USA Green Card Immigration Blog

The Secretary of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Janet Napolitano in collaboration with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Alejandro Mayorkas, made an announcement affirming a trio of initiatives that they are going to implement on the E-verify fact sheet. These initiatives were brought up in an aim to make the E-verify fact sheet more accurate and efficient.

The employment eligibility of newly hired employees can be substantiated electronically with the help of E-verify fact sheet. This web-based system is operated by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) along with the Social Security Administration (SSA) and is supervised by the USCIS. It has been estimated that the E-verify system is used by more than 100,000 employers.

As a part of the initiatives, a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) has been made between the USCIS, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). The idea behind the MOA is to put forth a streamlined decision making process with respect to cases arising from discrimination and misuse of E-verify system.

The second initiative is the inclusion of an informational telephone hotline which will help the employees seeking information regarding E-verify. This hotline has been made active from April 5, 2010. The employee can choose from four options with the help of an Interactive Voice Response (IVR). On selecting the option, the employee will be redirected to the respective customer service representative.

As per the third initiative, the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services released two new training videos, both in English and Spanish, highlighting the procedures and policies of E-verify system and the E-verify civil rights of the employees, and employer responsibilities. “Understanding E-Verify: Employer Responsibilities and Worker Rights,” is one video which pertains to the employers and “Know Your Rights: Employee Rights and Responsibilities” is the other video that pertains to the employees.

The earthquake in Haiti recently was called “a disaster of historic proportions”. Until now Haiti had not been given temporary protected status. But the earthquake changed it all. The Department of Homeland Security has recently announced the designation of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian nationals who were in the United States as of January 12, 2010. TPS provides temporary immigration status for a specific amount of time to people of a particular nation impacted by extreme events such as wars, earthquakes or hurricanes. Haitian immigrants will be highly benefited from this move as they can stay in U.S. and work here until situations in their country improve.

Haitian communities and immigrant right groups across the USA are finding out more about the program and are encouraging many people to apply. For Haiti, the temporary protected status registration period is open from January 21, 2010 until July 20, 2010. To qualify for TPS you have to be a national of Haiti, resided in U.S. since Jan 12 2010, complete TPS application procedures and have no criminal record. All TPS applicants must file form I-765. If you do not want employment authorization, you will not have to pay a filing fee for Form I-765. The TPS status has been granted for a period of 18 months until Haiti gets back on its feet.

The Department of Homeland Security is supporting Haiti’s recovery by providing temporary refuge to Haitian nationals who are currently in the U.S. If the TPS is not provided the personal safety of Haitian nationals would be endangered by returning to Haiti.

Department of Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano has estimated that there are 100,000 to 200,000 Haitian nationals currently in USA illegally. Temporary protected status gives the Haitian immigrants a temporary immigration status. So Haitians living in U.S. can start applying for TPS and get a chance to remain in U.S. and get work permits to work legally. The money they send back home will be highly useful to Haitians who are suffering to rebuild their country.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced recently that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will extend the temporary protected status for nationals of Sudan. The current expiration date of May 2, 2010 will be extended to the new expiration date of Nov 2, 2011.

Janet Napolitano, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security conducted a review in Sudan last year. It has determined that an 18-month extension is required because of the ongoing armed conflict. Also because the extraordinary and temporary conditions existing in Sudan that prompted the last TPS designation of Sudan on Oct. 7, 2004 persists till now. To bring out a good immigration reform, TPS beneficiaries are being encouraged to apply during the re-registration period from Dec 31, 2009 until Mar 1, 2010.

Approximately 700 nationals of Sudan and individuals who have no nationality, who last resided in Sudan may be eligible for re-registration. TPS does not apply to Sudanese nationals who entered the United States after Oct. 7, 2004. It will be better to apply as soon as the re-registration period opens so that there will be sufficient time for USCIS to complete all routine security checks and further application processing.

Form I-821, Application for temporary protected status must be submitted by TPS beneficiaries to re-register. Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization must also be filed by applicants seeking an extension of employment authorization through Nov. 2, 2011. Form I-765 is only needed to be submitted for those individuals seeking to re-register for TPS. Biometric services fee may be required for applicants 14 years and older. Applicants may request a waiver of application fee or biometrics fee by providing a fee waiver request with proper documentation of inability to pay.

This 18-month extension of temporary protected status for Sudan will benefit those individuals who have been granted TPS earlier. Now they will be able to re-register andmaintain their status for additional 18-months.

On October 28, 2009, President Barack Obama signed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Appropriations Act of 2010. This bill extended certain USCIS programs until September 30, 2012. The programs extended include the E-Verify program, the Immigrant Investor Pilot Program, and the special immigrant visa category for non-minister religious workers. In addition, the law also extended the availability of the “Conrad-30” program for J-1 non-immigrant exchange visitors.

E-Verify program is an online system operated by the DHS together with the Social Security Administration (SSA.) This voluntary, government-based program allows participating employers to electronically verify the work eligibility of their newly-hired employees in the United States. The program does not charge employers who want to use E-Verify to certify their new hires as legally authorized to work in the US. Over 169,000 employers use E-Verify to run queries.

Under the Immigrant Investor Pilot Program, USCIS will now continue to receive and process Immigrant petitions by Alien Entrepreneurs and Applications to Permanent Residence or Adjust Status. At present, there are more than 70 regional centers throughout the US, which deal with this EB-5 Pilot Program.

Special immigration status applies for non-minister religious employees, who work in a religious vocation or occupation. This special immigrant visa category also applies to accompanying spouses and children of non-ministers. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will continue to accept and process the Form 1-360, Petition for Amerasian, Special Immigrant, Widow(er), Form 1-485, and Application to register for permanent residence or adjust status based on Form 1-360 petitions.

The “Conrad 30” program allows each state health department to submit requests directly to the Department of State to obtain a waiver on the two-year foreign residence period for foreign medical graduates. Prior to this extension, it was required that foreign medical students should acquire J-1 status before September 30, 2009. Now, the program has been extended up to September 30, 2012.

An announcement was made by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s on November 27, 2009 regarding immigration laws of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI.) The announcement states that the immigration laws of CNMI will be replaced by the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) and other U.S. immigration laws on November 28, 2009. This new amendment eases restrictions and provides new privileges to CNMI residents who wish to live and work in the United States.

In order to address key changes under the Consolidated Natural Resources Act, five new transition rules were published in the Federal Register in the year 2009. They are listed below:

• The U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued a rule on the Guam-CNMI Visa Waiver Program extending the admission period from 15 days to 45 days. The geographic area has also been extended from Guam-only to Guam and the CNMI. The list of eligible countries and geographical areas has also been modified.

• USCIS has opened an Application Support Center (ASC) at TSL Plaza in Saipan to provide biometric services including fingerprint capture, photographs, and signature. They also provide other services like naturalization and adjustment of status interviews and answer questions on immigration to the public.

• USCIS has published a proposed rule that created CNMI-specific nonimmigrant investor visa classification known as “E-2 CNMI Investor” status. This status allows CNMI investors to remain in CNMI for a transition period under the “E-2 CNMI Investor” status. They can enter and exit CNMI with E-2 CNMI Investor visas.

• USCIS has also published an interim rule that classifies Transitional Worker visa during the transition period. Alien workers, who have performed services for an employer, but were ineligible for other INA classifications were allowed to receive nonimmigrant visa classification.

• USCIS and the Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review published an interim rule to revise immigration rules to implement the new laws applying to CNMI.