h1visajobs.com thanks....
Sheela Murthy, Attorney at Law for this news article.
(h1visajobs.com Reference#21May2000MURTHY)
TOPICS in this Edition of the MURTHYBULLETIN:
1. Update on Pending H1B Bills - May 2000
2. Trends in Priority Date Chart
3. Labor Certification - Employer's Recruitment Efforts
4. INS 800 Number Upgraded, Expanded
5. Extraordinary Ability Petition Approval for Physicist
6. INS Service Center Processing Times
Subj: Attorney Murthy's Immigration Bulletin
Date: 5/20/00 10:38:29 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: webmaster@murthy.com (Attorney Sheela Murthy)
Reply-to: webmaster@murthy.com
To: murthybulletin@topica.com
MURTHYBULLETIN
Attorney Murthy's Immigration Bulletin
LAW OFFICE OF SHEELA MURTHY, PC
Phone : 410-356-5440
Email : law@murthy.com
WebSite : http://www.murthy.com
VOL. VI, no. 20, May 2000, Week 3
Posted: May 19, 2000
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Attorney Murthy's Immigration Bulletin is a free e-newsletter covering all
aspects of U.S. immigration law. It contains the latest updates on work
visas, green cards and tracks changes in the law and procedure. Recommended
reading for all immigrants, including HR managers, foreign employees, U.S.
employers and students.
This Bulletin and past editions, as well as numerous other articles are
available at our website.
This Bulletin is not sent unsolicited. The information provided below is of
a general nature and may not apply to any particular set of facts or
circumstances. It **should not be construed as legal advice** and does not
constitute an engagement of the Law Office of Sheela Murthy. This Bulletin
does not intend to establish an attorney-client relationship. Please be
advised that if you have a case specific question / situation on an
immigration matter, you should consult with an attorney who concentrates in
the area of immigration law.
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TOPICS in this Edition of the MURTHYBULLETIN:
1. Update on Pending H1B Bills - May 2000
2. Trends in Priority Date Chart
3. Labor Certification - Employer's Recruitment Efforts
4. INS 800 Number Upgraded, Expanded
5. Extraordinary Ability Petition Approval for Physicist
6. INS Service Center Processing Times
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1. Update on Pending H1B Bills - May 2000
Our office continues to receive telephone calls and Email messages
requesting the status of the various H-1B Bills which have been pending in
the Senate and the House of Representatives since earlier this year. The
Bills have been summarized in earlier issues of the MURTHYBULLETIN, since
both S. 2045 and H.R. 3983 contain provisions that not only raise the H-1B
cap but also substantially improve the Permanent Residency or "Green Card"
process.
As of the week of May 8, 2000, the U.S. Senate has once again postponed a
final vote on S.2045, the Hatch/Abraham H-1B Bill because of ongoing
negotiations about other matters. Companies and their representatives should
continue to urge their members of Congress to support S.2045 and vote for
its passage.
Besides the Bill in the U.S. Senate, there are two separate Bills that
continue to be worked on in the House of Representatives. The first is H.R.
4227, the Smith H-1B Bill, which was marked up by the House Judiciary
Committee on May 9 and May 10, 2000. This is the Bill that the American
Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and many of its business partners
have opposed strenuously because there are serious concerns about various
aspects of this Bill. This Bill has also been discussed in earlier issues of
the MURTHYBULLETIN. So far, only two minor amendments to the various
provisions in this Smith Bill have been passed by the Committee.
The Dreier/Lofgren Bill, H.R. 3983, has the strong support of AILA and its
business partners, and is widely considered to be the only Bill likely to
garner sufficient bipartisan support to actually pass the House. Please urge
your elected representatives to support H.R. 3983 since it is the only
balanced, bipartisan Bill that protects U.S. employers that need high tech
professionals, and provides for other short-term and long-term solutions to
make the employment-based immigration process convenient and timely for both
employers and employees.
In the meanwhile, President Clinton and the White House are in support of a
modified version of H.R. 3983 - the Dreier/Lofgren Bill mentioned above. The
White House wants to raise the H1B filing fee per H1B Petition to $3,000 for
H-1B dependent companies and increase the percentage of H1Bs that would be
set aside for those with a Master's Degree, from 40% in 2001 to 50% in 2003.
The Administration would also wish to include other provisions not related
to H-1Bs or employment-based immigration: changes under NACARA, as well as a
change in the Registry date to 1986. For more on Registry, kindly refer to
the May 11, 2000 and April 22, 2000 issues of the MURTHYBULLETIN.
We hope you will continue to lobby with both your Senators and members of
the House of Representatives urging them to approve legislation (S. 2045 and
H.R. 3983) that would provide much needed relief in this rapidly expanding
high technology sector, which is suffering an acute shortage of skilled
workers.
© Copyright Law Office of Sheela Murthy
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2. Trends in Priority Date Chart
On March 30, 2000, representatives of AILA met with officials of the U.S.
Department of State's Visa Office (VO). Many issues were discussed, but the
item that is likely to be of the greatest interest to our readers was the
update from Charles Oppenheim, Chief of the Immigrant Visa Control and
Reporting Division, on movement of visa cut-off dates.
Mr. Oppenheim pointed out that the VO tries to allocate as many visa
"numbers" as possible each year, to minimize the "loss" of visa numbers. (It
is an annual quota; those not used in a given fiscal year are lost forever
as they cannot be carried over to future years.) Over the past two years,
INS has been extremely slow in processing adjustment of status (I-485)
applications, so VO was able to advance the cut-off dates quickly. As
readers of the MURTHYBULLETIN probably remember, most employment-based
categories were current from August 1999 up through March 2000. The result
was that large numbers of people applied, and VO cautioned that as INS began
to process more of the backlogged I-485 cases, there would be a
retrogression of the dates.
The employment-based dates did retrogress for India and China in April 2000,
and now VO predicts that during the summer of 2000 there may not be much
forward movement. There is a possibility of another retrogression, depending
upon how much progress INS makes with its I-485 caseload. Mr. Oppenheim does
not expect retrogression at present in the family-based categories, but such
an action may be necessary later in the fiscal year.
© Copyright Law Office of Sheela Murthy
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3. Labor Certification - Employer's Recruitment Efforts
In our continuing effort to provide updates on issues of interest to those
processing labor certifications (LC) for permanent residence, we report on
another case before the Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals (BALCA).
Please note that although this was not a case handled by The Law Office of
Sheela Murthy, P.C., it is another case that has been publicly reported in
the legal literature.
The LC in question was filed as a regular LC case by a company in Region I
(covering the States of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire,
Rhode Island and Vermont). The state level Department of Labor (SESA)
instructed the Employer to advertise the position. The SESA received
seventeen resumes and forwarded them to the Employer. The Employer
interviewed the applicants and sent a letter to the SESA summarizing the
recruitment efforts. The Employer's response indicated that none of the U.S.
workers were hired, citing various reasons including lack of interest in the
position, lack of experience, failure to respond to the employer's repeated
attempts at contact, and spotty work history.
The Certifying Officer (CO) at the regional office of the U.S. Department of
Labor (DOL) issued a notice to the Employer on April 27, 1999, indicating
that 2 of the U.S. worker candidates had been rejected for improper reasons.
With the first candidate, the Employer had spoken to her father who had
indicated, "She lives in Florida and is not coming back." The father refused
to give a forwarding address or telephone number. The second candidate was
called several times and sent a certified letter, but the Employer did not
submit proof that the letter was received. The CO found that these
candidates' resumes indicated that they were qualified for the job, and that
the Employer needed to provide stronger proof of its attempts to contact
them. The CO suggested as proof that the Employer provide a certified return
receipt or a letter from the post office stating that they had attempted to
deliver the letter.
The Employer responded with a three-page letter from its attorney arguing
that the Employer's attempts to contact the candidates were sufficient and
providing a detailed explanation of why they were "not qualified, willing,
able or available to take the position."
The CO denied the LC, stating that the Employer's response did not document
that the candidates were "not qualified, willing, able or available to take
the position" as there was no proof that the job offer was ever communicated
to the candidates. Specifically, the CO mentioned that the Employer did not
submit a copy of the letter sent to one of the candidates.
The Employer appealed the case to BALCA. BALCA stated that the CO was wrong
in regard to the first candidate who had moved to Florida, since in that
case the father had refused to give additional information and there was no
other physical proof that could have been provided. In the case of the
second candidate, some type of physical proof of contact could have been
produced, just as the CO had requested, yet the Employer failed to do so. As
the Employer failed to establish it made reasonable attempts to contact the
candidates, BALCA ultimately agreed with the CO in denying the LC.
The moral of the story: Carefully document all attempts to contact
applicants! It is wise to use more than one means of contact. If the
certified mail return-receipt card does not come back (to show that the
letter was delivered), then also contact by telephone, and save those phone
bills!
© Copyright Law Office of Sheela Murthy
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4. INS 800 Number Upgraded, Expanded
The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) recently announced that it
has expanded its National Customer Service Center (NCSC) to provide a
broader range of services and improve the overall quality of service.
The NCSC allows INS customers to call a toll-free number at 1-800-375-5283
for basic eligibility and "how-to" information. This NCSC, which currently
receives between 22,000 and 28,000 calls each day, was established as an
alternative to writing letters or traveling to local offices for information
or assistance.
The NCSC currently operates through a single toll-free line, though calls
are actually answered at any of four telephone centers spread across the
United States. Regardless of which telephone center answers the call, the
NCSC provides callers with three levels of service. First, there is a menu
of pre-recorded information on a variety of subjects. Second, there is the
opportunity for live assistance by a customer service representative (CSR),
who uses automated scripts and call guides to answer questions. Third, if
the questions are beyond the scope of the scripts, the CSR will transfer the
customer to an Immigration Information Officer.
Over the past year, INS has significantly expanded the NCSC's coverage of
the United States to include Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. INS is
now concentrating on expanding the range of services and improving the
quality of service. INS has begun to meet its first challenge by improving
the automated messages to provide more information about local offices
including hours of operation, location, procedures, local lists of INS
physicians and fingerprinting locations. It is also possible to request
forms and, in an emergency, to request rescheduling of an interview or
fingerprinting appointment. For naturalization (N-400) applicants only, a
change of address can be reported by calling the NCSC's 800-number. (All
other applicants must still submit their change of address in writing to the
office or Service Center where they submitted their application.) Future
plans include allowing applicants to call the NCSC to check on the status of
their cases.
In meeting its second challenge, the NCSC is aiming for an average of 15
seconds hold time prior to speaking to a CSR. The NCSC regularly requests
feedback from its customers, and will also use internal quality assurance
programs to monitor the accuracy of the information and the friendliness of
the service provided. The Law Office of Sheela Murthy will continue to
provide you with updated information on INS policies to improve its system
to meet the needs of its customers.
© Copyright Law Office of Sheela Murthy
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5. Extraordinary Ability Petition Approval for Physicist
In May 2000, the Law Office of Sheela Murthy, P.C. obtained an approval for
yet another of our clients who have been recognized for Extraordinary
Ability. The Nebraska Service Center approved a petition for a physicist
with an international reputation as a researcher of extraordinary ability in
the field of Materials Science. This petition was originally filed in
September 1999 and took the INS about 8 months to process the I-140
Petition.
This Law Office of Sheela Murthy demonstrated that the client had the unique
ability to design and develop techniques that set the tone for the next
generation of advanced technologies. His work in ion beam etching opens an
entirely new direction in materials research that will have a strong impact
on the future of the electronics industry.
This scientist was also established as a leader in the development of new
experimental capabilities in X-ray radiation in the study of surface
physics. In recognition of his contributions to U.S. physical science
research, his work has received grants from the National Science Foundation.
He has been invited to present his discoveries, and act as Chair, at several
prestigious national and international conferences.
His current work addresses chemical vapor deposition of gallium nitride, an
important material for the development of lasers and diodes. The benefits to
national progress are immediately apparent, as follows: Compact computer
discs with more memory than previously possible; semiconductor RGB flat
panel displays; light bulbs capable of energy saving by as much as 75%, and
other immediate benefits in communications technology.
The Law Office of Sheela Murthy, P.C., is pleased and proud that yet another
one of our distinguished clients has obtained an approval with our help and
we trust that he will continue to contribute to the technological leadership
of the U.S.
© Copyright Law Office of Sheela Murthy
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6. INS Service Center Processing Times
You can always locate the most up-to-date processing times for the INS
Service Centers on our website :
California http://www.murthy.com/law/cscp.html
Nebraska http://www.murthy.com/law/nscp.html
Texas http://www.murthy.com/law/tscp.html
Vermont http://www.murthy.com/law/vscp.html
© Copyright Law Office of Sheela Murthy
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This Bulletin is not sent unsolicited. The information provided above is of
a general nature and may not apply to any particular set of facts or
circumstances. It **should not be construed as legal advice** and does not
constitute an engagement of the Law Office of Sheela Murthy.
-----------------
Copyright 2000, LAW OFFICE OF SHEELA MURTHY, PC
Attorney Murthy's Immigration Bulletin
LAW OFFICE OF SHEELA MURTHY, PC
10451 Mill Run Circle, Suite 100
Owings Mills, Baltimore County
Maryland, 21117. USA.
Phone : 410-356-5440
eMail : law@murthy.com
WebSite : http://www.murthy.com
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