Latest
News
1) EB-5 Immigrant Investor
Visa Extended till 2012
Visa
Description:
The fifth employment based
visa preference category,
created by Congress in 1990, is
available to immigrants seeking
to enter the United States in
order to invest in a new
commercial enterprise that will
benefit the US economy and
create at least 10 full-time
jobs. There are two ways to
invest which you may use within
the EB-5 category and they are:
creating a new commercial
enterprise or investing in a
troubled business.
Eligibility Criteria:
New Business
Enterprise:
To qualify you must:
1. Invest or be in the
process of investing at least
$1,000,000. If your investment
is in a designated targeted
employment area (discussed
further below) then the minimum
investment requirement is
$500,000.
2.Benefit the U.S. economy
by providing goods or services
to U.S. markets.
3.Create full-time
employment for at least 10 U.S.
workers. This includes U.S.
citizens, Green Card holders
(lawful permanent residents)
and other individuals lawfully
authorized to work in the U.S.
(however it does not include
you (the immigrant), or your
spouse, sons or daughters).
4.Be involved in the
day-to-day management of the
new business or directly manage
it through formulating business
policy – for example as a
corporate officer or board
member.
Targeted Employment Area is
defined by law as “a rural
area or an area that has
experienced high unemployment
of at least 150 percent of the
national average.”
To qualify you must:
1.Invest in a business that
has existed for at least two
years.
2.Invest in a business that
has incurred a net loss, based
on generally accepted
accounting principles, for the
12 to 24 month period before
you filed the Form I-526
Immigrant Petition by an Alien
Entrepreneur.
3.The loss for the 12 to 24
month period must be at least
equal to 20 percent of the
business’s net worth before
the loss.
4.Maintain the number of
jobs at no less than the
pre-investment level for a
period of at least two years.
5.Be involved in the
day-to-day management of the
troubled business or directly
manage it through formulating
business policy. For example as
a corporate officer or board
member. 6.The same investment
requirements of the new
commercial enterprise
investment apply to a troubled
business investment ($1,000,000
or $500,000 in a targeted
employment area).
Regional Center
Pilot Program:
To qualify you must:
1.Invest at least $1,000,000
or $500,000 in a regional
center affiliated new
commercial enterpriose or a
troubled business located
within the area of the USCIS
designated Regional Center.
Regional Centers are defined
and discussed further below.
2.Create at least 10 new
full-time jobs either directly
through the capital
investment.
A Regional Center is defined
as any economic unit, public or
private, which is involved with
the promotion of economic
growth, improved regional
productivity, job creation, and
increased domestic capital
investment. The organizers of a
regional center seeking the
regional center designation
from USCIS must submit a
proposal showing:
•How the regional center
plans to focus on a
geographical region within the
U.S., and msut explain how the
regional center will achieve
the required economic growth
within this regional area
•That the regional
center’s business plan can be
relied upon as a viable
business model grounded in
reasonable and credible
estimates and assumptions for
market conditions, project
costs, and activity
timelines
•How in verifiable detail
(using economic models in some
instances) jobs will be created
directly or indirectly through
capital investments made in
accordance with the regional
center’s business plan •The
amount and source of capital
committed to the project and
the promotional efforts made
and planned for the business
project.
USCIS Announces
Resumption of Premium
Processing Service for Form
I-140, Immigrant Petition for
Alien Worker
According to a recent USCIS
announcement, it has resumed
Premium Processing Service for
Form I-140, Immigrant Petition
for Alien Worker After an
evaluation of its I-140 backlog
reduction efforts and increased
I-140 adjudicative
efficiencies, USCIS has
concluded that it is now able
to provide Premium Process
Service for this benefit. USCIS
will accept Premium Processing
requests for Form I-140
Immigrant Petition for Alien
Worker, involving EB-1 Aliens
with Extraordinary Ability,
EB-1 Outstanding Professors and
Researchers, EB-2 Members of
Professions with Advanced
Degrees or Exceptional Ability
not seeking a National Interest
Waiver, EB-3 Professionals,
EB-3 Skilled Workers, and EB-3
Workers other than Skilled
Workers and Professionals.
Premium Processing Service is
still not available for Form
I-140, Immigrant Petition for
Alien Worker, involving EB-1
Multinational Executives and
Managers and EB-2 Members of
Professions with Advanced
Degrees or Exceptional Ability
seeking a National Interest
Waiver. Under the Premium
Processing Service, USCIS
guarantees petitioners that,
for a $1,000 processing fee, it
will issue either an approval
notice, or where appropriate, a
notice of intent to deny, a
request for evidence or open an
investigation for fraud or
misrepresentation, within 15
calendar days of receipt. If
the petition is not processed
within 15 calendar days, USCIS
will refund the $1,000 fee and
continue to process the request
as part of the Premium
Processing Service. In addition
to faster processing,
petitioners who participate in
the program may use a dedicated
phone number and e-mail address
to check on the status of their
petition or ask any other
questions they may have
concerning their petition.
Premium Processing Service
continues to be available for
previously designated
classifications within Form
I-140 and Form I-129, Petition
for Nonimmigrant Worker.
2) A
Call for a More Rational and
Just Immigration
Policy
The American
Immigration Lawyers Association
(AILA) calls upon the new Obama
Administration to eschew the
harsh, indiscriminate,
"enforcement-
only" policies of
the past 8 years in favor of a
more rational and just approach
to immigration policy that
restores the rule of law and
serves America's core economic,
security, and humanitarian
interests. AILA welcomes this
opportunity to work with the
new Administration to forge a
new path toward a 21st century
immigration system that meets
the needs of the American
people and respects the ideals
upon which our country was
built.
Over the past few
years, the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) has
spent billions of dollars on
worksite and home raids and
other enforcement efforts
designed to arrest and detain
as many people as possible
without enough regard for
capacity, resources,
humanitarian concerns or due
process. In its zeal to detain
and deport as many immigrants
as possible, the Bush
Administration too often swept
up U.S. citizens, lawfully
present individuals, crime
victims, and vulnerable
populations, and put them into
detention and deportation
proceedings. Immigrant
detainees have died in poorly
run jails with no medical care,
children have been separated
from their parents,
hard-working and otherwise
innocent individuals have been
criminally prosecuted, and
massive detention operations
have precipitated a crisis in
jails across the country. In
the face of inadequate
resources to provide the
appropriate legal process for
the people caught up in these
efforts, the past
Administration engaged in far
too many efforts to misdirect
and intimidate people into
abandoning their right to due
process.
In its final weeks,
the Bush Administration
callously announced several new
policies designed to further
these "enforcement-only"
policies: It issued a new
regulation regarding the Social
Security Administration's
issuance of no-match letters
that, if implemented, would
plunge even more undocumented
workers into the detention and
deportation system. It issued
another regulation that would
expand, and make mandatory, the
error-ridden "e-verify"
electronic employment
verification system to all
federal contractors. It tried
to strip immigrants of any
right to be represented by
counsel, with a last minute
decision by the Attorney
General, Matter of Compean,
holding that immigrants do not
have any right to be
represented by a lawyer, and no
legal or constitutional right
to complain or have a new
hearing even if that lawyer's
work is defective, fraudulent,
or completely absent. And most
recently, in Wednesday's
Supreme Court hearing in Nken
v. Mukasey, the Bush
Administration argued that an
immigrant should not be allowed
to obtain a stay of removal
while his or her case is
reviewed by a
court.
Charles H. Kuck,
President of the American
Immigration Lawyers
Association, said, "In the
waning days of the past
Administration, dozens of new
regulations, policies and
decisions were unveiled that
will only exacerbate the
current immigration crisis. The
Obama Administration urgently
needs to do a top to bottom
review of Department of
Homeland Security policies and
quickly develop a strategic new
direction that will restore
integrity to our immigration
system, ensure that basic
rights are respected, and
promote transparency and
accountability."
AILA is confident
that the Obama Administration
will move forward toward a
rational approach to
immigration policy by
supporting comprehensive
immigration reform, and by
employing a proportional, fair
and targeted approach to
enforcement, focusing on
national security risks and
abusive employers, emphasizing
strength over excess, and
protecting basic due process
rights.
3)
USCIS Reminds Employers to Use
New Form
I-9
After December 26,
2007, employers who fail to use
the new Form I-9 may be subject
to all applicable penalties.
All employers are required to
complete a Form I-9 for each
new employee hired in the
United States.
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