USCIS Reports that Fiscal Year 2011 H-1B Cap has been Reached

For employers in the United States seeking to hire professionals, one pool of applicants has been closed off for Fiscal Year 2011. The H-1B visa, available to professional companies seeking to employ a foreign individual in a professional position, is capped each year at a total of 65,000 visas for the entire country. The United States Citizenship & Immigration Service announced on January 27, 2011 that is has received enough petitions to meet the cap and will no longer take new ones. There are an additional 20,000 visas set aside for individuals with a United States earned Master’s Degree with an offer of employment in a position that requires a Master’s Degree, and that cap was reached on December 22, 2010 for Fiscal Year 2011.

Unfortunately, this continues to hinder free market professionalism during a lingering economic downturn. Companies are now unable to hire an employee if he/she is foreign born and does not have authorization to be employed in the United States. This loss tends to force individuals who are educated in the United States out of our job market and therefore out of the United States professional pool, making employers lose a competitive edge. In order for the United States to continue to participate in the global economy and increase our competitiveness, we must reform our immigration system to show that we do in fact want the best and the brightest here, using their knowledge and professional skills for United States corporations and small businesses.

http://www.aila.org/content/default.aspx?docid=34289

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Grants Available to Help Permanent Residents Become Citizens

Last week U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that there are three grants available this year to help prepare lawful permanent residents for citizenship and to promote immigrant integration in the United States. The grants total approximately $8.5 million and will provide citizenship preparation programs in cities across the country. There will be an estimated 35 award recipients to be announced by USCIS in September 2011.

Two of the grants will help strengthen citizenship preparation programs, while one of the grants will increase the capacity of organizations to offer citizenship services in underserved communities. Interested parties may apply for these funding opportunities at www.grants.gov and applications are due by April 1, 2011.

For more information, please visit http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=15b82dad650ad210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=68439c7755cb9010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1RCRD

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EB-5 Visa Program: Expanding Investments in American Businesses

NPR reported last week on the recent increase in popularity for the fifth employment based visa preference category, or the “EB-5” category. The EB-5 visa category, which was created by Congress in 1990, is available to immigrants seeking to enter the United States in order to invest in a business or company that will benefit the economy. There are two ways to invest within the EB-5 category: either by creating a new commercial enterprise, or investing in a troubled business. The minimum investment is $500,000, and must create at least 10 full-time jobs. The jobs must be created for U.S. citizens, permanent residents, or others lawfully authorized to work in the United States, and it does not include the intending immigrant investor or members of their family.

The EB-5 category can provide a quicker way to permanent residence than other categories because it allows qualifying applicants to self-petition for their permanent residence. The intending immigrant must file a Form I-526 Petition for an Alien Entrepreneur, followed by the I-485 application to adjust status to lawful permanent resident. The applicants are granted conditional permanent residency for a two year period, and finally, they must file a Form I-829 Petition by an Entrepreneur to Remove Conditions 90 days prior to the two year anniversary of the granting of the conditional Green Card.

NPR reported that with the current U.S. economic climate, it has been increasingly difficult for businesses to obtain the loans and start-up capital that they may need to expand their businesses. Many are turning to foreign investors to provide that financial backing, and then those foreigners are able to apply for the EB-5 visa category. NPR interviewed Bill Stenger, the owner of a ski resort in Vermont who is expanding from seasonal winter recreation to being a year-round resort, who reported that they had raised nearly $200 million dollars from foreign investors. With that, the resort had been able to hire 50 individuals so far.

To read more on the EB-5 program or to see the NPR article, please visit:

http://www.npr.org/2011/01/18/132940734/resort-draws-investors-with-immigrant-visa-program

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextchannel=facb83453d4a3210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD&vgnextoid=facb83453d4a3210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD

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U.S. and Cuba Discuss Immigration

The Washington Post reports today that diplomats from the United States and Cuba met in Havana to discuss immigration issues. Roberta Jacobsen, principal deputy assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, led the discussion for the United States. The talks this morning focused on an agreement the U.S. has had with Cuba for the last 17 years, where 20,000 visas are issued to Cubans each year.

As was expected and customary for these twice-yearly meetings, the topic of immigration quickly turned to other issues between the two countries, including the U.S.’s trade embargo and Cuba’s detention of Alan Gross, an American accused of spying.

To read the full story, please visit http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/12/AR2011011202450.html

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USCIS Implements Help HAITI Act of 2010

On January 3, 2011 the United States Citizenship & Immigration Service announced the implementation of the Help HAITI Act of 2010; a law aimed at granting Lawful Permanent Resident status to certain orphaned children devastated by the Haiti Earthquake and paroled into the United States under the Haitian Orphan Parole Program.

To be eligible, children must: 1) file aForm I-485; Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, with fee, on or before December 9, 2013; 2) have been inspected and granted parole into the United States under the humanitarian parole policy announced by the Secretary of Homeland Security on January 18, 2010(this program was closed to new parole requests on April 15, 2010); 3) be admissible to the United States as an immigrant, however visa and passport requirements are waived; and 4) be physically present in the United States on the date the application is filed and on the date that CIS makes a decision on the case. Importantly, CIS states that it is not necessary for a U.S. citizen to adopt a Haitian parolee in order for the Haitian parolee to obtain a green card under the Help HAITI Act of 2010. However, adoption by a U.S. citizen will be necessary for the Haitian parolee to obtain automatic citizenship under section 320 of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

The Act will serve to give opportunity never known before by these orphans whose lives were so completely altered by the earthquake in Haiti on January 12, 2010.

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Colorado to use Secure Communities Program

Earlier this week 9News in Denver reported that Colorado Governor, Bill Ritter, signed a memorandum of understanding with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to begin using the program Secure Communities. Secure Communities allows local law enforcement agencies to run the fingerprints of alleged criminals through state and federal websites to check their immigration status.

Congress set aside $1.4 billion to expand Secure Communities and ICE hopes to have it operating in every jail in the country by 2013. Thirty-five other states are currently participating in the program, as well.

To read the full story, please visit http://www.9news.com/news/local/article.aspx?storyid=173517&catid=222

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U.S. States Again Take Aim at “Birthright Citizenship”

Today the Washington Post reported that state representatives from across the country are joining ranks to support legislation that would deny U.S. Citizenship to children born in the U.S. whose parents are undocumented.

This effort is aimed at the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which currently grants citizenship to all children born within the United States. The proposal would challenge the current interpretation of the 14th Amendment, and would require that all children born in the U.S. have at least one parent who is a permanent resident or citizen to qualify for U.S. citizenship. The strategy is reported to be explicitly designed to draw legal challenges, and the proponents are hoping that it will force the Supreme Court to ultimately and explicitly decide on the application of the 14th Amendment. Proponents of the new strategy said they would revive the concept of “state citizenship” and would then draw a distinction between children born to parents with and without status. The states would issue a different birth certificate to children of permanent residents and U.S. citizens, versus the birth certificate issued to children born to undocumented immigrants, tourists, and foreign students.

Pennsylvania State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe (R) reported that he was planning to introduce legislation within weeks in Pennsylvania, and that legislators in about 40 states had expressed support, including Virginia, Arizona, Nebraska, Alabama, Delaware, Idaho, Indiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah.

The Washington Post further reported that opponents of the proposal are calling the challenge racially motivated, and directed at Latino persons. They cite past challenges to the 14th Amendment, raised in the context of challenging the legitimacy of African American, Chinese American and Japanese American citizenship. Further, many of the opponents cite Supreme Court rulings over the past hundred years that uphold the current interpretation of the 14th Amendment: that every child born in this country is an American.

To read the full article, visit: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/05/AR2011010503134.html?hpid=topnews

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