CIS going to issue fee waiver form

The fees for most CIS applications are astronomical. For instance the fee for N-400 to become a US Citizen is $675/- The fee for adjusting status to become a permanent resident is $1010/- Many people simply cannot afford that. However previously there were no forms and no guidelines to filing anything without fees with the CIS. If anyone filed a form and could not afford a fee, they had to write a letter. But the mailroom personnel at CIS either does not read or perhaps cannot read. So the form used to be returned asking us to send the check. You could go back and forth and in the mean time loose time or even status.

Even more egregious were fees paid due to CIS' mistake. For instance if the CIS in clear cut error denied your case, you had to file a motion to reopen for $585/- We even had a case once where the CIS collected a fee for a I-765 (EAD) filing for $340/- and lost the file. When we traced and send them the check, the reply was that my bank should ask for the money back. My bank, Bank of America, did not know how to. So we simply paid again and refiled.

Now the CIS is proposing a form: I-912 which will establish clear guidelines for fee waivers. Hopefully the form in its approved version will have no fee requirements for CIS' mistakes along with applications for applicants below the poverty level.

Don't just start spending the money that you were saving for the CIS fees yet though. Sometimes these forms take years to come to fruition. As for me, I will believe it when I ultimately see it.

For more information contact Houston Immigration Lawyer or Houston Immigration Attorney, Annie Banerjee

How to How to show control under the Jan 08 memo

There are only 65,000 visas given for regular H-1Bs and 20,000 for holders of US Master's Degree. As of July 09, only 24,800 regular petitions were filed and 10,600 US Master's petition were filed. The reason for this slow filing is two fold.

Heading into a deeper recession, the economy is definitely a factor. Unlike what most people think, Companies would rather hire US workers, and not pay the $2320/- filing fees plus attorney's fees.

However there are some professions which have a shortage in the US. That is true of computer professionals. But the computer professional market has been bruised by a poorly conceived and legally impermissible memo that CIS promulgated on January 08, 2010. The CIS is their infinite wisdom deemed that professionals need to be "controlled" directly by the petitioning company.

The IT business typically have contracts that go through tiers--- from the petitioning company to the end user. The CIS thinks that this creates "job shop" a four letter word to them.

The Jan 08 memo is startling in how unconstitutional it is---- how it totally disregards the rule of law. The class action lawsuit against it will hopefully see the end of the memo. Meanwhile software companies are outsourcing their business elsewhere.

However if there is a contract using an intermediary, control can be shown if another employee of the same H-1B employer works for the end user and actually supervises the H-1B beneficiary.


For instance if Company A, the H-1B employer has a contract with Company F and Company F has a contract with the end user, Company Bigshot. If Company A has employee X who works for Big Shot too, who supervises employee Y, who is the beneficiary, then control can be established under the January 08 memo. Of course all companies have to provide a ton of document to prove the case.

For more information contact Houston Immigration Lawyer or Houston Immigration Attorney, Annie Banerjee

Arizona and the Justice Department on Immigration

The justice Department's suit to block the restrictive law in Arizona is heralded by everyone as an "immigration issue." Both Wall Street Journal and New York Times have huge headings under "Immigration Law." But the question is not about immigration law. It is about the fundamental human right to not be judged by the color of our skin.

The proponents of the bill, like Arizona state Sen. Russell Pearce say that the bill "prohibits racial profiling." But I wonder if every individual is stopped and asked for their passports. The will cripple business in the State. Will everyone, ie white, black, brown, yellow, and whatever other color or look need to take their passports, birth certificates, etc to Arizona?

I naturalized into this country and is in the highest tax bracket. I work and pay taxes. Yet I am brown and have an accent. As a practitioner of immigration law, I know say for instance white Canadian who are here, in the US, working illegally, but are white and except for a slight "oot and aboot" has no other accent. Who will the Arizona police "catch"?

The lawsuit is also about separate state and federal rights. The Conservative Supreme Court will champion State rights, but it will remain to be seen whether they champion Separation of Powers. My guess is that their judgment will be clouded by the more emotional issue of immigration.

For more information contact Houston Immigration Lawyer or Houston Immigration Attorney, Annie Banerjee