Federal agency officials regularly meet with representatives of immigrant advocacy organizations like the National Association of Foreign Student Advisors and the American Immigration Lawyers Association. Agency officials often share important information at these meetings that affect the general public. The following news items were revealed at such agency/organization meetings over the last month:

- I-485 processing remains on hold at all four INS Regional Service Center while software problems connected to the Year 2000 bug. Processing will not begin again until the end of January. The INS will probably not even work cases for people who will lose their immediate relative status because they are turning 21 years of age. [Note - we have received late word that at least one of the four service centers - the Nebraska Service Center - has resumed processing I-485 cases].

- Speaking of Y2K problems, glitches are already being identified with INS adjudications. Local INS offices have been unable to process Employment Authorization Document extension requests where the requested expiration date is post-Y2K. INS Headquarters states that the problem stems from the fact that local INS offices use a standalone production system for EADs instead of the INS' CLAIMS software. The INS believes the problem will be resolved by the end of 1998.

- The INS released information on the pace of approvals for H-1B cases. There are 115,000 H-1B visas available for the fiscal year that began October 1, 1998 and continues through September 30th of next year. From October through November 15th, 21,149 H-1B visas had been issued. As of that date, another 37,577 cases were pending. The INS reports that there was only a modest increase in the number of applications prior to the new $500 H-1B fee taking effect on December 1st. While more than half of the visas available for the fiscal year were used up in the first two months, a large portion of the approvals were for applications filed in the last fiscal year before the visa cap was reached. Only after a few more months will it be possible to forecast with any reliability if and when the cap will be reached this fiscal year.

- Speaking of the new $500 add-on H-1B fee, the INS has stated that for H-1B cases, it will accept either one check for $610 or two checks - one for $500 and one for $110. Checks written on the alien's bank account are not acceptable since the new law prohibits workers from being stuck paying the new filing fee.

- The Texas Service Center reports that I-824 cases are now being processed within 90 days. These are applications for duplicate approval notices and notification of consulates of INS approvals.

- Problems have been reported to the Texas Service Center regarding a significant gap between the time an I-765 Application for Employment Authorization has been approved and the actual issuance of the Employment Authorization Document. The TSC instructs that applicants who have not received their cards within 90 days of filing their application should fax the TSC at 214-767-7409 to resolve the problem.

- The California Service Center is reporting that they are having problems getting some naturalization applicants scheduled for fingerprints because there are not enough Application Service Centers in certain geographic areas with a high concentration of applicants.

- The California Service Center admits that it is devoting very little attention to cases where a consulate rejects a case and returns the case to the INS for further processing. The CSC reports that it has been directed by INS Headquarters to assign the lowest priority to these cases and it will not assign any additional resources to these cases until it is current on all case types. But the CSC does expect some improvement soon and the CSC is slowly cutting its backlog.

- The California Service Center has identified a list of some I-485 cases where it might be more inclined to require an interview at a local INS office:

- 2% of all cases chosen randomly

- certain 245i cases such as those where the applicant entered the US without inspection

- EB-1 multinational executives if a company is not well-known or the applicant lacks proof of qualification for the position

- EB-3 Unskilled workers

- EB-4 Religious workers where the employer is not well-known or where the applicant lacks credentials, proof of ordination, or proof of education/training

- multiple petitions from the same address

- the applicant is the subject of an investigation

- cases on the local Look-Out list

- The Department of Labor is considering transferring all foreign labor programs (such as the H-1B and permanent labor certification programs) from the Employment Training Administration (ETA) to the Employment Standards Administration. ESA is considering a significant reshaping of the labor certification process to greatly streamline procedures. Among the options being considered is an "attestation" program where employers would have to swear that required recruiting has taken place and the ESA would investigate violations. The proposed change could be incorporated into the 2000 fiscal year budget.