Siskind Susser is excited to announce that Lynn Susser was recently elected to ABIL, the Alliance of Business Immigration Lawyers. ABIL is comprised of over 20 lawyers from top tier immigration practices with years of expertise and a comprehensive understanding of immigration law. For more information on ABIL, including a map of ABIL attorneys worldwide, visit their website.
The following articles are excerpts from ABIL’s monthly Immigration Insider, available here on their website.
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State Dept. Opens Registration for Diversity Visa Program for 2020
The Department of State has announced that the online registration period for the DV-2020 diversity visa lottery program begins on Wednesday, October 3, 2018, at 12 noon EDT (GMT-4), and concludes on Tuesday, November 6, 2018, at 12 noon EST (GMT-5). Individuals who submit more than one entry during the registration period will be disqualified. The Department advises applicants not to wait until the last week of the registration period to enter because heavy demand may result in website delays. No late entries or paper entries will be accepted.
There are no changes concerning eligible countries from the previous fiscal year. For DV-2020, natives of the following countries are not eligible to apply, because more than 50,000 natives of these countries immigrated to the United States in the previous five years: Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (mainland-born), Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam.
Persons born in Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR, and Taiwan are eligible.
There are two other ways in which those who were not born in an eligible country might be able to qualify, the Department said:
- Was your spouse born in a country whose natives are eligible? If yes, you can claim your spouse’s country of birth—provided that both you and your spouse are named on the selected entry, are found eligible and issued diversity visas, and enter the United States simultaneously.
- Were you born in a country whose natives are ineligible, but in which neither of your parents was born or legally resident at the time of your birth? If yes, you may claim the country of birth of one of your parents if it is a country whose natives are eligible for the DV-2020 program.
An English-language version of the instructions in PDF format
The related Federal Register notice
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USCIS, OFLC Note Relief Available to Hurricane/Typhoon Survivors
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) of the Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration recently released information about immigration services and relief that may help people affected by emergency situations, including severe storms such as Hurricane Florence and Typhoon Mangkhut.
USCIS. The following USCIS services may be available on a discretionary basis upon request for individuals who have been directly affected by Hurricane Florence or Typhoon Mangkhut, USCIS said:
- Changing nonimmigrant status or extending nonimmigrant stay for an individual currently in the United States. If a person does not apply for the extension or change before his or her authorized period of admission expires, USCIS may excuse the delay if it was due to extraordinary circumstances beyond the applicant’s control;
- Re-parole for those to whom USCIS previously granted parole;
- Expedited processing of advance parole requests;
- Expedited adjudication of requests for off-campus employment authorization for F-1 students experiencing severe economic hardship;
- Expedited adjudication of employment authorization applications, where appropriate;
- Consideration of fee waivers due to an inability to pay;
- Extension of response time or acceptance of a late response to a Request for Evidence or a Notice of Intent to Deny;
- Rescheduling an interview with USCIS;
- Expedited replacement of lost or damaged immigration or travel documents issued by USCIS, such as a Permanent Resident Card (Green Card); and
- Rescheduling a biometrics appointment.
USCIS said that when making such a request, the applicant should explain how Hurricane Florence or Typhoon Mangkhut is related to the need for the requested relief.
OFLC. Hurricane Florence generated significant damage to businesses in South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, and other states, OFLC noted. The agency accordingly established internal procedures that recognize, as a result of the storm, that employers and/or their representative(s) may not be able to timely respond to a request for information or documentation, such as an audit. OFLC said it “will extend the time to respond for employers affected by the storm.” Extensions will be granted “for issues that arise from storm-related conditions, including delays caused as a result of the storm, as well as those delays that may have occurred as a result of storm preparations in the week before the storm,” OFLC said.
The OFLC announcement discusses the effects of the storm on mail delivery, email delivery, advising OFLC of new mailing addresses and contact information, and applicability of due date deadline extensions.
For applications in the H-2A, H-2B, and PERM programs, and requests for prevailing wages, where either the employer or its attorney or agent is located in a Hurricane Florence major disaster area (the counties and parishes that have been or are later designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency as disaster areas eligible for individual or public assistance), OFLC said it is postponing certain regulatory and procedural deadlines. Specifically, OFLC “is extending deadlines for employer responses to Atlanta National Processing Center (ANPC), Chicago National Processing Center (CNPC), and National Prevailing Wage Center issued audit requests, requests for additional information, requests for reconsideration, and similar requests that have deadlines,” OFLC said. Extensions of time to appeal either (1) agency denials of labor certifications, debarments, revocations, or other agency actions related to the labor certification to the Office of Administrative Law Judges, or (2) adverse final agency actions on such matters to a federal court, must be made in each case to the presiding authority, the agency said.
The OFLC announcement, which includes additional information
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USCIS Revises G-28 Notice of Entry of Appearance
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has published a revised version of Form G-28, Notice of Entry of Appearance as Attorney or Accredited Representative, with an edition date of 09/17/18. This revised version removes the geographic requirement for sending an original notice to a U.S. address for attorneys and representatives that had been added to the 05/05/16 and 05/23/18 versions of the form.
USCIS is also extending the grace period for prior versions of Form G-28. The 05/05/16 and 03/04/15 versions of the form are valid until November 19, 2018. Starting on that date, USCIS will only accept Forms G-28 with the edition dates of 09/17/18 or 05/23/18. The edition date appears at the bottom of the page on the form and instructions.
Disclaimer: This newsletter is provided as a public service and not intended to establish an attorney client relationship. Any reliance on information contained herein is taken at your own risk.