It is being reported that there are over half a million pending cases in the federal immigration courts. The number has grown by over 200,000 over the past five years, which is attributed to the increase in unaccompanied minors crossing the border. CBS DFW writes:

Cases of newly arrived immigrants facing deportation have been made a priority, but the backlog still means that many immigrants are likely to face years long delays before a judge makes a final decision on their cases. And while people are waiting to go before a judge, their case could dramatically change, for good or bad.

A spokesperson for the courts reported that there have been 34 immigration judges hired since the beginning of the year and that there are plans to hire an additional 100 judges. A pending budget proposal would allow for a total of 399 immigration court judges.

The post Immigration Court Cases appeared first on Wood Immigration Law.

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.

Processing times have been released for USCIS applications. They are updated as of February 29, 2016. These are available for the service centers. Applications that are processed through the local field offices are not available in these updates. H-1B extensions are still taking an excruciatingly long time. Vermont is backed up to July 20, 2015. California is backed up to September 18, 2015. They are pretty much demanding that premium processing is needed for a timely decision. U visa applications are badly backed up. Employment authorization applications are also taking a long time. That is why there have been so many transfers to different service centers. Notably, there are still not available processing times for applications that are pending at the Potomac Service Center in Arlington, Virginia. Many Family-Based petitions, DACA, and Employment Authorization applications are being processed at the Potomac Service Center, which is designated as YSC in the receipt notice.

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

Periodically, Service Center Operations Directorate has a teleconference or meeting with AILA to inquire upon important issues relating to USCIS petitions and applications. Here are some highlights from the teleconference with SCOPS earlier this month.

H-1B change of status and extension of status applications continue to take a frustratingly long time and there is little action on USCIS’ behalf to mitigate that problem. Their best advice is to file as early as possible.

If the petitioner files a Power of Attorney and includes it with the petition, the attorney can sign the forms for the petitioner on an employment-based petition.

Green Cards will not contain a hyphen. They will put a space instead, i.e. Smith Diaz instead of Smith-Diaz.

Both the Texas Service Centers and Nebraska Service Centers will follow Matter of H-V-P. This is an important AAO decision for National Interest Waiver cases.

USCIS confirmed that they adjudicate cases FIFO – First in First Out.

USCIS is actively processing U visa cases.

The post USCIS Conference Highlights appeared first on Wood Immigration Law.

For the seventh consecutive year, USCIS has granted the statutory maximum of 10,000 U visas. That means until October 1, the beginning of the 2017 Fiscal Year, USCIS is unable to grant an applicant U visa status. In the alternative, USCIS will place applicants on a waiting list. The waiting list allows an applicant to apply for employment authorization. It basically means that the applications looks like it can be approved, but it cannot be approved at the present time because there are no more U visas available. There does not seem to be any congressional push to increase the statutory limit.

Quotas and statutory limits are a reality of immigration law. There are green card quotas, hence the Visa Bulletin, and there are statutory limits on the number of certain kinds of visas that can be granted. The H-1B statutory cap is one such prominent example.

The U visa is unique, in that it offers relief to a victim of a qualifying crime. It is also unique in the sense that it does not require prior legal status to execute a change of status. The standard is that switching to a visa requires the applicant to maintain status. For example, someone cannot change her status to an E-2 visa if she is out of status. That person must maintain a valid status in order to make that change.

The post U Visa Cap Reached appeared first on Wood Immigration Law.

There are options in the United States for victims of trafficking, criminal activities, and domestic violence. The amended Trafficking Victims and Protection Act in 2008 created the U and T visas. Although there remain some issues with these visas, such as no work authorization during their pending periods and low cap numbers, the U and T visas provide an avenue for many non citizens to obtain non-immigrant status. For the U visa, a person must have been the victim of a qualifying crime. Three more qualifying crimes are expected to be added to the list as part of President Obama’s executive action, but Notario Fraud is not expected to be among them. T visas are for victims of human trafficking. These are not green cards but can lead to permanent residency.

As Martin Luther King Jr Day is celebrated this time of year and we remember his legacy, let us remember that all human beings are born with equal dignity and deserve the opportunity to live with that dignity.

The post Prevention of Slavery and Trafficking appeared first on Wood Immigration Law.