Mentol Blog's

Silicon Valley Immigration Lawyer Blog Has Just Posted the Following:

The Federal government is about to start knocking on the doors of employers, demanding to see I-9 records and more. The Wall Street Journal reported that more than 1,000 audit notices (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703961104576148590023309196.html?K EYWORDS=miriam+jordan), or notices of inspection, are to be sent out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), part of the Department of Homeland Security, within the next few days. These "audit notices" are actually subpoenas, requiring employers to present original I-9 employment verification forms and payroll documentation. An employer is usually required to produce this documentation within three days. A sample I-9 subpoena is below.

Sample I-9 Subpoena (2-2011) (http://www.scribd.com/doc/49508862/Sample-I-9-Subpoena-2-2011)

The second page of this subpoena shows that ICE demands more than I-9 forms. They request records of all employees hired within the past three years, copies of the documents the employee provided when completing the I-9, detailed information about independent contractors, any Social Security no-match letters, and detailed payroll filings.

Employers should realize that these I-9 audits can target any employer, of any size and in any sector, whether or not the employer has H-1B (http://www.geelaw.com/lawyer-attorney-1054805.html)workers, L-1 (http://www.geelaw.com/lawyer-attorney-1054809.html) workers, or sponsors foreign nationals for employment-based green cards (http://www.geelaw.com/lawyer-attorney-1054839.html). As all employers must complete I-9's for new hires and maintain payroll records, all employers should be prepared for an audit. Fines for uncorrected technical and substantive errors on the I-9 forms range from $110 to $1,100. If an employer had technical or substantive errors on their I-9 forms, they might not necessarily realize this and could be exposing themselves to substantial fines.

These audits come as ICE has created an Employment Compliance Inspection Center. The Head of ICE recently explained that this new center would "address a need to conduct audits even of the largest employers with a very large number of employees." (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703951704576092381196958362.html?K EYWORDS=I-9+audit)The center is supposed to be staffed with specialists to pore over I-9 employee files of targeted companies.




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In the era of big government and job growth mainly through increased government payrolls, we will see more of such jobs being "created" and "invented" and in case of the USCIS the costs being passed on in term of increased fees etc.

Unless US is dragged to WTO over these out of control H1B/ L1 fees this will never stop.

It is worse than that.. :)

Please watch the following youtube video to understand how USCIS works

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-30BZtpvaTY

that was amazing. Is the maker of that video an IV member?

as knowledge and age, grows the maturity grows...but it seems like the opposite here...please ppl stop the nonsense of universities...lets pray we all get our dreams come true.

People,

Yes I am guilty. I am one of those Lazy fence sitters caught in reto that peruses this forum on a daily basis looking for for some glimmer of hope.
Silently i cross my fingers and hope that IV will get something done for us but guilty of doing nothing to help. Sound familiar?

Let me start by saying that i became a member and watched this forum for over 6 months and did nothing to contribute (whether financially or physically). I'm lazy and theres nothing i can do about it - thats my personality. We all have busy lives and we all have personal agendas and unless we are affected by something directly, we choose the path of least resistance.

something changed for me last month. I dont know what it was, since it was nothing physical, personal, familial or anything tangible. I was reading the IV website posts "as normal" and while i read all the posts on funding drives, increasing members, those brillant NJ chapter folks etc I was ashamed at how little i was doing towards a cause that had a direct impact on my life and how a small group of people could be so passsionate about the same interest. I was also surprised at the number of mainly Indian professionals in the US who were caught in this mess but at the difficulty that IV was having getting people to get off their a** and do something.

COME ON PEOPLE - even if we are lazy, self centered, and busy lets at least show that the Indian "minority" in the US is at least a UNITED and PROUD lot. We cant let IV down for a few dollars. "Izzat ka Sawal Hai"

Well, i thought about it, and thought some more..... and decided i was still as lazy as i was before even after my ephiphany, but i could definitely manage a few clicks with my mouse. So i decided, If can't do anything physical (like pass flyers, meet in DC to help Core, start some fangled chapter locally, or harass my local congresman) then at least i could pass on some financial contribution so that somebody could do it for me!
So this is what i did

a) - setup a $20 recurring contribution (Yes its $20 - I'm cheap and so are a lot of you - but $20 is better than nothing - its less than a dinner at a restaurant).
b) forwarded the website info to a few of my collegues at work and told them what i did.

I have not made any earth shattering differences by my actions, but at least im doing SOMETHING. This, coming from one of the laziest members definitely should mean something to all of you.

If you cant contribute your time, at least send some money so someone else can do it for you! Also please stop harrassing IV on where the funds are going - its $20 per month for Christ's sake, not your family inheritance. Let's try and make a difference one way or another. Our national pride is at stake here.

Hari

May be you got lucky. AFAIK, transfers from non-profit/edu to for profit are always counted against the H1B visa number availability.

I did not hear anything from my lawyer about this issue. Neither did this issue come to my mind. It is possible that I got my H1B in the category for US degree holders. I am not a lucky guy.

Your arguments are logical.

I wonder what happens to your status if you apply for a tranfer from non-cap to capped H1B and the quota is over. Can you stay legally in the country?

The first one looks like some kind of space ship cruising through space gas.

Just rated and added my comments. Folks dont think about the result , just do your part ...:)

Your wife can work as along the date on EAD is valid, EAD is employee authorization, it not a visa status unlike H4. She can have a EAD and be on H4 at the same time. It does not matter if you filed an extension for H4 but she can work if the EAD is valid ie end date on EAD has not passed.

This is just my thought based on my experience, remember I am not an attorney, consult one if you need dependable answer.

I have a early 2004 Priority date (EB3 India) and asked my attorney if it is wise to reapply in Eb2 as it is current in that date, and she says she believes my Eb3 PD to get current by july. Folks, what do you think ?

Based on the information available i am expecting EB2-I will get 8-12K visa this year (2011), unlike 20k last year (2010). Which means the PD will move as far as Nov-06 or Dec-06 the best this year.


No FB Spillover
High PERM approvals


Also porting may play a big role this year (EB3-ROW to EB2-ROW and EB3-I to EB2-I).

The high perm approvals are not translating into high I140 approvals refer to the completions on the dashboard also RFE's are on the rise. So we may still get the same spillover this year even without any kind if FB. The 485 approvals for both Eb1 and EB2 ROW are way down this year from last year on that website.

pitha,
they dont need tuition waiver. they pay in state anyway. Only drawback is they cant get on campus job and cant get OPT.
Advantage is they can go part time and take less coursework (dont have to take min 9 credit hrs). They can even take a semester off without worrying about status.

Isn't it done before LC filing?

We need to start recruitment process. For this it requires job advertisements for 5 weeks in a row, complete the recruitment process.

did ya...?

Hmm, must check it then....

I think we all should VOTE in this poll.

You will waste your time if you vote in Lou Dobbs polls. His pools are rigged. These polls start in the loo as they begin by giving 100,000 votes to his ideological point of view and 0 votes in support of the opposite view. Hence the disclaimer to the pools. I suggest that we simply ignore him and don't participate in his pool. It would be one less human being giving Lou Dobbs no value, making him inconsequential one person at a time.

This is called Pork-Barrel politics. It refers to government spending that is intended to benefit a particular politicians view point in return for their political support on a non-related item.
It is unfortunate that we are put in a situation to support an unethical (not illegal though) practise, but bottom line, this ammendment (if passed) will help us.
My personal view is not to piggy-back our provisions with a bill that is either non-related (like the defense appropriation) or a moral opposite (illegal immigration).
It would be so nice that if we have the clout to influence the law makers to have "our own" bill with just our provisions.
I am sure we will achieve that goal with the progress IV is making in that area.

How come a bill which talks about " ....authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2008 for military activities of the Department of Defense......" can link an amendment which talks about different thing i.e. "..Recapture of Unused Employment-Based Immigrant Visas..."

Thanks. Can someone get me USCIS contact number to get the status on receipts.....

you would have to specify that when you apply for the AP. Look at part 7 item 2 in the application.

NO, that part applies to a person applying for Advance Parole (humanitarian reason) and not Advance Parole (baed on peding I-485).

This confusion is because the form is used for multiple application type - Rentry Permit, Refugee Travel Document, Advance Parole (humanitarian and I-485 pending). I think USCIS should redesign separate form for each application type to remove the confusion.

If your AP is based on a pending I-485 you must be in the US to apply and receive the approval. If you need to travel before the approval, you could go to a local USCIS office to expedite the application.

Friends,
How long can one stay out of Canada once landed as a permanent resident? Is it 2 years or 3 years???

I did my landing in July 06 and have received canadian PR but then moved back to US since then and have not visited Canada since.

Can somebody please provide some input on this? Friend of mine told me that i have to move before July, 08 in order to maintain canadian PR status. Is it true?

Many thanks for your input on this.

thanks for the reply but I agree my h1 stamp is expired but h1 is valid till 2009

As long as you work for the same employer with same title and job location, you don't need H-1 stamped. If you have a valid approval (I-797) you can enter the country on H-1 and not worry about AP or EAD. But just to answer your question, if you use AP to enter...you won't need to use EAD. If you do use EAD then you are out of H-1 status. AP will let you keep H-1 status.

I am not a lawyer so it would be best to consult one.

Hi, I am Rina, residing near LA, CA and working close with Niloufer in TX as volunteer. I cant attend meeting, but if you provide me list of ppl to contact on phone, i can inform them abt this meeting.

Let me know how to go about.

Folks,

I was analysing the data based on posts in various immigration websites for India based filings. The data could be very well wrong too. (data for India folks as below).

It appears on rough estimates :

2005
EB1 - 4000
EB2 - 26000
EB3 - 39000
2004
EB1 - 5500
EB2 - 32000
Eb3 - 36000