SHUSTERMAN'S IMMIGRATION UPDATE
(November 2008)

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Learn how to benefit from United States immigration laws and procedures from a former INS Attorney (1976-82) with over 30 years of experience. SHUSTERMAN'S IMMIGRATION UPDATE is must reading for potential immigrants, employers, human resources managers, immigration attorneys, reporters and policy makers. Join over 60,000 persons in more than 150 countries in subscribing to our FREE monthly e-mail newsletter. E-Mail Address: Your Name:

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SHUSTERMAN'S IMMIGRATION UPDATE is the Web's most popular e-mail newsletter regarding U.S. immigration laws and procedures with over 56,000 subscribers located in more than 150 countries. It is written by a former INS Trial Attorney (1976-82) with over 30 years of experience practicing immigration law.

Published by the Law Offices of Carl Shusterman, 600 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 1550, Los Angeles, California, 90017. Phone: (213) 623-4592 x0

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Disclaimer: This newsletter is not intended to establish an attorney-client relationship. All information contained in this newsletter is generalized. Any reliance on information contained herein is taken at your own risk.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

NEWS FLASHES:

• Advertisers - Businesses are flocking to sponsor our newsletter and to advertise on our website. No surprise since our website receives over 1,000,000 hits per week, and our newsletter has over 56,000 subscribers including 10,000 immigration attorneys. Be the exclusive sponsor of our newsletter or place a banner ad on one or more of our pages. For more information, see
  http://shusterman.com/advert.htm

• Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) - BIA Chairman Juan Osuna and Jean King have written an excellent summary of the 36 precedent decisions issued by the BIA and the three precedent decisions issued by the Attorney General in fiscal year 2008. We link to their 17-page article from our "BIA" page at
  http://shusterman.com/boardofimmigrationappeals.html#1

• Bracero Lawsuit Settlement - You must submit your claim by January 5, 2009 to receive your potential class action settlement if you worked for this program between 1942-1946, or if you are a surviving spouse or child of such a bracero. For more detailed information, see
  http://www.casobracero.com/index_en.htm

• Letters - Below is a letter that we received from a new U.S. citizen in October:

  Mr. Carl,

  I wanted to take this time to thank you... my name is Alex and I have been in this country for six years. During this time, I sought for my rights to citizenship and tried everything I thought of, knowing that I will always get a "no" from the USCIS. But one day, I started to look for more information on citizenship through grandparents and I found the story you posted on Google. That story changed my life! I sought after my citizenship by doing everything you explained in the story and today I am a US citizen! THANK YOU SO MUCH AND THANKS FOR BEING AN INSPIRATION TO MANY OF US THAT THOUGHT WE DIDN'T HAVE MORE OPTIONS TO CLAIM OUR RIGHTS TO CITIZENSHIP.

  THANKS AND MAY GOD ALMIGHTY BLESS YOU GREATLY LIKE HE DID WITH ME.

  ALEX

• Ninth Circuit Immigration Outline - The US Court of Appeals has made it easier to learn more about Immigration Law in the Ninth Circuit by dividing this complex subject into various subtopics.

  These include: (A) Jurisdiction and Standard of Review; (B) Relief from Removal; (C) Motions to Reopen or Reconsider Immigration Proceedings; (D) Criminal Issues in Immigration Law; (E) Due Process in Immigration Proceedings; and (F) Attorney Fees and Recoverable Expenses Under the Equal Access to Justice Act. We link to the latest Ninth Circuit Immigration Outline from our "Federal Courts" page at

  http://shusterman.com/federalcourtsimmigration.html#5

• PERM - The Department of Labor has issued a two-page publication entitled "Highlights of Fiscal Year 2008 PERM Certifications". This publication contains many interesting statistics. For example, did you know that one-third of all PERM beneficiaries were born in a single country? Or that over 20% of employers submitting PERM applications are located in a single state? The publication also provides readers with the latest processing times for regular PERM applications and for audited cases. We link to this informative document from our "PERM" page at
  http://shusterman.com/perm.html#A

• Physicians - Our article, "A Legal Primer for International Medical Graduates and Their Employers" appeared in the October issue of the "ACP Hospitalist". We link to this article from our "Physicians" page at
  http://shusterman.com/physiciansusimmigration.html#2

• Temporary Protected Status (TPS) - Last month, the USCIS announced that TPS would be extended to July 5, 2010 for certain nationals of Honduras and Nicaragua. They also announced that TPS will be extended to September 9, 2010 for certain nationals of El Salvador. See

  Honduras:

  http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=2585011522a9c110VgnVCM1000004718190aRCRD&vgnextchannel=68439c7755cb9010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1RCRD
  and
  http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=36da19e272b9c110VgnVCM1000004718190aRCRD&vgnextchannel=17dcb6f2cae63110VgnVCM1000004718190aRCRD
  Nicaragua:
  http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=ae2119e272b9c110VgnVCM1000004718190aRCRD&vgnextchannel=68439c7755cb9010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1RCRD
  and
  http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=ecc319e272b9c110VgnVCM1000004718190aRCRD&vgnextchannel=17dcb6f2cae63110VgnVCM1000004718190aRCRD
  El Salvador:
  http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=0621fcca4e49c110VgnVCM1000004718190aRCRD&vgnextchannel=68439c7755cb9010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1RCRD
  and
  http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=9ac3fcca4e49c110VgnVCM1000004718190aRCRD&vgnextchannel=68439c7755cb9010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1RCRD

• USCIS Increases Period of Stay for TN workers to 3 Years - On October 14, the USCIS announced that it would grant Canadian and Mexican citizens seeking admission to the United States in Trade NAFTA (TN) status up to three years of employment authorization starting on November 16. The same rule also applies for extensions of stay for TN workers. For more information, see our "Free Trade Agreements" page at
  http://www.shusterman.com/freetradeagreements.html#1a

• USCIS Today - We link to the most recent issue of "USCIS Today", the agency's monthly newsletter, from our "USCIS" page at
  http://shusterman.com/uscitizenshipandimmigrationservices.html#8

• Visa Bulletin - The November Visa Bulletin contains more bad news for immigrants "who play by the rules". To view the November 2008 Visa Bulletin, see our "Visa Bulletin" page at
  http://shusterman.com/statedepartmentvisabulletin.html

• Visa Waiver Program - Sometime during the last two weeks of November, citizens of the following countries will be permitted to visit the U.S. without the necessity of obtaining a visa: Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, and South Korea. In addition, negotiations are underway to allow citizens from the following countries to participate in the program: Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Malta, Poland, and Romania. For information about the Visa Waiver Program, see our "Temporary Visas" page at
  http://shusterman.com/temporaryvisas.html#4

CONTENTS:

1. What Effect Will the November Elections Have on Immigration?

Could it be because both Senator Obama and Senator McCain have very similar views of this important subject? After all, Senator McCain was the co-sponsor with Senator Kennedy of the comprehensive immigration reform bill which was approved by the Senate. Senator Obama cast his vote in favor of this bill.

Anti-immigration zealots are distressed that both candidates are strong advocates of immigration reform. "We're going to have an incredibly bad White House, so we're in for some tough defensive battles," said Roy Beck, President of NumbersUSA, which favors reduced immigration. "We have to make sure we've got at least 41 senators so we can block any Obama or McCain amnesty."

However, during the Republican primary campaign, Senator McCain was forced to back away from his strong support for immigration reform because Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo entered the primaries primarily to force the other Republican candidates to take a tough stance against immigration, particularly that the 10-12 million persons working illegally in the U.S. should not be "rewarded" by being placed on a path to citizenship. During the Republican debates, even candidates like Rudy Giuliani and John McCain backpedaled on their strong support for immigration reform, and were forced to talk the talk of the anti-immigrant right wing of their party.

This has come back to haunt Senator McCain in the general election. The Hispanic vote is leaning heavily toward Senator Obama, mostly because of Senator McCain's anti- immigration rhetoric in the primaries. Even Congressman Tancredo's home state of Colorado which voted for President Bush in 2000 and 2004 seems ready to vote Democratic in 2008. Why? Primarily because Hispanic voters in Colorado view Senator McCain as being unreliable on the issue of immigration.

This should come as no surprise to the Republicans. Exhibit One is California, once a reliable state for the Republicans, which became a strong Democratic state after Republican Governor Pete Wilson rode to victory in 1994 on the back of anti-immigrant Proposition 187. See our "Wikipedia" page at

America is increasingly a multiracial society where politicians must appeal to voters of various races, religions and nationalities if they want to get elected.

Most polls and pundits are predicting not only that Senator Obama will be our next President, but that the Democrats will increase their majorities in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

If this occurs, the anti-immigrant segment of House Republicans will no longer be able to block passage of the DREAM Act, the AgJobs bill, and ultimately, comprehensive immigration reform.

2. New Immigration Legislation Signed Into Law by President

On September 30, the President signed a spending bill (H.R. 2638) which extended the life of both the "E-Verify" and the EB-5 Regional Center Pilot Programs. The programs were scheduled to end on November 1 and October 1, 2008, respectively.

The new law extends both programs until March 6, 2009.

The "E-Verify" program allows employees to verify with the USCIS and the Social Security Administration whether new hires are authorized to work in the U.S. and whether their names and social security numbers match. A few states, including Arizona and Mississippi require all employers to use the "E-Verify" program. As soon as regulations are issued, federal contractors will be required to use the "E- Verify" program. We link to "E-Verify" from our "Department of Homeland Security" page at

The law also establishes an FBI liaison office inside USCIS and processing deadlines for other naturalization applications.

On October 10, the President signed into law a bill (S.3606) which extends the religious worker program to March 6, 2009.

We link to the complete text of each of the above laws from our "Immigration Legislation" page at

3. DHS Publishes "No Match" Supplemental Final Rule

The Secretary also outlined comprehensive efforts to secure the border, enforce national immigration laws, improve temporary worker programs, and legal migration. He noted: "We developed a comprehensive multi-year strategy for dealing with the issue of illegal migration, we have implemented that strategy, and today we are seeing positive results of our actions."

We link to Secretary Chertoff's remarks from

John Sweeny, President of the AFL-CIO stated that "no matter how many times the administration repackages this rule, relying on the error-filled Social Security database is a recipe for disaster for both American workers and the economy."

An economic analysis of the "no match" rule for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce found that 165,000 U.S. citizens could lose their jobs because of their inability to resolve discrepancies in the flawed database.

What does the new regulation say? Pretty much the same thing that the old regulation said. See "Employers: How to Avoid Penalties for SSA "No-Match" Letters" at

We promise to keep you updated on this important subject.

4. Schedule of Upcoming Immigration Law Seminars

1. November 7-8^th

   Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
   American Immigration Lawyers
   Association (AILA)
   Texas Chapter Fall Conference

   Topic: "Child Status Protection Act"

   For more information, see

   http://www.aila.org/content/default.aspx?docid=25565

2. November 13-15^th

   San Francisco, California
   21^st Annual AILA California
   Chapters Conference

   Topic: "Federal Court Litigation"

   For more information, see

   http://www.aila.org/content/default.aspx?docid=25430

5. Success Story: Green Cards through Humanitarian Reinstatement

Most immigrant visas are numerically limited by category and by country of chargeability (which is, in most cases, one's country of birth) of the beneficiary.

There is no numerical limit for "immediate relatives" of U.S. citizens, which includes parents, spouses and children under the age of 21.

However, there are numerical limitations on the number of both married and unmarried (over 21 years of age) sons and daughters of U.S. citizens, brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens and even spouses and unmarried sons and daughters of lawful permanent residents. The waiting times for each category are listed on the Visa Bulletin issued by the Department of State every month.

They range from 5 to over 22 years!

We link to the current and past Visa Bulletins from our website at

Consider a recent case where our attorneys requested humanitarian reinstatement to help one of our clients.

Ms. X, a citizen of the Philippines, came to our office looking for help. Her mother, a U.S. citizen, had filed an I- 130 petition for her in 1996 and the petition became "current" in 2008. After 12 years of waiting, she was finally eligible to adjust her status to that of a permanent resident under section 245(i). See our "Section 245(i) FAQ" at

This meant that her approved petition was no longer valid under USCIS regulations at 8 CFR 205.1(a). After 12 years of waiting in line, Ms. X was facing deportation from the U.S. Her only chance of continuing to benefit from this petition was under another regulation, 8 CFR §205.1(a) (3) (i) (C), which allows the USCIS to reinstate the petition based on their discretion. In order to qualify to reinstate a petition, a person has to demonstrate to the USCIS that certain factors exist such as:

1. Disruption of an established family unit;
2. Hardship to US citizen or LPR;
3. Beneficiary is elderly or in poor health;
4. Beneficiary has had a lengthy residence in the US;
5. Beneficiary has no home abroad to go to;
6. Beneficiary has strong family ties in the United States.

Along with all of these requirements, the beneficiary also has to comply with the affidavit of support requirement, which means they need another qualified individual to execute an affidavit of support. Such qualified individuals are listed under section 213A (f) (5) of the immigration law. The list includes spouses, parents, siblings, in-laws, grandparents, and grandchildren who are either U.S. citizens or permanent residents.

Our attorney spent considerable amount of time in understanding the family situation of Ms. X. After speaking with her family members in the U.S., the attorney carefully crafted declarations, and documented that the beneficiary had satisfied the above requirements.

On the day of the interview, our attorney requested that the petition be reinstated. Fortunately, the attorney's preparation paid off.

Ms. X left her interview with an approval of her immigrant status in hand!

To read more of our Immigration Success Stories, see

6. Immigration Trivia Quiz: Meals of the World

7. Ask Mr. Shusterman: Test Your Naturalization IQ

After entering private practice in 1982, I encountered a large number of unusual circumstances and legal issues regarding the naturalization process. For example, see "Private Romero's 50-Year Odyssey to U.S. Citizenship" from our "Photo Gallery" at

Test your Immigration IQ on our Naturalization Quiz at

8. Official Immigration Government Processing Times