Josie Gonzalez:- New LCA effective 11-30-04; and Backlog Reduction Center news and more!!

From Los Angeles Immigration attorney and DOL guru Josie Gonzalez:

"Two newsworthy items are published in today's Federal Register:

1. "Starting on approximately November 15, 2004, H-1B and H-1B1 filings using the revised ETA Form 9035 will be accepted at the existing Application Processing Center address and fax number set forth below. The new form will be available for use on the LCA Online Web site (http://www.lca.doleta.gov
). As of November 30, 2004, the new ETA Form 9035 must be used by both H-1B and H-1B1 filers, and the H-1B1 applications for Singapore and Chile will no longer be accepted at the Washington, DC, address previously included in H-1B1 program instructions. The H1-B and H-1B1 address and fax number are: ETA Application Processing Center, P.O. Box 13640, Philadelphia, PA 19101, Fax: 800- 397-0478." http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/06jun20041800/edocket.access.gpo.gov /2004/E4-3352.htm

Not a lot of notice!! So, if this data is correct, any H-1B that is sent from your office today should contain the new version of the LCA. How this is done is unclear as the website provided above for the new LCA does not yet have available the new form, as of noon today.

2. Relocation of foreign labor certification staff to the Dallas and Philadelphia backlog processing centers:

"All foreign labor certification processing activities previously conducted in the Dallas or Philadelphia Regional Offices will now be assumed by the corresponding Dallas or Philadelphia Backlog Processing Center. The Backlog Processing Centers shall continue these functions on an interim basis and ETA shall publish a Federal Register notice in the near future providing guidance as to the handling of backlogged cases with the State Workforce Agencies (SWAs). Employers should continue, until ETA publishes future guidance on this issue, to file applications for H-2B and H-2A, as well as applications for permanent labor certification with the appropriate SWA, which will, in turn, forward materials to the appropriate Backlog Processing Center."


The above announcement is not "news" as we are all aware that Dallas and Philadelphia are the two new Backlog Reduction Centers. But further clarified is that the SWAs will receive instruction to send pending cases directly to these two facilities instead of sending them to the Region. The TG 2005 memo stated that effective January 1, 2005, the SWAs would send any new cases to the other two centers in Atlanta and Chicago called "National Centers" or if PERM occurs, "PERM Centers." Lots of movement here. There is a recording on the DOL Region VI hotline that states that the regional office is processing RIR cases received from 12/02 to 3/03 and non-RIR cases from 01/03. (This is consistent with information we've seen posted on the Internet.) The announcement acknowledges that 20,000 cases have been transferred "either the Philadelphia or Dallas Backlog Reduction Centers." (It doesn't say how they were divided.) It also requests that for RIR cases received at the region in May 2003 or later, please do not call with inquiries regarding status. We will receive letters from the Backlog Reduction Center within the next 60 days. It sounds like they've estimated that the staff at the regional office will finish up the current group of cases up to May 2003. For non-RIR cases, the recording ask that we send inquiries on cases with DOL receipt dates in October 2003 or later.

Thus, your RIR cases that were received by DOL in May 2003 or later have already been shipped to one of the BRC facilities. Region VI has retained cases for processing that it received prior to May 2003. Only California state cases were transferred to the BRCs.

For traditional cases, those received on or after October 2003 were transferred to a BRC. Those received before this date are being held for processing. Mr. Rios recently confirmed that he has a current caseload of 10,000 cases, but that it is unknown whether any of these cases might get shipped out before his staff processes them.

To shed further light on this whole subject, an interesting DOL Guidance memo was issued on October 21, 2004 regarding the Chicago National Processing Center. A rather informative excerpt is:
"The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) is proceeding with a reorganization of its offices, divisons and units to better serve its customers.
Part of this reoganization is a redeployment of Federal staff involved with foreign labor certification. This function has been transferred from the Regional Offices to the Office of National Programs, Division of Foreign Labor Certification (DFLC). The Division has reorganized its foreign labor certification activities in a new structure intended to eliminate the current Permanent Program backlog and implement the new Program Electronic Review Management (PERM) system. The newly created structure will be Center-based and include all program functions and Federal staff currently residing in ETA Regional Offices. Before the end of calendar year 2004, Federal foreign labor certification staff nationwide will be relocated to two Perm Processing Centers located in Atlanta and Chicago."

If this memo is correct, we will soon (by December 31, 2004) have only four facilities nationwide to process labor certifications. The full text of this memo can be found at: This Letter is in the Region 5 website archive at: . Thus, there might be a further transfer of DOL Region VI cases to one of four facilities.
Please note that I am endeavoring to piece together information as I uncover it. I've provided you with supporting cites to review these important developments for yourself. I've drawn some inferences here based on data that I've collected -- I can't vouch for its accuracy. But some news is sometimes better than no news."

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:New rules on visa application photos nothing to smile about

New rules on visa application photos nothing to smile about

Sunday, November 28, 2004

By Lillian Thomas, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

When it comes to some U.S. government photos, smiling is frowned upon.

"The subject's expression should be neutral [non-smiling] with both eyes open, and mouth closed," says a rule cited in the rejection of a visa photograph of a tooth-showing person from Cleveland. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services explained that "no expression" is the standard for such photos.

The Clevelander's attorney advised Pittsburgh colleagues last week to warn their clients about new, more stringent specifications for immigration photos.

The no-smile regulation is part of a wider policy that went into effect in August. As of Sept. 1, no three-quarter-angle photos, the old standard for immigration documents, and no smiling faces are permitted.

But most people won't know they're not supposed to smile unless they visit the U.S. State Department's Web site and read the lengthy set of instructions for photographs, including colors permitted for the background, proper lighting, directions for eye height, head orientation, and the necessary "natural expression" with no squinty eyes or flashing teeth.

"A smile with closed jaw is allowed but is not preferred," the instructions add.

Mark Knapp, an immigration attorney with Reed Smith, knew about the change in specified angle but didn't know about the no-teeth rule until notified by his Cleveland colleague, Marin Ritter.

"I have verified that this is indeed the new policy. You can't make this stuff up, honestly," Knapp said in an e-mail.

Why the glum faces at the State Department?

"In terms of getting exact facial kinds of things, that's what gives the most accurate information," said Angela Aggeler, spokeswoman for the Bureau of Consular Affairs, which handles travel-document guidelines.

"Actually, it is because, according to the International Civil Aviation Organization standards, the reason is that [smiling] distorts other facial features, for example your eyes, so you're supposed to have a neutral expression. They have determined that to have the most neutral face is the most desirable standard for any type of identification."

Denis Chagnon, spokesman for the International Civil Aviation Organization at its regional office in Montreal, already had fielded the no-smile question last year, when his organization promulgated the new standards for photos and Canada adapted them.

"Ahh, ahh, yes. Very simple. And it's interesting because it made the headlines here in Canada to the effect that you can't smile in Canada anymore. In May 2003, ICAO issued guidelines on the use of biometric information for machine-readable passports."

The United States and many other countries have had machine-readable passports with bar codes for a number of years, he said, but now they are moving toward a system in which biometric information is to be included, too. A computer chip embedded in the passport would allow a cross check of the person presenting it by using a facial-recognition computer program as well as checks of other biometric information such as fingerprints.

"You go to the airport, there will be a camera at the immigration counter or customs counter, and the system will compare your picture with the picture on the chip [in your passport or immigration document]," Chagnon said.

"To allow for best possible comparison, if you smile or blink your eyes or turn your head, there would be fewer comparison points. So when you go to the counter, you will look at the camera in neutral face to offer the best comparison to the matching points on the picture in the passport."

So if you had people smile broadly, teeth and all, for both the passport photo and at the counter camera, you could still match the two effectively?

"You'd probably have to develop specs for smiling," Chagnon said, laughing, perhaps with teeth showing.

"Local immigration attorneys were bantering it back and forth for a while," Knapp said. "What is interesting is the idea that you can't smile anymore and that they're rejecting photos. The idea that you can't smile is what most immigration lawyers find absurd."

Some firms that take passport and immigration photos said they had received some information about the new specs.

"We got something in the mail," said Tom Campano, owner of Mail Boxes Etc. on Craig Street in Oakland. "I'm looking at the thing. We have the specs on the wall. They go into passport size and dimensions."

His posted information, however, didn't include the no-smile rule, and he was unaware of it.

"Most people don't smile anyway," he said. "I'll have to keep that in mind."

Janet Stewart, of Chircosta Studio on Smithfield Street, Downtown, learned of it the first day it went into effect, by having a photograph rejected. Her business takes many immigration photos, and she now advises everyone not to smile.

"I'm the only photographer that says, 'Don't smile,' " she said.

Yahoo! News - Bush vows to back guest-worker plan

Yahoo! News - Bush vows to back guest-worker plan

Los Angeles Times: Bush's Immigration Gamble

Los Angeles Times: Bush's Immigration Gamble

AILA Summary of L-1 & H-1B Amendments

Section by Section Summary of L-1 & H-1B Amendments Included in Fiscal 2005 Omnibus Appropriations (H.R. 4818)

AILA has sent the following E-mail to members:

"The Senate and House this weekend passed an Omnibus Appropriations bill that includes H-1B and L provisions. (Please note that the H-1B exemption goes into effect 90 days after enactment.) We will post the statutory language shortly.

Stay tuned to InfoNet for an announcement about an upcoming AILA teleconference on these provisions. Much needs to be clarified with regard to implementation of the new H-1B exemption. For instance, USCIS will need to develop new forms, track new information, and change their computer system. We will post on InfoNet additional information when it is available.

We expect the President to sign the bill in early December. Given an unrelated, objectionable provision pertaining to disclosure of individual income tax forms that both the House and Senate agreed to delete from the bill, the Senate passed H.R. 4818, but will hold the bill until the House (which is returning on December 6) passes a technical amendment (which already has been agreed to) fixing that issue. It will then take a few days for the bill to be sent to the President for his signature."

Connect , AILA's Business Newsletter

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AILA's Washington Update (.pdf file)

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November 16, 2004
IN THIS ISSUE…
• Post-Election Update
• Lame Duck Session to Focus on Intelligence Reform Legislation—Make Your
Voice Heard!
• Lame Duck Session Offers Opportunity to Increase Access to Vital H Visa
Programs
• President Signs Bill to Allow Electronic Completion and Storage of I-9s
• President Signs Bill Providing Relief to Family Victimized by 9/11 Hate Crime
• Recent Rulemaking and Other Activity in the Federal Agencies

Yahoo! News - Bush Could Use Political Capital on Immigration

Yahoo! News - Bush Could Use Political Capital on Immigration

NY Times:Bush to Push for Temporary Worker Program

November 9, 2004

Bush to Push for Temporary Worker Program

By SCOTT SHANE

EXICO CITY, Nov. 8 - President Bush will make a renewed push during his second term for a temporary worker program to give legal status to some of the millions of migrants currently living illegally in the United States, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said Monday evening.

Aboard a plane to Mexico City, where he and other top American officials were to meet Tuesday with their Mexican counterparts, Mr. Powell acknowledged that the administration had done little to press its proposal to reform immigration laws, announced with fanfare by Mr. Bush in January.

"In light of the campaign and other things that were going on, we weren't able to engage the Congress on it," Mr. Powell said.

"But now that the election is behind us and the president is looking to his second term,'' he added, "the president intends to engage Congress on it."

Under the proposal announced by Mr. Bush, foreign workers with a job or job offer could get legal status for three years, with the possibility of renewal.

Employers would have to show that they had made an effort to find an American to fill the job before it could be offered to a foreigner.

The proposal faced opposition from some Congressional Republicans and Democrats, who said they feared that it would reward illegal immigrants with a fast track toward American citizenship, a claim Mr. Bush denied.

Since the Sept. 11 attacks against the United States, Mr. Powell said, "we have done a lot with respect to securing our borders."

As a result, he said, "I sense that there could be a more favorable environment" for changing immigration laws. But he added, "It's always a difficult issue before Congress."

On another matter, Mr. Powell noted the severe illness of the Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat but said, "I have been impressed by the manner in which the Palestinian leaders back in the territories have been discussing among themselves how to move forward."

He expressed the hope that the "sense of quiet and calm can be maintained and it gives us something to work with."

Mr. Powell, who is widely expected to step down in the next several months, declined to discuss his own future. "I'm very pleased to be secretary of state," he said.

2006 Diversity Visa Lottery Registration Begins

2006 Diversity Visa Lottery Registration Begins: "


Registration for the 2006 Diversity Visa (DV) Lottery opens today. Persons seeking to enter the lottery program must register online through the designated Internet website during the registration period. The website for registering for the 2006 DV Lottery, www.dvlottery.state.gov, will be available from noon November 5, 2004 through noon January 7, 2005."

Los Angeles Times: They Won't Touch This Hot Potato

Los Angeles Times: They Won't Touch This Hot Potato

Summary-"Both President Bush and his Democratic rival, Sen. John F. Kerry, have proposed changes that could lead to the most sweeping overhaul in 20 years of the nation's immigration policies, but neither has emphasized the often controversial subject in the campaign."