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Undocumented immigrants are taking their time filling out the paperwork for President Barack Obama’s deferred-action program that allows them to legally stay in the country because they have only one chance to get the application right.

The six-page application requires undocumented immigrants who want to stay and work in the U.S. for two years without fear of deportation to submit multiple documents proving they meet the program’s long list of requirements, among them that they are younger than 31 and came to this country before turning 16.

There is no chance to reapply. “It’s a one-shot thing, and you want to make sure you have everything needed,” said Phoenix resident Yadira Garcia, 23, an undocumented immigrant from Nogales, Sonora, and a member of the Arizona Dream Act Coalition.

Concern over the process was evident as hundreds of young undocumented immigrants interested in applying for the so-called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program turned up for each of the five sessions of No Dream Deferred, an informational forum held Saturday here.

Johnny Sinodis, an immigration lawyer with the Arizona chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, told attendees that his organization was willing to help them complete the application at no cost.

“We have the resources to provide them with free legal services. We don’t want them to go to ‘notarias,’ ” he said. “This is a very vulnerable group of people, and we don’t want them subjected to fraudulent giants.” Notarias are questionable businesses that sometimes take advantage of undocumented immigrants by providing bad legal advice and charging high prices for it.

For those working to fill out applications, the steps have been time-consuming. Gabriela Perez, 24, an undocumented immigrant from Zacatecas, Mexico, who graduated from Arizona State University in 2010, said it took her more than 70 hours to gather all of the documents she needed to meet the program’s requirements.

Among many documents being submitted in the petition include her birth certificate from Mexico, transcripts from all of the schools she attended beginning with elementary school and copies of all her school IDs.

Carmen Cornejo of the Arizona Dream Act Coalition said confusion over the application process has been compounded by the executive order that Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer issued Wednesday, the same day the federal government began accepting applications for the deferred-action program.

Brewer’s order instructed state agencies to initiate policies to make sure that undocumented immigrants granted deferred action and work permits through the program don’t receive any additional public benefits, including state-issued driver’s licenses.

Potential applicants for deferred action are worried that Brewer’s order would trump the application.

“Many students were ready on the 15th to just apply, but when she passed that, there was fear,” said Alfonso Vazquez, a Phoenix College student interning at the Christian nonprofit Neighborhood Ministries. “They’ve been asking if the whole thing (the program) is going to be abolished now.”

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In the efforts to reduce its costs associated with issuing paper Form I-94, United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has announced plans to eliminate Form I-94, Arrival/Departure Record.

As another reason for eliminating Form I-94, CBP has noted that it already has access to the data gathered on Form I-94. Aliens provide the information when submitting an application for a nonimmigrant visa at a U.S. consulate. In addition, information is provided to CBP through the Advance Passenger Information System (APIS). APIS is a web-based system used by commercial carriers and the private aviation community to electronically provide required information to CBP such as notices of arrival and/or departure and traveler manifests (crew and passenger).

Form I-94 plays a central role in documenting proper admission and maintenance of status and is used by a variety of entities ranging from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to state motor vehicle bureaus to verify aliens’ immigration status. It remains to be seen how these entities will be handling verification of lawful status without Form I-94.

The Justice Department announced today that it filed a lawsuit against Tuscany Hotel and Casino LLC in Las Vegas, alleging that the company engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination in the employment eligibility verification and re-verification process. The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) requires employers to treat all authorized workers equally during the hiring, firing and employment eligibility verification process, regardless of their national origin or citizenship status. This conforms with the 14th Amendment’s protection against discrimination based on national origin, a protected class under the U.S. Constitution.

The complaint alleges that Tuscany treated non-citizens differently from U.S. citizens during the employment eligibility verification and reverification process by requesting non-citizen employees to provide more or different documents or information than required during the initial employment eligibility verification process, and demanded specific documents during the reverification process. The complaint further alleges that Tuscany subjected lawful permanent residents to unnecessary reverification based on their citizenship status after requesting and entering into the payroll system the expiration date of their Permanent Resident Cards (green cards) for purposes of reverification.

“Employers must not treat authorized workers differently during the employment eligibility verification process based on their citizenship status or national origin,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “The department vigorously enforces the anti-discrimination provisions of the INA so that authorized workers are treated fairly in the work place.”

California’s agency that licenses lawyers wants to admit an illegal immigrant to practice law, an unprecedented request that the state’s highest court decided Wednesday to review.

The State Bar of California certified Sergio C. Garcia after he passed a written test and a moral examination, sending it to the California Supreme Court for routine approval. The bar informed the court at the time that Garcia was undocumented. In a unanimous decision, the state high court ordered the bar to explain why an illegal immigrant should be given a legal license and invited briefs from other parties, opening the door to a potentially heated debate over national immigration policy.

Would the issuance of a license imply that Garcia could be legally employed as an attorney? the court asked. What are the legal and public policy limitations, if any, on an illegal immigrant’s ability to be a lawyer? May other state agencies that license professionals also admit undocumented immigrants? After reviewing the written arguments, the court may hold oral arguments on the case.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) aims to have his alternative to the DREAM Act proposal on paper in the next few weeks and passed by the end of the summer. “Our goal is to pass something this summer in time for kids who plan to go to school this fall,” Rubio press secretary Alex Conant said Monday. Rubio’s proposal would provide non-immigrant visas to illegal immigrants’ children who attend college or serve in the military.

“So just like lots of people come to the United States on work visas or on student visas or tourism visas or whatever, this would be a non-immigrant visa, so it would be a temporary one,” Conant said. “It wouldn’t be permanent. But the intent here is if they choose to remain in the United States permanently that they could apply for permanent residence just like any other immigrant would.”

Rubio’s proposal is an alternative to the Democrat-backed DREAM Act, sponsored by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), which would grant legal status to illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. when they were young and then go to college or serve in the military. Conant said Rubio’s legislation would not mean the immigrants would be deported after their visa runs out.

A group of immigrant activists in Arizona is developing a smartphone application that will enable people arrested on immigration charges to inform their family and attorney of their whereabouts and detention.

The “Emergency Alert and Personal Protection” app will send arrest information to a pre-set list of supporters using GPS technology. With the touch of a button, friends and family will know what’s happened. Too often, undocumented immigrants can be detained for days or even weeks before relatives are able to find out where they are. The application also will have an option to record video and audio, and then send it to a safe storage place so legal counsel can access it later. The app will also provide information about basic civil rights in English and Spanish to help guide the detainee during police questioning.

Immigrant advocates say they’re using the technology to counter SB 1070, the Arizona law that has driven thousands of immigrants out of the state. Considering how difficult it is for undocumented immigrants to send any message of their whereabouts to friends or family, the smartphone app will help facilitate release and speed up the process to resolving the situation. Many times, undocumented immigrants wait days, even weeks before anyone knows what has happened or what can be done to take care of their detention.

The Department of Labor has announced a New H-2A Ombudsman Program to help with several issues faced by employers looking to hire agricultural workers or agricultural workers facing issues with their respective employers. As part of the Department’s continuing commitment to strengthening the H-2A Temporary Agricultural Program, the Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) has established an Ombudsman Program whose primary purpose is to facilitate the fair and equitable resolution of concerns that arise within the H-2A Program community, by conducting independent and impartial inquiries into issues related to the administration of the program. The H-2A Ombudsman Program will also identify areas where agricultural employers and worker advocate organizations have concerns in dealing with the OFLC and propose internal recommendations designed to continuously improve the quality of services provided by the OFLC. There is no fee for using the H-2A Ombudsman Program.

By establishing the H-2A Ombudsman Program, OFLC is addressing several issues. Some of these issues include the following:

– You are facing an emergency or hardship caused by a mistake, error, or delay by the Chicago National Processing Center in processing your H-2A application.

A few day ago, the U.S. Department of State (DOS) released the December visa bulletin, which shows significant forward movement in the availability of immigrant visa numbers for individuals born in India and China in the Second Employment-Based preference category (EB-2) for individuals with advanced degrees. Foreign nationals born in India or China with an approved I-140 petition in the EB-2 category with a priority date of March 15, 2008 or earlier will be eligible to apply for the last step of the permanent residence beginning in December 2011. This represents forward progress in visa availability of four months from the November 2011 Visa Bulletin.

The Visa Bulletin, which the DOS releases each month, summarizes the availability of immigrant numbers based on employment- (or family-) based category, country of birth, and priority date. A foreign national cannot apply for permanent residence (a green card) until a visa is available based on their priority date, preference category, and country of birth.

The DOS has predicted that it is possible that immigrant visa availability could move forward again in the January and February 2012 Visa Bulletins, but then retrogress later in the year. Last year, according to the DOS, there were 3,000 EB-2 petitions filed on behalf of individuals born in India who already have priority dates established through EB-3 petitions. Because those individuals can use their previous EB-3 priority date for the EB-2 category, the movement in EB-2 numbers for India is likely to slow down.

Several of our clients who attended recent Visa Stamping for H1B and L1A visas were pulled for Administrative Processing. Our recent case delays are coming from India (Delhi), Mexico (Tijuana), and Russia (Moscow).

The clients were told the same story in all cases:” Your case was selected for Administrative Processing, go home and we will contact you shortly”. In a recent American Immigration Lawyers Association meeting with the State Department, the issue was raised and we have some information to update.

Question: When questioned on reasons for delays in visa issuance, 62.2% of our members responding to our survey answered that it was due to administrative processing. We understand that there is no timeline for these cases to be processed, but at our last meeting, it was discovered that some cases had been resolved, and the applicant or attorney was not notified. Have there been steps taken to ensure applicants and/or their attorneys are indeed notified when their cases have cleared? Some posts, including Chennai, have real time case status reports available on their website. Are there any plans to institute such case status reports at other posts or worldwide?

As you all know H1B workers that are working in the United States can get a Social Security Number as a result of having that visa. The law also allows the H1B workers to only work for the sponsoring employer. In reality many H1B workers hold side jobs using that SSN number, that is illegal. A September 2011 OIG audit report on the use of Social Security Numbers (SSNs) by H-1B workers. The report claims that 18% of H-1B cases audited by SSA involved elements of fraud.

Each year, the Department of State (State) issues thousands of H-1B visas for temporary workers. Employers use the H-1B visa program to employ foreign workers in jobs that require theoretical or technical expertise in a specialized field. Specialty occupations include, but are not limited to, architect, engineer, computer programmer, accountant, doctor, and college professor. An individual in H-1B status may only work for his/her sponsoring employer after approval by the Departments of Labor and Homeland Security (DHS). The original period of admission for an H-1B nonimmigrant is 3 years, with optional extensions that cannot exceed 3 additional years.

Under the Social Security Act, the Social Security Administration (SSA) assigns SSNs to all nonimmigrants, including H-1B workers, who enter the United States with work authorization. To obtain an SSN, H-1B workers must provide SSA acceptable proof of age, identity, and lawful alien status/current authority to work.