The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) liaison has informed that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has withdrawn its memorandum dated January 19, 2010 regarding acceptable signatures on applications and petitions, which was posted on USCIS website.  In order to collect input from stakeholders about development and implementation of policies on signature requirements for applications and petitions, USCIS will conduct stakeholder engagement event early next week.

For complete information, please click: Withdrawn USCIS Memo on Signature Requirement

The Vermont Service Center (VSC) has responded to the American Immigration Lawyers Association’s (AILA) request to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for clarification on signature requirement in Form I-907 (Application for Premium Processing) saying that it had reverted back to its previous practice of accepting Form I-907 with attorney’s signature, pending clarification from the USCIS. The VSC asks for the resubmission of forms that have been rejected for this reason, to the Case Rejection Unit.

Please note that recently after receiving reports from its members that the Service Centers are rejecting I-907s that are only signed by the attorney and not by the petitioner/applicant, the AILA has sought a clarification from the USCIS on the signature requirement in I-907.

Please complete Part 3 of the new Form G-28 not only with the attorney or representative name in the section entitled, “Name of Attorney or Accredited Representative, ” but also with the law firm or organization name as part of the section entitled “Complete Address of Attorney or Organization of Accredited Representative” (in addition to the full mailing address). This is the advice given by Nebraska Service Center (NSC) to NSC and American Immigration Lawyers’ Association (AILA) liaison committee while addressing the issue of return by the USPS of any mailings sent by attorneys or representatives to the NSC. According to the liaison committee this practice should be applied across all USCIS filings where a G-28 is required, as it will help in avoiding the delays in mailings from any USCIS service center or office.

Highlighting the important role played by the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) in the advancement of law pertaining to immigration and naturalization, and the facilitation of justice in the field, its President, Charles Kuck will submit a written statement to U.S. Senate Committee on Uniting American Families Act (UAFA). His averments are especially directed towards Addressing Inequality in Federal Immigration Law pertaining to same sex partners in UAFA. Mr. Charles argues  that same sex partners of U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents (LPRs) are not recognized as family members under current immigration law, no matter how long term or committed the relationship. He also states that AILA strongly support legislations to rectify this injustice by amending immigration laws to permit U.S. citizen and LPRs to sponsor their permanent partners for LPR. He presented the fact that there are 19 other countries, which already recognize same sex partnerships for immigration purposes and UAFA would bring the U.S. immigration in line with them. Finally, Mr. Charles thanked Senator Leahy on behalf of AILA for convening the hearing and for his leadership on the issue.

For complete statement, please click AILA President Submits Statement on the Uniting American Families Act

The Supreme Court’s unanimous decision in Flores Case that the federal aggravated identity theft statute may not be used against many undocumented workers who used false social security numbers to get jobs was welcomed by all and sundry. The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), while praising the decision, urged Attorney General Eric holder to call for investigation of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) worksite enforcement operation at Postville. Interestingly, the Supreme Court’s verdict was just shy of May 12, 2009, the one-year anniversary of the largest ICE worksite enforcement operation in U.S. history. The Supreme Court concluded that the arrests at Postville were based plainly on erroneous interpretation of statue to coerce the workers, most of whom were uneducated Guatemalan farmers, into pleading guilty to a lesser charge and a five-month prison sentence in addition to accepting automatic deportation.

AILA’s first vice president, Mr. David W. Leopold said, “He (Eric Holder) should order a full investigation, including a review of the facts of each defendant’s case, with an eye on dismissing the charges against those workers for whom the threat of prosecution under the federal identity statute was a miscarriage of justice.”

For complete information, please click AG Should Call for Investigation of Postville Following SC Identity Theft Decision

In its latest issue, the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) Talking Points, calls for eliminating the employment based (EB) green card backlog, which according to AILA is vital to America’s economic recovery. It states that reforms in the permanent employment-based green card program is need of the hour that would pave the way for U.S employers to hire foreign talent they need and in turn help in the economic recovery. Since over half of all science, technology, engineering and mathematics graduates passing out of American universities are foreign born. The report hints that in order to tap their valuable resource, the Congress can reform the EB green card system by:

• Recapturing both unused EB and family green cards from prior years,

• Exempting spouses and children from EB green card quotas,

• Exempting graduates from U.S institutions in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math’s, and

• Adopting a market-based EB green card cap responsive to the needs of U.S employers.

For complete information, please read AILA Talking Points Call for Eliminating the EB Green Card Backlog

The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) members take the help of a discussion forum “Talking Points” to discuss the need for a broad scale immigration reform as the present broken immigration system is hurting America and the same has to be fixed. It has been pointed out that the need for a comprehensive immigration reform is no longer in question when:

a.  One of twenty workers lack legal status;
b.  Families are separated for decades; and
c.  Communities are living in fear.

All signals now point toward Congress for taking up immigration reform this year.

For full news, please click AILA Discussion Forum on Immigration Reforms

On February 24, American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) is conducting a special Web Seminar on “L-1 Strategies: Responding to an RFE and the Impact of AAO Decision on L-1B’s.” The seminar is expected to provide in-depth information on how to avoid and respond to L-1A and L-1B RFEs. The seminar is also expected to shed some light on the impact of the July 2008 unpublished AAO’s L-1B decision. The panel of speakers includes Ms. Karen Weinstock and Philips Curtis and to make it a successful event, AILA has made all arrangements by allowing individuals to listen the discussion through phone from their offices and homes. The expected discussion topics are:

• Is There Still Room for Functional Managers in the L-1A Context?
• Where Is the Line Drawn Between L-1A’s and L-1B’s?
• What Is the Current Working Definition of “Specialized Knowledge?
• New Company L’s-Common Issues and Pitfalls
• Can a Company Have Too many L Employees?

For further information on the proposed seminar, please click the link:

AILA Seminar on L-1 Strategies: Responding to an RFE and the Impact of AAO Decision on L-1B’s