef. Scientists, doctors, and businesspeople are other common professions that utilize the O Visa.

The visa is meant for the extraordinary individuals in a field, which is adjudicated by USCIS through the fulfillment of criteria. It cannot be petitioned for individually, meaning there must be a sponsoring employer. The employer should have some sort of itinerary or contract to show that the foreign national will be needed for the amount of time requested on the visa (there are renewal options). The visa usually requires a letter from the appropriate labor organization or trade union in the profession, attesting that there is no objection to the foreign national obtaining the visa. The visa’s viability is contingent upon the beneficiary’s continued employment with the petitioner. A benefit to the visa is that it is usually adjudicated in a short amount of time. A drawback is that it does not allow for work authorization for the spouse of the principal O Visa holder, though it does allow for enrolling in classes.

The post O Is for Extraordinary appeared first on Wood Immigration Law.

The National Basketball Association (NBA) is paying homage to its Latin players and fans with its ninth annual Latin Nights program. The celebration is a league-wide event, best displayed by certain teams that change their jerseys into semi-Spanish. For example, Los Lakers, Los Spurs, Los Suns, El Heart, Los Bulls (though you wonder why they are not Los Toros and the Suns are not Los Soles). Special uniforms are made for the games in which those jerseys are used and they are popular sellers. The teams are specifically chosen for cities with large Spanish-speaking populations, such as Houston, San Antonio, Los Angeles, Washington DC, Miami, and Phoenix.

Cultivation of A Tradition

This is a tremendous tradition that the NBA has cultivated and a true acknowledgment to basketball’s global power and the NBA’s attraction to immigrant players. At the beginning of the 2014-2015 season, the league boasted a record 101 international players from 37 different countries. The NBA Champion San Antonio Spurs have nine international players by themselves and have embodied the spirit of teamwork that basketball promotes through their unselfish play. There were only 45 international players just fifteen years ago in 2000 and 21 in 1990.

Two reasons for the increase in international players is the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe and the success of the USA Men’s “Dream Team” in 1992 as American Ambassadors. Soccer may be the global game, but basketball is not far behind it, as the NBA is available to watch all over the world and international players have increased the attention that international fans pay to the game. Even in the United States, the fact that the NBA visibly celebrates its Latino fans with jerseys and some Spanish through special Latin Nights is a testament to the NBA’s loyal immigrant fan-base and Latin heritage.

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