Labor Immigration Law

We have spoken to clients and written about the slim chances of having an immigration reform early into the upcoming Obama administration.  The Wall Street Journal has an article which analyzes the consequences of the changes in Congressional seats as a result of the recent election and how it may affect the immigration reform.

Some of the members of Congress opposed most to comprehensive immigration reform which would give a path to legalization to at least some of the illegal immigrants have either retired or lost their seats.  This has created some optimism that the path to immigration reform  may be cleared.  However, as the Journal writes, “Mr. Obama will be focused on the economy and tax policy and isn’t likely to expend political capital on such a divisive issue.”

While it is difficult to read the tea leaves of what the Obama administration may do with respect to immigration, one of the harbingers of what is to come may come in March when when the E-Verify program, which lets employers electronically verify the status of new workers, expires.  The program is a cornerstone of the current administration’s enforcement policies, but has opponents among civil liberty and immigrant organizations and groups.  The next administration could seek a five-year renewal, a brief extension or let it expire.  Based on what happens in March, we will know more about the priority immigration reform may take in the Obama administration.

USCIS has released the processing times for naturalization applications as of September 30, 2008.  It is worth noting that some offices are noting significant improvement (2 months or more) in comparison to the processing times from few months ago.  This is due to the increased efforts by the FBI to clear security checks faster.

The December 2008 Visa Bulletin is out.   Unfortunately, it does not bring any good news for the employment-based (EB) visa numbers.  All EB categories remain unchanged from the November 2008 Visa Bulletin.

The lack of any movement of the EB visa numbers is likely due to the high number of filings USCIS has received after the opening of the fiscal year 2009 on October 1.  After many of the EB categories were unavailable throughout the summer, there was a high number of applications filed on or shortly after October 1.  We think that the lack of any movement in this month’s Visa Bulletin is intended to control the flow of applications and allow USCIS time to adjust its workflow.

An article in today’s Washington Post reports on the contract USCIS has signed with IBM to overhaul the way USCIS handles documents.  As many of our clients know or have experienced first-hand, the agency’s pre-computer-age paper filing system is extremely frustrating.  The current system incurs $100 million a year in archiving, storage, retrieval and shipping costs; has led to the loss or misplacement of more than 100,000 files; and has contributed to backlogs and delays for millions of cases.

The new system, to be phased-in over the next five years will cost $500 million and will be based on electronic storage and retrieval of documents.  The new digital system is expected to reduce backlogs and processing delays by at least 20 percent, and possibly more than 50 percent, people close to the project have indicated.

This should be welcome news to the immigrant and immigration attorneys’ communities. We are all aware of the problems caused by lost paperwork or by the inability to properly find the paper trail of an immigration filing.  Welcome to the 21st century, USCIS.

As the dust from the election starts to settle, we have started receiving inquiries about the changes in immigration policy which may be expected from the new Obama-Biden administration.

During the pre-election campaign season, the attention spent on immigration policy was close to zero.  Amid the financial crisis, Iraq and other domestic and foreign policy issues, immigration policy seems to have been put on the side.  Unfortunately, we do not expect immigration reform to be a priority of the Obama administration so a comprehensive immigration reform is highly unlikely, at least for the first years of the presidency.   However, we do expect some improvements in the efficiency of the processing systems and procedures.  Obama has promised to introduce a fair amount of the technology and efficiency of his campaign to the government.

Here are Obama’s campaign promises on immigration, according to the his campaign:

Create Secure Borders.  Obama and Biden want to preserve the integrity of our borders. He supports additional personnel, infrastructure and technology on the border and at our ports of entry.

Improve Our Immigration System.  Obama and Biden believe we must fix the dysfunctional immigration bureaucracy and increase the number of legal immigrants to keep families together and meet the demand for jobs that employers cannot fill.

Remove Incentives to Enter Illegally.  Obama and Biden will remove incentives to enter the country illegally by cracking down on employers who hire undocumented immigrants.

Bring People Out of the Shadows.  Obama and Biden support a system that allows undocumented immigrants who are in good standing to pay a fine, learn English, and go to the back of the line for the opportunity to become citizens.

Work with Mexico.  Obama and Biden believe we need to do more to promote economic development in Mexico to decrease illegal immigration.