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Recently we have been getting calls from undocumented immigrants suffering from abuse by their employers. Some US employers think that just because a person has no status, that person has no rights. Well they are wrong! The main focus of this article is the rights of undocumented and illegal immigrants in work place.

Contrary to widespread misconception, illegal and undocumented aliens in California are protected from unfair and illegal practices in the work place. Attorney Habib Hasbini from our office specializes in representing and advocating the legal rights of undocumented immigrants and illegal aliens in work place.

The issue of undocumented immigrants and illegal aliens in the work place has been on the rise recently. Various cases in California have been developing and evolving that provide protection for undocumented immigrants and illegal aliens in the work place and establish their right to sue for damages for harassment, discrimination, and establish their right to be compensated for overtime wages and breaks.

As part of an ongoing commitment to promote diversity and legal excellence efforts in the legal community, Jacob J. Sapochnick, PC and Higgs Fletcher & Mack, have forged a strategic alliance to further provide clients with a diverse pool of legal professionals and high-quality legal services, as well as to reinforce ties within the region.

The new, shared business platform is one of only a few such alliances in the legal industry and will become a platform for innovative legal services delivery. Jacob J. Sapochnick, PC and Higgs Fletcher & Mack will maintain their separate identities and independence, but will also work as a team on specifically identified litigation, labor and employment, public finance, business and Immigration matters.

Law offices ofJacob J. Sapochnick, PC , which was established in 2004, is a respected Immigration Law firm that has quickly made its mark in the Immigration Bar and among practitioners nationwide. The alliance is designed to assist both firms in meeting designated client service needs, while providing quality legal work.

Reflecting a change in deportation policy, the Obama administration has dropped its attempt to remove a member of a same-sex California couple who overstayed his visa.

The announcement in a case pending before an immigration judge in San Francisco represents the administration’s decision to put a greater focus on deporting criminals and less emphasis on removing illegal immigrants who are otherwise law-abiding and have family ties in the United States.

Families, the administration has concluded, include gay and lesbian couples.

We have been duplicating a immigration policies of continental European –countries similar to France as good as Germany – which have utterly unsuccessful to confederate as good as cushion their populations

America is still distant forward of a rest of a world. We still do immigration improved than a lot of a rest of a world. But if America will not start changing the way we look at Immigration and Immigrants, how we welcome them and embrace their skills, we will loose big time.

Fareed Zakaria put it nicely in his latest article on CNN:

The Biggest Immigration Conference in the US is taking place in San Diego June 15- June 18. Our lawyers will be attending sessions on recent Immigration law developments so we can better serve our clients with the most up to date information in the field.

The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) will host a three hour pro bono session for area residents in need of legal advice regarding immigration concerns on Wednesday evening beginning at 5:00 p.m. More than 60 immigration attorneys will be available to answer questions and assess each participant’s situation. The clinic will be held at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law and cases will be handled on a first come first served basis.

The pro bono immigration clinic is being hosted in conjunction with the AILA Annual Conference that is being held this week at the Manchester Grand Hyatt. “This is our small way of thanking the city of San Diego for welcoming AILA for our Annual Conference which will include nearly 3,000 immigration practitioners. We are excited to be able to give back to the community and hope to be able to serve at least 150 individuals,” said AILA Executive Director Crystal Williams.

The recent increases in Requests for Evidence resulting from the Validation Instrument for Business Enterprises system, prompted USCIS to issue the following notice.

Due to the time-sensitive nature of agricultural work, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) expedites all H-2A “temporary or seasonal agricultural worker” petitions. However, some recent H-2A petitions have experienced unexpected delays due to Requests for Evidence (RFEs) resulting from the use of the Validation Instrument for Business Enterprises (VIBE). As delays in adjudication are especially burdensome for H-2A petitioners, we are providing an H-2A Optional Checklist as well as a Questions & Answers document to help petitioners ensure that their petitions are expeditiously processed. Additionally, USCIS will hold a public engagement in the near future to provide USCIS and H-2A employers, associations and agents the opportunity to discuss best filing practices. Until such time, USCIS is temporarily suspending the use of VIBE in the H-2A Program. Use of VIBE will resume after 45 days of the date of this USCIS Update on July 18, 2011.

USCIS is taking measures to carefully review all pending H-2A petitions filed prior to this clarification notice.

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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today announced a final rule that adopts, without change, an interim rule to improve the integrity of the Employment Eligibility Verification (Form I-9) process. USCIS received approximately 75 public comments in response to the interim rule, which has been in effect since April 3, 2009.

The main changes made by the interim rule and adopted by the final rule include: prohibiting employers from accepting expired documents; revising the list of acceptable documents by removing outdated documents and making technical amendments; and adding documentation applicable to certain citizens of the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

Employers must complete Form I-9 for all newly hired employees to verify their identity and authorization to work in the United States. The list of acceptable documents that employees may present to verify their identity and employment authorization is divided into three sections: List A documents, which show identity and employment authorization; List B documents, which show identity only; and List C documents, which show employment authorization only.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has fully implemented the Secure Mail Initiative (SMI), which uses U.S. Postal Service (USPS) Priority Mail with Delivery Confirmation to deliver certain immigration documents in a safe, secure and timely manner. This is made possible by a partnership between USCIS and the USPS. The SMI enables USCIS to confirm delivery of permanent resident cards and documents pertaining to travel and employment authorization. With USPS tracking information, USCIS customers can easily stay up-to-date on the delivery status of their documents and USCIS can confirm that these essential documents were delivered to the proper address.

SMI provides USCIS customers many benefits, including:

* The ability to track the status of their documents with USPS tracking information

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today announced it continues to accept H-1B nonimmigrant petitions that are subject to the fiscal year (FY) 2012 cap. The agency began accepting these petitions on April 1, 2011.

USCIS is monitoring the number of petitions received that count toward the congressionally mandated annual H-1B cap of 65,000 and the 20,000 U.S. master’s degree or higher cap exemption. USCIS has received approximately 5,900 H-1B petitions counting toward the 65,000 cap, and approximately 4,500 petitions toward the 20,000 cap exemption for individuals with advanced degrees.

With all the hype, hysteria and hot air generated around the H1-B visa program issue during the past several years, one fundamental truism remains: the current annual level of H-1B visas being utilized in the United States is about the same level as in 1990.

A national janitorial company, will lose over half its Minnesota work force after an immigration audit, making it the second major business in that state to be hit by an Obama administration crackdown on employers of illegal immigrants.

The audit by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will result in about 240 workers losing their jobs, the Service Employees International Union reported.

Harvard Maintenance began issuing dismissal letters to employees in early March and is in the process of terminating workers, according to the SEIU, which represents the workers. Harvard Maintenance gave workers 90 days to rectify irregularities in their employment-eligibility documents before informing them they could no longer work there. The Obama administration has made employers the cornerstone of its immigration crackdown that began in 2009.