The end of the summer is not normally a crazy time for immigration lawyers. But the second half of September is shaping up to be a busy one. The sudden retrogression of EB-1 and EB-2 numbers for Indian and Chinese nationals and the fears of worldwide backups in the near future are causing lawyers to scramble to get cases filed by the September 30th deadline. In many cases, applications that were not quite ready to go are being rushed.

In our office, we’re also still dealing with issues arising out of Hurricane Katrina, filing physician Conrad 30 waiver cases to claim last minute numbers and getting ready to file green card lottery cases.

So if your immigration lawyer is a little slow responding to your emails and messages for the next few days, you’ll know why.

Fortunately for me, I have a great team of lawyers and support staff at my office because I’ll be gone next week at the annual meeting of the International Bar Association in Prague. I’ll be moderating a panel presentation on international migration rules for health care professionals.

Speaking of Hurricane Katrina, as I type this I have an eye on the television watching news of yet another catastrophic storm barreling across the Gulf of Mexico. I chair the Katrina Taskforce for the American Immigration Lawyers Association and have been working with my committee helping lawyers affected by the hurricane get their practices back on track. I learned this morning that our committee will be working with “Rita” lawyers deal with the aftermath of this second hurricane. Lawyers from Texas who are affected by the storm are encouraged to contact me and I’ll facilitate getting to the right people at AILA for assistance. I can be contacted at gsiskind@visalaw.com.

In firm news, after last week being listed in the Best Lawyers in America guide, two of our lawyers – myself and my law partner Lynn Susser – have been listed as Leaders in their Field by Chambers Global, the international attorney ranking service. Information on the Chambers guides can be found at www.chambersandpartners.com.

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