For the last year, one of the most common questions we’ve received at our firm is “when are we getting PERM?” PERM is the new electronic labor certification filing system that was proposed by the US Department of Labor a few years ago. PERM promised decisions on cases in as little as 21 days, something that is immensely appealing given the multi-year waits common in several states. The program does away with local processing for all but the wage determination part of the process and seeks to standardize how all labor certification cases are handled.

Sound great, right? But when the proposed PERM rules came out they contained much more than just the electronic filing system. They contained a smorgasbord of controversial new policies that the Department of Labor had been seeking for many years and which immigration practitioners have fought as being anti-business and impractical. Many, many comments were received criticizing these provisions and many believe that the negative reaction has been the source of much of the delay in getting the rules into final form.

Now we know that we’re close to the publication of the final rules. The Department of Labor has been waiting for months for the final clearance of the new rules from the Office of Management and Budget. That has now happened and the rules will be published any day now in the Federal Register. Once that happens, a 60 day implementation clock will begin ticking and the new process will start right after that.

When a major law or regulation has been published over the last ten years, Visalaw.com has always rushed to produce a detailed summary for our readers. We will do so again this year and will likely publish a special issue explaining what is changing. So keep an eye out for this special newsletter issue.

Of course, with the retrogression of EB-3 numbers for nationals of the Philippines, China and India coming next month, taking advantage of the faster process will be an exercise of “hurry up and wait” for many. The retrogression to January 1, 2002 for people in this category is going to be extremely bad news, particularly in industries like nursing where non-immigrant visas are not available to get people into the US working while they wait on a number. Look for a major lobbying effort to begin in the new year to address this issue. We’ll be providing news on this as it develops.

*****

Every congressional and presidential election brings change even when incumbents get reelected. That is especially true this year. Despite the fact that the most recent Congress’ chairs of the two committees that oversee immigration - the Judiciary Committee and the Immigration Subcommittee – remain in the Senate, neither will return to those posts in the new Congress that will be sworn in next month. Senator Arlen Specter will take over the Judiciary Committee. Specter, a moderate Republican, is seen as pro-immigration, though the outgoing chair, Senator Orrin Hatch, also had a similar reputation. Hatch was the sponsor of last session’s failed DREAM Act. Senator Saxby Chambliss will leave his post as chair of the Immigration Subcommittee. But the replacement has not been named yet. It will be one of the following Senators:

Hatch
Grassley
Kyl
Dewine
Sessions
Graham
Cornyn
Brownback
Coburn

Some are betting on Senator Kyl from Arizona. Kyl is seen as a hardliner on immigration enforcement though a moderate on legal immigration measures. Senator Brownback rejoins the Judiciary Committee.

*****

Another major legislative change that recently took place is the passage of a new H-1B law that increases slot availability for US-educated workers as well as imposing new fees for employers. This week, we’re updating our ABCs of Immigration article on H-1B processing to include the new changes.

*****

In firm news, Jack Richbourg, an attorney in our Memphis office had his recent circuit court asylum win written up in the Memphis Commercial Appeal newspaper this morning. You can see the article on our web site at www.visalaw.com/news/.

Here's the table of contents for this week's Siskind's Immigration Bulletin. Click here to get to any of the articles.

1. Openers
2. The ABC’s of Immigration: The H-1B Visa
3. Ask Visalaw.com
4. Border and Enforcement News
5. News From The Courts
6. Government Processing Times
7. News Bytes
8. International Roundup
9. Legislative Update
10. FY 2005 H-2B Processing Begins
11. EOIR Notifies Aliens Eligible for Full Asylum Benefits
12. US Arrival Added to US-Visit

Attorney Jack Richbourg was mentioned in the December 21 issue of The Commercial Appeal in an article about a political refugee he is representing. Mr. Richbourg got the case overrulled in a Sixth Circuit appellate court, providing a good chance that his client will soon make the United States his permanent home. Click here to read it.

We've posted the latest processing times for the Vermont, California and Texas Service Centers and the National Benefits Center in Missouri. Click here to see them.

Attorney Greg Siskind and Siskind Susser staff member Gilda Bollwerk co-authored an article in the December 19 issue of La Prensa Latina detailing the O-1 visa. Click here to read it.

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