Volume Twenty Three, Number Six

SHUSTERMAN’S IMMIGRATION UPDATE is the Web’s most popular e-mail newsletter regarding US immigration laws and procedures with over 60,000 subscribers located in more than 150 countries. It is written by a former INS Trial Attorney (1976-82) with over 40 years of experience practicing immigration law.

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

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Client Reviews

Shusterman’s Immigration Update June 2018

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Crackdown on Legal Immigration Ramps Up
2. State Department Visa Bulletin for June 2018 & Predictions for FY2018
3. Immigration Government Processing Times
4. Facebook Live – Engage with Our Attorneys in Real Time
5. Success Story: Proving that a Marriage is Bona Fide
6. Immigration Trivia Quiz: Drinks From Around the World
7. Ask Mr. Shusterman: Trump’s Chance to Remake the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals
8. Shusterman’s Upcoming Immigration Seminars
9. Jobs & Green Cards for RNs & MedTechs: Free Legal Help!
10.Winner of Our May Immigration Trivia Quiz!

NEWS FLASHES

• Deconstructing the Invisible Wall – In May, AILA published a 26-page report detailing how since President Trump took office, the administration has adopted dozens of policies and procedures that are slowing, or even stopping legal immigration, without any Congressional action.

• H-2B Workers: DHS Will Increase Numbers – On May 31, DHS will increase the numerical cap for H-2B Temporary Non-Agricultural Workers for fiscal year 2018 by 15,000.

• How U.S. Immigration Policies are Impacting the Healthcare Workforce  – Several thousands of qualified healthcare employees are no longer able to work due to many of the current administration’s immigration policies. Trump’s executive order to ban travel from seven countries will affect more than 7,800 doctors in the U.S. Attorney Shusterman is quoted in this article.

• ICE Worksite Enforcement More Than Doubles – From Oct. 1, 2017, through May 4, 2018 Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) opened 3,510 worksite investigations; initiated 2,282 I-9 audits; and made 594 criminal and 610 administrative worksite-related arrests, respectively. In comparison, in FY2017, HSI opened 1,716 worksite investigations; initiated 1,360 I-9 audits; and made 139 criminal arrests and 172 administrative arrests related to worksite enforcement.

• President Trump Works to Cut High-Skilled Visas in NAFTA Deal – The Trump administration is working to lower the number of visas granted to Canadian and Mexican professionals, as well as limit the number of eligible professions and decrease the amount of visa renewals, as part of ongoing NAFTA negotiations among the 3 countries.

• Termination of TPS for Honduras – On May 4, DHS announced the termination of TPS for Honduras. Although the designation terminates in January 2020, there is a delayed effective date of 18 months.

• Termination of TPS for Nepal – The designation of Nepal for Temporary Protected Status is set to expire on June 24, 2019. DHS says that conditions in Nepal no longer support its designation for TPS. Holders of TPS who wish to maintain their TPS and receive an EAD valid through 6/24/19 must re-register for TPS from 5/22/18 through 7/23/18.

• USCIS and DOJ Formalize Partnership to Protect US Workers from Discrimination and Combat Fraud – On May 11, the USCIS and DOJ announced a Memorandum of Understanding, which expands their collaboration to better detect and eliminate fraud, abuse, and discrimination by employers bringing foreign visa workers to the US.

• USCIS Announces OPT Will Result in  Automatic Termination if Transferred to Different School – On May 18, the USCIS advised F-1 students that their authorization to engage in Optional Practice Training (OPT) ends upon transferring to a different school or changing their educational level.

• USCIS Expands Online Filings –  On May 25, USCIS announced that Form N-565, Application for Replacement of Naturalization/Citizenship Document, and Form N-336, Request for a Hearing on a Decision in Naturalization Proceedings can be filed online.

1. Crackdown on Legal Immigration Ramps Up

The Administration’s policies are punishing not only the undocumented, but are restricting the rules for legal immigration.

Never in my 40 years of practicing immigration law both as an INS Attorney and in private practice have I seen so many restrictions being placed upon foreign-born individuals and often upon employers who are sponsoring them for working visas and green cards.

Below are a few examples:

Read more…

 

2. State Department’s Visa Bulletin for June 2018 – Predictions for FY2018

• • • • Visa Bulletins from 2002 to the Present

EMPLOYMENT CATEGORIES

The June Visa Bulletin is largely a repeat of the May Visa Bulletin as far as the employment-based categories.

The only changes are incremental:

EB-2 India for professionals with advanced degrees will advance by 4 days to December 26, 2008.

EB-5 China and Vietnam for investors will advance by 10 days to August 1, 2014.

Below are the State Department’s Charlie Oppenheim’s predictions for the movement of employment-based priority dates for the rest of the fiscal year:

In setting the June final action dates, Charlie relied on USCIS lockbox receipt data, which showed an extremely low number of applicants who filed in April relative to the number who were eligible to do so. Charlie is monitoring data carefully to determine whether there is an uptick in demand during May. If receipts continue to be low, he may move the dates more rapidly to generate demand for the upcoming fiscal year. This is inapplicable to EB-2 India since Charlie already has visibility into pre-adjudicated demand.

Charlie remains confident that EB-2 India will reach a 2009 final action date this fiscal year. Notably, there has been a 60 to 75 percent decrease in the volume of EB-3 to EB-2 India upgrades. As this is relatively new, it is not possible to cast this as a trend, but Charlie continues to watch this category closely.

Despite the dramatic forward movement in the EB-3 India final action date, USCIS is not reporting a corresponding increase in demand in this category. Sustained low demand could result in rapid advancement in this category. This could either have an effect like that predicted above for FB-1 Mexico (i.e., rapid advancement followed by possible retrogression), or could create an EB-2 to EB-3 downgrade scenario, similar to what members have seen for China, which could spur EB-3 India demand, slowing the advancement of the date.

In the June Visa Bulletin, Charlie expects EB-4 Mexico to exhaust its annual limit in May, resulting in retrogression of the final action date in June. When this occurs, the final action date will track that of EB-4 El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. The reason that the dates will be the same is that all of these countries will have reached their annual per country limits, and will be equally eligible for any otherwise unused numbers from other countries.

Given lower than expected EB-4 India demand, it now appears that this category may not reach its annual limit this fiscal year. If the low demand pattern of the last 2 months persists, a final action date may not be imposed on this category until late summer, if at all.

The SI Translator category, which consists of a mere 50 visas and is typically depleted by January, has not yet exhausted its annual limit. This could be attributable to a number of factors, including difficulty paying the medical examination fees to long-pending SAOs, to normal delays in obtaining requested information and documents.

In the near future, Charlie expects India, South Korea and Brazil to join China and Vietnam in becoming backlogged in the EB-5 investor category.

The following charts tell the story of the EB numbers in detail for June 2018:

A. APPLICATION FINAL ACTION DATES FOR EMPLOYMENT-BASED PREFERENCE CASES

	World	China	El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras	India	Mexico	Philippines	Vietnam
1st	Current	1-01-12	Current	1-01-12	Current	Current	Current
2nd	Current	9-01-14	Current	12-22-08	Current	Current	Current
3rd	Current	6-01-15	Current	5-01-08	Current	1-01-17	Current
Unskilled	Current	5-01-07	Current	5-01-08	Current	1-01-17	Current
4th	Current	Current	12-15-15	Current	10-22-16	Current	Current
5th	Current	7-22-14	Current	Current	Current	Current	8-01-14

B. DATES FOR FILING OF EMPLOYMENT-BASED VISA APPLICATIONS– These dates indicate when immigrant applicants can send adjustment of status applications without having to wait for their priority dates to become current.

	World	China	El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras	India	Mexico	Philippines
1st	Current	Current	Current	Current	Current	Current
2nd	Current	2-01-15	Current	4-01-09	Current	Current
3rd	Current	1-01-16	Current	9-01-08	Current	7-01-17
Unskilled	Current	6-01-08	Current	9-01-08	Current	7-01-17
4th	Current	Current	4-15-16	Current	Current	Current
5th	Current	9-01-14	Current	Current	Current	Current

 

FAMILY-BASED CATEGORIES

F-1 Unmarried Adult Sons & Daughters of US Citizens

F-2A Spouses & Children of LPRs

F-2B Unmarried Adult Sons & Daughters of LPRs

F-3 Married Sons & Daughters of US citizens

F-4 Brothers & Sisters of US Citizens

An applicant’s priority date is the day that the government received the I-130 Petition. For more on family-based visas and how you can shorten your application time, see Attorney Shusterman’s video near the top of this page.

VISA BULLETIN – FAMILY

The worldwide family-based categories advance in June between 1 and 6 weeks except for 1st preference category which remains frozen just as it did in May.

India F4 (brothers and sisters of US citizens) advances by 2 weeks.

There are tremendous advances in 2 of the Mexican family-based categories: 1st preference (unmarried adult sons and daughters of US citizens) jumps ahead by 5 1/2 months and 2B preference (unmarried adult sons and daughters of lawful permanent residents) by 2 1/2 months. Mexico 4th preference remains frozen while the other Mexico family categories advance by 2 to 4 weeks.

Philippines 1st preference jumps ahead by 2 months while the other family categories inch forward between 1 and 4 weeks.

Below are the State Department’s Charlie Oppenheim’s predictions for the movement of family-based priority dates for the rest of the fiscal year:

Most of the family-based preference categories continue to advance slightly or remain constant in June with two primary exceptions. FB-1 Mexico will leap forward 7 months in June 2018 to June 1, 1997, while FB-4 Mexico is the only FB-4 category to hold steady in June, remaining at January 8, 1998. There continues to be a very low response rate to the Agent of Choice letters in FB-1 Mexico, which is causing the date to advance rapidly. Charlie hopes this will continue but warns that if significant demand materializes suddenly, there could be a risk of retrogression or a sustained hold on the final action date.

On the other hand, demand for FB-4 Mexico has been high, with more numbers being used in a particular month causing intermittent holding and advancement of the final action date.

The following charts tell the story in detail:

A. APPLICATION FINAL ACTION DATES FOR FAMILY-SPONSORED PREFERENCE CASES

 

	World	China	India	Mexico	Philippines
1st	4-08-11	4-08-11	4-08-11	6-01-97	3-22-06
2A	6-08-16	6-08-16	6-08-16	5-08-16	6-08-16
2B	6-22-11	6-22-11	6-22-11	2-15-97	1-15-07
3rd	3-15-06	3-15-06	3-15-06	10-01-95	4-08-95
4th	10-22-04	10-22-04	3-15-04	01-08-98	2-22-95

B. DATES FOR FILING FAMILY-SPONSORED VISA APPLICATIONS– These dates indicate when immigrant applicants can send adjustment of status applications without having to wait for their priority dates to become current.

	World	China	India	Mexico	Philippines
1st	1-08-12	1-08-12	1-08-12	7-15-98	10-08-07
2A	9-22-17	9-22-17	9-22-17	9-22-17	9-22-17
2B	9-08-11	9-08-11	9-08-11	5-22-97	9-08-07
3rd	9-08-06	9-08-06	9-08-06	9-22-98	7-22-95
4th	4-01-05	4-01-05	12-01-04	5-08-98	10-15-95

 

3. Immigration Government Processing Times

We link to the most recent immigration waiting times for each of the four USCIS Service Centers, the National Benefits Center and the Administrative Appeals Office. We also link to the processing times of all of the 83 USCIS District Offices and Sub-offices. We link to the Labor Department’s page entitled “Processing dates for labor certification applications”. Finally, we link to the State Department’s “Visa Wait Times” page.

Read more…

4. Facebook Live – Engage with Our Attorneys in Real Time

In June, attorneys from our law firm will discuss a wide range of immigration topics, including: employment-based work visas and green cards, what employers need to know about immigration, family-based immigration, immigration for E-2 and EB-5 investors and much more.

Facebook Live allows us to provide tips and information regarding immigration law, while also providing viewers the opportunity to ask questions during the broadcast.

You can watch videos of our previous Facebook Live sessions below:

What to Do After TPS Ends

Preparing for Your USCIS Interview

Ganado Su Casa Un Tribunal De Inmigracion

Winning Your Case in Immigration Court

Our goal is to help you understand how immigration laws, regulations and procedures affect you.

5. Success Story: Proving that a Marriage is Bona Fide

Over 4 years ago, a man in another state who was in deportation proceedings scheduled a telephonic consultation with me.

He had a US citizen girlfriend who he lived with and later married. However, her parents did not approve of him and she did not reveal to them that she had married him. She sponsored him for a conditional green card which was approved, but later the couple got divorced.

Read more…

 

(More Success Stories…)

6. Immigration Trivia Quiz: Drinks From Around the World

Quiz Removed

7. Ask Mr. Shusterman: Trump’s Chance to Remake the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit has been the most pro-immigrant Federal Appeals Court for the past 40 years.

However, this may be about to change. There are now 8 judicial vacancies waiting to be filled.

On March 29, the last remaining federal appeals court judge appointed by former President Jimmy Carter, Judge Stephen Reinhardt, passed away.

Judge Reinhardt wrote some of the most important decisions securing the rights of immigrants.

In INS vs. Cardoza-Fonseca, a woman from Nicaragua who sought asylum in the US because her brother had been tortured based on his political activities. Despite this, her application was denied by an Immigration Judge and by the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA). Both ruled that standard for asylum was identical to that of withholding of deportation and that she was obliged to show that there was a “clear probability” that she would be persecuted if she were forced to return to Nicaragua.

Judge Reinhardt’s decision reversed the BIA’s ruling. He pointed out that the asylum law requires a “well-founded fear of persecution”, a lower standard than the “clear probability” requirement for withholding of deportation.

The INS appealed, but the US Supreme Court affirmed Judge Reinhardt’s decision.

A few months prior to Judge Reinhardt’s death, another champion of immigrant’s rights, Judge Harry Pregerson of the 9th Circuit, also passed away.

In 2012, when we challenged the USCIS’s restrictive interpretation of the Child Status Protection Act, Judge Pregerson’s support resulted in a victory for divided immigrant families.

Unfortunately, the Supreme Court reversed the 9th Circuit’s decision by a 5-4 vote.

Now, upon the passing of Judges Reinhardt and Pregerson, President Trump has the opportunity to reshape the composition of the 9th Circuit like no other President in the past 40 years.

Given that the 9th Circuit struck down Trump’s Travel Bans 1.0 and 2.0 as unconstitutional, it can be expected that the President will nominate judges to the court who are likely to go along with his extreme anti-immigration agenda.

8. Shusterman’s Upcoming Immigration Seminars

UCLA Student Legal Services
Westwood, California
June 4, 2018

American Immigration Lawyers Association
AILA Annual Conference
San Francisco, California
June 13-16, 2018
Topic: Doing the Math: Addressing the Complexities of the CSPA

Professionals in Human Resources Association: Los Angeles Chapter
Los Angeles, California
June 20, 2018
Topic: Complying with Both Federal and State Immigration Laws

Professionals in Human Resources Association: Ventura Chapter
Ventura, California
June 21, 2018
Topic: Complying with Both Federal and State Immigration Laws

Professionals in Human Resources Association: North Orange County Chapter
Orange County, California
July 19, 2018
Topic: Complying with Both Federal and State Immigration Laws

UC Immigrant Legal Services Center
Irvine, California
July 30, 2018
Topic: Preparing a Client for a Consular Interview

Professionals in Human Resources Association: Riverside Chapter
Riverside, California
August 9, 2018
Topic: Complying with Both Federal and State Immigration Laws

Immigration Clinic
St. John the Baptist Catholic Church
October 4, 2018

America Immigration Lawyers Association
Lima, Peru
November 16, 2018
Topic: Dissecting Unlawful Presence and Preparing Your Client for Visa Interviews Abroad

 

9. Jobs & Green Cards for RNs & MedTechs – Free Legal Help!

Are you a Registered Nurse or a Medical Technologist or a Speech Language Pathologist who is looking for a job in the US?

What if you could find a job, a work visa, and green cards for you and your family to live in the US? And what if the cost to you for all of this was zero dollars?

Hard to believe? Let me explain:

Our law firm represents over 100 hospitals across the country, and the nurse shortage in the US is coming back.

Our hospitals are in need of hundreds of RNs as well as Medical Technologists and other healthcare professionals. They are looking for both US and foreign-born RNs, and they will pay all of our attorneys’ fees, USCIS filing fees and more!

We have a video and a web page for those who are interested in applying for employment and sponsorship.

If you are a foreign nurse, a medical technologist or a speech language pathologist and need a job in the US and the job requires a work visa and/or green card, please do the following:

Send an e-mail message to egarcia@shusterman.com

In your message, please provide the following information:

1. Have you passed the NCLEX exam?
2. Do you have a current RN license in the US? If so, from what state(s)?
3. Have you taken and passed the IELTS or TOEFL exam?
4. Do you have a valid VisaScreen certificate?
5. Do you have any immediate family members accompanying you to the United States (spouse and children)?
6. Have you ever been petitioned by any US sponsor and hold an old priority date? If so, what is your priority date?
7. If you are present in the US, what is your current immigration status?
8. What is your RN background (area of expertise)?
9. What is your country of birth?
10. What is your country of citizenship?
11. What is your phone number?

If you are a CLS or a Speech Language Pathologist, please amend the above questions accordingly.

We will forward your response to our hospitals, and if they are interested, they will contact you. Please do not contact our law firm until after you hear from one of our hospitals.

We look forward to helping you!

10. Winner for Our May 2018 Immigration Trivia Quiz!

Quiz Removed

Here is the message we received from our winner, Rosemarie:

“… I have a small nonprofit in Los Angeles. I frequently refer people to immigration lawyers when their cases are complicated.

1) Hamdi Ulukaya (born October 26, 1972) is a Turkish businessman, entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist of Kurdish background, based in the United States. Originating from a dairy-farming family in Erzincan, a small village in Turkey, Ulukaya immigrated to the U.S. in 1994. Ulukaya is the owner, founder, Chairman, and CEO of Chobani, the #1-selling strained yogurt (Greek-style) brand in the United States.

2) Henry John Heinz (October 11, 1844 – May 14, 1919) was a German-American entrepreneur who founded the H. J. Heinz Company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was born in that city, the son of German immigrants from the Palatinate who came independently to the United States in the early 1840s.

3) Andrew Cherng (pronounced Chur-ng; born April 1948) is a Chinese-born American billionaire restaurateur. He is the founder and chairman of Panda Restaurant Group, based in Rosemead, California

4) Prudencio Unanue Ortiz, migrated from Spain in the 20th century and established Goya Foods, the largest Hispanic/Latino-owned food company in the United States.

… I read your newsletter regularly.  Thank you so much.”

Congratulations, Rosemarie! And thank you for keeping up with our newsletter!

Carl Shusterman

Certified Specialist in Immigration Law, State Bar of California
Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) Attorney (1976-82)
Member of AILA Board of Governors (1988-97)
Law Offices of Carl Shusterman, 600 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1550
Los Angeles, CA 90017
Phone: (213) 623-4592 x0, Fax: (213) 623-3720

 

“No administration in modern U.S. history has placed such a high priority on immigration policy or had an almost exclusive focus on restricting flows, legal and unauthorized alike, and further maximizing enforcement.”

– Migration Policy Institute

 

Shusterman’s Immigration Update June 2018 – Quick Links

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May 29, 2018