The U.S. Embassy in Mexico City and all U.S. Consulates throughout Mexico have suspended all non-essential services to the public until 06 May 2009, as a precautionary message. Consular services for in connection with the H1N1 “Swine” Influenza outbreak. U.S. citizens will be limited to emergency assistance and to citizenship applications. The Embassy’s visa unit has suspended all nonimmigrant visa appointments and will reschedule all nonimmigrant visa appointments that have been made between April 27 and May 5. The Embassy’s scheduling center will call or e-mail applicants to reschedule appointments. Alternatively, applicants may re-schedule visa appointments without being charged by calling 800 719-2525.

Further, all USCIS offices in Mexico, except for emergency cases, are closed.

For more information, please contact Ortega-Medina & Associates.  http://www.Ortega-Medina.com

USCIS has announced that all individuals submitting paper I-90 applications must now file their Form I-90 and supporting documentation with the USCIS Lockbox facility in Phoenix.  The supporting documentation should now be submitted with the Form I-90, and not withheld for presentation at the biometrics appointment.

For more information, please contact Ortega-Medina & Associates.  http://www.Ortega-Medina.com

US Citizenship and Immigration Services continues to accept H-1B petitions that are subject to the 2010 Fiscal Year numerical cap. This includes both standard H-1B Petitions (capped at 65,000) and H-1B Petitions under the 20,000 U.S. master’s degree or higher educational exemption cap.  As of 27 April, USCIS estimated that it had received 45,000 standard H-1B Petitions and 20,000 educational exemption cap petitions.

For more information, please contact Ortega-Medina & Associates.  http://www.Ortega-Medina.com

The US Consulate in Ciudad Juarez (CDJ) now requires applicants to have been officially refused an immigrant visa before making a waiver application.  CDJ now requires applicants to wait 48 hours after refusal for an immigrant visa before contacting the call center to schedule a waiver appointment to allow the call center operators to confirm the visa refusal.

For more information, please contact Ortega-Medina & Associates.  http://www.Ortega-Medina.com

 

A problem with the interface tool for the “Case Status Online” has caused delays in the entry of new receipt numbers into the system and in the updating of status information for filings already in the system by USCIS.  The problem is reoccurring and a time frame has not been provided for the resolution of the issues.

For more information, please contact Ortega-Medina & Associates.  http://www.Ortega-Medina.com

 

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has announced it will cancel old NEXUS cards for current NEXUS members on 01 May 2009.  CBP has been mailing new NEXUS cards to all members since November.  All members must activate their new cards within 30 days, as well as verify and update their U.S. mailing address by visiting the GOES page on the CBP Web site.

For more information, please contact Ortega-Medina & Associates.  http://www.Ortega-Medina.com

While the renewal of an Employment Authorization Document (EAD) may be filed simultaneously to an L-1 and L-2 Visa Status extension with Premium Processing, USCIS only offers the courtesy of faster processing of the EAD Renewal based on the Premium Processing of the Visa Renewal, and cannot guarantee the processing time.  Further, as the EAD application may be separated from the L-2 status extension, the EAD may only be issued to expire on the date of the submitted I-94 for the previous L-2 status, not the date of the extended status.  Applicants must also ensure that the EAD Renewal Application is sent to the correct USCIS Service Center based on the I-765 instructions.  Thus, any EAD Renewal Application that should be filed in Nebraska or Texas based on the Applicant’s residence and the I-765 instructions should not include the I-765 with the I-539.

For more information, please contact Ortega-Medina & Associates. http://www.Ortega-Medina.com

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed the District Court’s dismissal of the indictment and remanded for further proceedings a case involving a Foreign National that had served in the Army of Republika Srpska., but answered that he had not performed any military service when he applied to become a Legal Permanent Resident of the United States. In the decision, United States v. Krstic, 3/10/09, the Court found that the Foreign National’s false statement in obtaining his Permanent Residency and “Green Card”was a prosecutable offence under 18 U.S.C. § 1546(a), which prohibits the possession of an otherwise authentic document that one knows has been procured by means of a false claim or statement.

For more information, please contact Ortega-Medina & Associates.  http://www.Ortega-Medina.com

USCIS has issued a reminder that Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Burundian nationals (or individuals having no nationality who last habitually resided in Burundi) terminates effective 12:01 a.m. May 2, 2009. Individuals with no lawful immigration status before receiving TPS will revert to unlawful status on 02 May 2009, and will no longer be eligible for a stay of removal or employment authorization based on TPS.

For more information, please contact Ortega-Medina & Associates. http://www.Ortega-Medina.com

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has denied the petition for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) decision in Marmolejo-Campos v. Holder, 3/4/09.  The court found that the BIA's determination that DUI offenses committed with the knowledge that one's driver's license has been suspended or otherwise restricted are crimes involving moral turpitude is a reasonable interpretation of the INA.

For more information, please contact Ortega-Medina & Associates.  http://www.Ortega-Medina.com

The Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals (BALCA) has affirmed the denial of a PERM application in Matter of Dunkin Donuts, 2008-PER-00135 (1/5/09), where the employer's name was excluded from job advertisement, despite the inclusion of a fax number was included as BALCA found that a fax number does not identify the employer for applicants.  BALCA also found that the inclusion of rate of pay on the Form ETA-9089 does not cure failure to include the rate of pay on the Notice of Filing.

For more information, please contact Ortega-Medina & Associates. http://www.Ortega-Medina.com

Nonimmigrant visa applicants at the consular post in Ciudad Juarez must now obtain a biometrics appointment at the Application Support Center (ASC) located at the old consular post (Avenida Lopez Mateos 924 N, Fracc. La Playa, Building C) before attending the nonimmigrant visa interview appointment at the consular post. Although the eventual aim is to allow the biometrics appointment in the morning, followed by the consular interview in the afternoon, this is not currently available and applicants must have biometrics taken at least one day before the interview.

For more information, please contact Ortega-Medina & Associates. http://www.Ortega-Medina.com

USCIS has announced that InfoPass appointments will not be available on the 23^rd and 24^th of April 2009.

For more information, please contact Ortega-Medina & Associates. http://www.Ortega-Medina.com

The Department of State has released the May 2009 visa bulletin summarizing the availability of immigrant numbers during May 2009. Most notably, visas are now unavailable in the EB-3 Category for all countries of chargeability.

For more information, please contact Ortega-Medina & Associates. http://www.Ortega-Medina.com

US Citizenship and Immigration Services continues to accept H-1B petitions that are subject to the 2010 Fiscal Year numerical cap. This includes both standard H-1B Petitions and H-1B Petitions under the 20,000 U.S. master’s degree or higher educational exemption cap.

Processing of cases received during the initial 5-day window commenced on 07 April 2009.

For more information, please contact Ortega-Medina & Associates.  http://www.Ortega-Medina.com

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has announced the implementation of the Secure Flight program, which transfers the responsibility of pre-departure flight screening from individual aircraft operators to TSA, per a recommendation of the 9/11 Commission. Airlines will now be required to obtain a passenger’s full name, gender, and date of birth as part of the flight booking process for matching with the TSA “no fly” or “selectee” list.  Secure Flight has been implemented for all US domestic flights; implementation of Secure Flight for international flights is expected by the end of 2009.

For more information, please contact Ortega-Medina & Associates.  http://www.Ortega-Medina.com

The US Department of State has published its final rule allowing an au pair who has successfully completed the au pair program to repeat the program so long as he or she has resided outside the United States for a period of at least two years since completion of the initial au pair program, including the educational component requirement, and is within the eligible age range.

For more information, please contact Ortega-Medina & Associates.  http://www.Ortega-Medina.com

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has issued a final rule regarding the application of specific criteria in determining required vaccinations as part of an immigrant visa medical, as opposed to the standard list of vaccinations previously required.  The specific criteria developed by the CDC to determine vaccination recommendations is as follows: 

1. The vaccine must be an age-appropriate vaccine as recommended by ACIP for the general U.S. population, AND

2. At least one of the following:

a. The vaccine must protect against a disease that has the potential to cause an outbreak;

b. The vaccine must protect against a disease that has been eliminated in the United States, or is in the process for elimination in the United States.

For more information, please contact Ortega-Medina & Associates.  http://www.Ortega-Medina.com

On 26 March 2009, Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN) reintroduced the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act of 2007 or DREAM Act; while Representatives Howard Berman (D-CA), Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA), and Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL) introduced a House version of the bill called the "American Dream Act."

The DREAM Act would permit a limited number of foreign nationals that are undocumented in the United States to become permanent residents if they came to the United States under the age of 16, are long-term U.S. residents, have good moral character, and attend college or enlist in the military for at least two years.

For more information, please contact Ortega-Medina & Associates.  http://www.Ortega-Medina.com

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the delay of the full application of US Immigration regulations in the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) until 28 November 2009.  The current system administered by CNMI will remain in effect until that time.

For more information, please contact Ortega-Medina & Associates.  http://www.Ortega-Medina.com

US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced an automatic six-month extension of employment authorization documents (EADs) for nationals of Liberia (and for persons without nationality who last habitually resided in Liberia) for whom deferred enforced departure (DED) has been extended.

For more information, please contact Ortega-Medina & Associates.  http://www.Ortega-Medina.com