Openers

Dear Readers:

Call me a technogeek if you like. But I was one of the people enthusiastically waiting to use the BCIS' new electronic filing system when it went live yesterday morning. Actually, I was hoping to file at 12:01 am yesterday morning so I actually stayed up late with a client's employment authorization application in hand. But at the stroke of midnight nothing happened.

And after waiting another hour and seeing no change on the BCIS web page, I gave up and went to sleep. In the morning, the BCIS' web site was down. "Aha!" I said to myself. They must have taken the site down temporarily to load the new e-filing system. A few minutes later it was up and there it was. I quickly went to the application page (hey, instructions are for the weak!) and started typing away. I should find out soon if I filed the very first ever e-filing application - woo hoo!

The good news is that at least for an immigration lawyer everything seemed to be straightforward. I was a little disappointed by certain aspects of the system. For example, you still have to call the national customer service number to book an appointment at an Application Service Center for fingerprints, photographs and signatures. Why can't the appointment be booked online like the State Department does in the NVARS system for appointments in Mexico and Canada? Why can't supporting documents be submitted electronically as well? Court systems around the country accept electronic filings with supporting documents scanned and sent in Adobe Acrobat format. And why won't the BCIS take credit cards. Even the Internal Revenue Service accepts credit cards.

Still, I should not complain too loudly. Who can complain about getting an instant filing receipt? And who can complain about being able to ensure that the data that makes it onto an immigration document is exactly what was typed in by you rather than a poorly paid data entry clerk.  And it electronic filing allows the BCIS to shift resources from data entry to actually working cases, what more could you want?

This week we include in our ABCs of Immigration article an overview of e-filing. I even took screen shots of the various e-filing pages so readers can get a better feel for the process.

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Last week my Openers criticized a CNN report on the H-1B cap debate. I came down on CNN for what I felt was an imbalanced report. I received some nice letters from readers agreeing with me. But I was a bit surprised when I started receiving several letters basically informing me that I am in cahoots with the devil and I should pack up and ship out. Apparently, one of the anti-H-1B visa web sites complained about me and readers from that site wandered over to mine to see who this Siskind/Satan fellow was. Anyhow, I actually received an interesting letter from the publisher of the site laying out his position on the H-1B issue and inviting me to respond. And I will. Next week, I'll let you know what I had to say and also present the other side of the argument in this advocate's own words. Which is exactly what I asked CNN to do - present both sides of the issue. Readers of this newsletter know that while I don't hide my pro-immigration beliefs, I cover ALL immigration news even when it tends to show immigrants and immigration in a poor light.

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In firm news, this week I was quoted by the San Francisco Chronicle in a story on abuse of the L-1 visa category. You can find the story linked on our web site at www.visalaw.com/news.

We also say goodbye this week to law clerk Shadrick King. Shadrick is a recent law school graduate who is going on to obtain a master's degree in law. He wrote many articles for this newsletter particularly those covering court cases. Good luck Shadrick! You will be missed.

Finally, as always, we remind readers that we're lawyers who make our living representing immigration clients. We would love to discuss becoming your law firm. Just go to http://www.visalaw.com/intake.html to request an appointment or call us at 800-748-3819 or 901-682-6455.

Regards,

Greg Siskind