Shustermans Immigration Update January 2017
Volume Twenty Two, Number One
SHUSTERMAN’S 
SHUSTERMANS IMMIGRATION UPDATE is the Web’s most popular e-mail newsletter regarding US immigration laws and procedures with over 40,000 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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Shustermans Immigration Update January 2017
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Will President Trump Reduce Legal Immigration by 50%?
2. Automatic EAD Extensions under the January 17th Regulations
3. State Department Visa Bulletin for January 2017
4. Immigration Government Processing Times
5. Success Story: A EB-1 Green Card for an Extraordinary Post-Doc
6. Immigration Trivia Quiz: Famous Immigrants in Business
7. Ask Mr. Shusterman: Senators Introduce Bill to Protect Dreamers
8. Shusterman’s Upcoming Immigration Seminars
9. Jobs & Green Cards for RNs & MedTechs: Free Legal Help!
10. Winner for Our December 2016 Immigration Trivia Quiz!
News Flashes
- What General Kelly Could do at DHS – President-Elect Trump has nominated retired General John Kelly to be Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Since USCIS, ICE and the CBP are all part of DHS, the DHS Secretary will be instrumental in implementing the President’s immigration policies. How would immigration policy change under General Kelly’s leadership at the DHS?.
- Disney IT Workers Claim Discrimination Against Americans in Lawsuit– On December 12, 30 IT workers filed a lawsuit against Disney alleging discrimination on the basis of national origin and race. These workers were laid off in January 2015 as a result of the company’s use of offshore outsourcing firms. This is the second lawsuit Disney faced this year relating to the displacement of US workers.
- USCIS Extends Parole for Immediate Relatives of US Citizens in the CMNI – USCIS extended the parole program for immediate relatives of US citizens and for certain “stateless” individuals to maintain legal status in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The extension is effective until December 31, 2018. To apply, you must have been previously granted parole and there is no fee. It is important to note that this expansion does not authorize employment.
- Trump’s Anti-Immigration Fans are Furious at Him – President-Elect Trump’s proposed nomination of Andrew Puzder, the CEO of a major fast-food conglomerate as the US Secretary of Labor has not only enraged labor union leaders, but Trump’s own anti-immigrant base. Mr. Puzder allegedly favors hiring foreign-born workers because they are grateful for their jobs and have a better attitude.
- IEEE Wants Trump to End H-1B Lottery – The IEEE-USA, an organization of engineering and technology professionals, is urging President-Elect Trump to replace the H-1B lottery with a system which would grant H-1B petitions to the employers which pay the highest salaries.
- EB-5 & Conrad 30 Program Extended – On December 10, President Obama signed a stop-gap spending bill which extends the EB-5 regional center program, the Conrad 30 program for physicians, E-Verify and a number of other immigration programs until April 28, 2017.
- NSEERS Program Abolished by Obama – In December 2016, President Obama took steps to abolish the NSEERS program which was a registry for immigrant men from Muslim countries. The program was established after the September 11, 2001 attacks. Attorney Kris Kobach who designed the NSEERS program recently met with President-Elect Trump and there is speculation that NSEERS may soon be revived.
- USCIS Will Accept Old Versions of Most Forms Until February 21, 2017 – USCIS had previously announced that starting December 23, applicants and petitioners for a large number of immigration benefits would have to use newly-updated forms and pay higher fees. Then, on December 29, the agency announced that they would continue to accept the old forms (except the N-400 form for naturalization) until February 21, 2017 as long as the forms were accompanied by the higher fees. P.S. – As a former INS Citizenship Attorney (1976-82), I am always sadly amused when the USCIS issues a new N-400 form and raises the filing fee. When I worked for the government, the N-400 was 4-pages long and the filing fee was $15. The new N-400 is 20-pages long (with 18 pages of instructions) and the filing fee for most applicants is $640.
1. Will President Trump Reduce Legal Immigration by 50%?
Much of the focus on immigration in the 2016 Presidential Campaign was on what to do with the 11 million undocumented persons in the US.
Even after the election, the press continues to focus this subject:
- Will President-Elect Trump build a wall or a fence and who will pay for it?
- Will he round up and deport 11 million or 2 million people?
- What will he do with the existing DACA program?
While these are all important questions, the media has largely ignored what will happen to our existing legal immigration system under the new administration.
This is the system that brings to our country hundreds of thousands of physicians, nurses, medical researchers, IT professionals as well as the innovators who founded Google, Yahoo and many of the top Silicon Valley and biotech giants, thereby creating a huge number of jobs for Americans .
Be forewarned: A number of organizations which are dedicated to greatly reducing the number of immigrants to the US believe that President Trump will abolish most of the family-based immigration categories and cut legal immigration by 50% or more.
In a recent report entitled “Immigration Priorities for the 2017 Presidential Transition”, the Federation of Americans for Immigration Reform (FAIR) advocates reducing the number of green cards issued from 1 million to 300,000 per year.
Roy Beck, the President of Numbers USA, wrote in a recent blog post: “I hope you are as excited and ready as we are to take advantage of some very special opportunities in 2017 to reduce immigration flows by millions over the next decade…” His organization favors reducing the number of green cards issued to 250,000 per year.
How does our President-Elect stand on reducing legal immigration?
In his 10 Point Plan to Put America First, he pledges to “Reform legal immigration to serve the best interests of America and its workers, keeping immigration levels within historic norms.”
Organizations like FAIR and Numbers USA interpret “historic norms” to refer to the era before the implementation of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. Between 1921 and 1965, Congress reduced immigration to a mere trickle. Also, the pre-1965 immigration laws were racially and ethnically biased. For many years, Asians were deemed “racially ineligible” to become US citizens. Most immigration to the US was restricted to citizens of just 3 European countries.
It is wise to bear in mind what President Johnson said when he signed the 1965 Act into law:
“This [old] system violates the basic principle of American democracy, the principle that values and rewards each man on the basis of his merit as a man. It has been un-American in the highest sense, because it has been untrue to the faith that brought thousands to these shores even before we were a country.”
I believe that we are a great country because we welcome persons of all races, nationalities and religions. Together, we have created the most free and prosperous country in the world.
We need to evaluate immigrants based on their merits as individuals and to abolish per-country quotas.
The number of people allowed to immigrate to the US each year is a small fraction of 1% of our population. There are millions of people who have waited in line for years to immigrate, some for over 20 years. Immigrants greatly contribute to our country, and their numbers should not be reduced.
Let’s stay true to the message on our Statute of Liberty!
2. Automatic EAD Extensions Under the January 17th Regulations
On January 17, 2017, USCIS started allowing certain persons to obtain automatic EAD extensions.
Under the new regulations, the USCIS will no longer be required to adjudicate requests for EADs within 90 days. However, persons with existing EADs will be able to apply for extensions of their work permits 180 days (up from 120 days) before they expire.
3. State Department Visa Bulletin for January 2017
EMPLOYMENT CATEGORIES
The worldwide employment-based preference categories all remain current except for EB-3 which advances by one month to August 1, 2016.
However, the outlook remains bleak for persons born in India, China and the Philippines due to per-country quotas.
India EB-2 advances by 10 weeks, but India EB-3 remains frozen at March 15, 2005.
China EB-2 advances by 3 weeks while China EB-3 moves forward 9 weeks. China EB-5 investors will see their waiting times lengthen to almost 3 years.
Philippines EB-3 moves forward by 7 weeks to July 22, 2011.
The EB-4 category for persons born in Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras remains frozen.
The following chart tells the story of the EB numbers in detail:
A. APPLICATION FINAL ACTION DATES FOR EMPLOYMENT-BASED PREFERENCE CASES
| World | China | El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras | India | Mexico | Philippines | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Current | Current | Current | Current | Current | Current |
| 2nd | Current | 10-15-12 | Current | 4-15-08 | Current | Current |
| 3rd | 8-01-16 | 9-08-13 | 8-01-16 | 3-15-05 | 8-01-16 | 7-22-11 |
| Unskilled | 8-01-16 | 12-01-05 | 8-01-16 | 3-15-05 | 8-01-16 | 7-22-11 |
| 4th | Current | Current | 7-15-15 | Current | 7-15-15 | Current |
| 5th | Current | 4-08-14 | Current | Current | Current | Current |
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 | India | Mexico | Philippines | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Current | Current | Current | Current | Current |
| 2nd | Current | 3-01-13 | 4-22-09 | Current | Current |
| 3rd | Current | 5-01-14 | 7-01-05 | Current | 9-01-13 |
| Unskilled | Current | 8-01-09 | 7-01-05 | Current | 9-01-13 |
| 4th | Current | Current | Current | Current | Current |
| 5th | Current | 6-15-14 | Current | Current | Current |
FAMILY-BASED CATEGORIES
The family-based categories in the visa bulletin are as follows:
- 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 priority dates continue to move slowly forward between 2 and 5 weeks as do the numbers for persons born in the Philippines.
For persons born in Mexico, 2 of the priority dates fail to advance while the other 3 inch forward between 1 and 3 weeks.
The F4 category for siblings advances 6 weeks for persons born in India and 7 weeks for those born in mainland China.
The following charts tell the story in detail:
A. APPLICATION FINAL ACTION DATES FOR FAMILY-SPONSORED PREFERENCE CASES–
| World | China | India | Mexico | Philippines | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 1-08-10 | 1-08-10 | 1-08-10 | 4-22-95 | 10-01-15 |
| 2A | 3-22-15 | 3-22-15 | 3-22-15 | 3-08-15 | 3-22-15 |
| 2B | 6-08-10 | 6-08-10 | 6-08-10 | 10-15-95 | 4-08-06 |
| 3rd | 3-01-05 | 3-01-05 | 3-01-05 | 12-15-94 | 9-01-94 |
| 4th | 1-22-04 | 11-22-03 | 5-15-03 | 5-15-97 | 6-08-93 |
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 | 1-01-11 | 1-01-11 | 1-01-11 | 6-01-95 | 5-01-06 |
| 2A | 11-22-15 | 11-22-15 | 11-22-15 | 11-22-15 | 11-22-15 |
| 2B | 2-8-11 | 2-8-11 | 2-8-11 | 6-01-96 | 2-01-07 |
| 3rd | 8-22-05 | 8-22-05 | 8-22-05 | 5-01-95 | 1-01-95 |
| 4th | 7-01-04 | 7-01-04 | 5-01-04 | 12-01-97 | 4-01-94 |
4. 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.
5. Success Story: An EB-1 Green Card for an Extraordinary Post-Doc
Recently, a couple retained our law firm to help them with two different issues. The wife was a physician who needed a J waiver. The husband had a Ph.D. in Physics and was working as a J-1 post-doctoral researcher.
6. Immigration Trivia Quiz:
7. Ask Mr. Shusterman: Senators Introduce Bill to Protect Dreamers
On December 9, a bipartisan group of Senators introduced the Bridge Act which would protect 740,000 DACA recipients from deportation and allow them to continue working and studying in the United States for the next 3 years.
Like DACA, the bill does not provide a path to green cards for Dreamers. Instead, the bill would grant them “provisional protected presence” in the US. They would be allowed to remain in the US, renew their EAD work permits and, in some circumstances, qualify for Advance Parole international travel permits.
Since President-Elect Trump has vowed to repeal President Obama’s executive orders, the bill, if enacted, would protect Dreamers from deportation for another 3 years unless they commit a deportable offense.
The bill would also tighten the confidentiality provisions in the law. DACA requires applicants to reveal their addresses and other personal information. The bill would prohibit the government from using this information to try to deport DACA recipients or their parents.
Although the bill is sponsored by a bipartisan group of Democratic and Republican Senators, it is unclear whether it has enough support to pass in the Republican-controlled Senate and the House of Representatives.
However, the bill’s introduction is expected to put pressure on President-Elect Trump to work out a solution to the immigration status of the Dreamers.
Trump has been equivocal about how he intends to treat the Dreamers.
On one hand, he has pledged to repeal DACA. However, in a recent interview with Time magazine, he stated:
“We’re going to work something out that’s going to make people happy and proud. But that’s a very tough situation. They got brought here at a very young age, they’ve worked here, they’ve gone to school here. Some were good students. Some have wonderful jobs. And they’re in never-never land because they don’t know what’s going to happen.”
8. Shusterman’s Upcoming Immigration Seminars
Webinar: Trump Immigration Changes
California State Bar
January 11, 2017
Time: 12pm
HHRMAC Seminar
Enloe Conference Center
Chico, CA
January 20, 2017
Time: 10am
Legal Ethics in Practice Seminar
UCLA School of Law
Los Angeles, CA
January 26, 2017
Time: 6pm
Visas 101: The Process, Procedures and Law
Doubletree Hotel Downtown
Los Angeles, CA
February 16th, 2017
Time: 3:45-5:30pm
9. Jobs & Green Cards for RNs & MedTechs
Free Legal Help!
Are you a Registered Nurse or a Medical Technologist 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 in the US? And what if the cost to you for all of this was zero?
Hard to believe? Let me explain:
Our law firm represents over 100 hospitals across the country. And the nurse shortage 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 or a medical technologist 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, 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 December 2016 Immigration Trivia Quiz!
Quiz Removed.
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
“Fifty years ago…America shed a system of racially biased immigration limits for individual countries. Although it was a great step forward, Congress then replaced that discriminatory system with per-country immigration limits that were — and still are — arbitrary and economically damaging.”
– David Bier
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