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WOLFSDORF IMMIGRATION NEWSLETTER 1. Naturalization Processing Times Increase Drastically Because of a surge in applications over the summer and resulting massive backlogs, partly in anticipation of fee increases, the average processing time for naturalization applications has increased for applications filed after June 1, 2007, from the current average of seven months or less to approximately 18 months, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) said. Family-based adjustment of status applications increased from the current average of six months or less to 12 months. Specifically, USCIS noted that in July and August of 2007, the agency received nearly 2.5 million applications and petitions, which was double the number typically received in a two-month period. In fiscal year (FY) 2007, USCIS received 1.4 million applications for naturalization, more than the totals from FYs 2006 and 2005 combined. Forty percent of those, or 562,000, were filed in the fourth quarter. Applications for employment- and family-based adjustment of status increased by 76 percent, from 497,000 in FY 2006 to 875,000 in FY 2007. USCIS said it plans to reduce processing times to six months by the third quarter of fiscal year 2010. USCIS Director Emilio Gonzalez noted that up to several thousand new employees are being hired and trained to deal with the "deluge." This is in addition to about 700 retired federal government employees who are being hired back without having to sacrifice their pensions, under a plan proposed by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.). A sign-on letter expressing deep concern about the delays notes,
among other things, that "[m]any of the undersigned organizations
opposed fee increases of the magnitude that USCIS proposed and
warned that if USCIS were to proceed with the fee increases, it must
prepare for a surge in applications from immigrants wishing to avoid
the fee increases. In fact, USCIS did move forward with the fee
increases, but did not adequately prepare to handle such a surge."
The sign-on letter is available at An announcement about processing times and case status is available on page 5 of USCIS's December 2007 newsletter at http://www.uscis.gov/files/nativedocuments/USCIS_Monthly_Dec07.pdf. Related testimony from Mr. Gonzalez on January 17, 2008, before the House of Representatives' immigration subcommittee is available at http://www.uscis.gov/files/testimony/testimony_ETG_17jan08.pdf. 2. Department of State Observations Regarding India EB-2 Unavailability Despite two retrogressions of the India employment second preference cut-off date recently, demand for numbers by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service offices for adjustment of status cases has remained extremely high in recent months, the Department of State reported in the February 2008 Visa Bulletin. As a result, the annual limit for the India employment second preference category has been reached, and the category has become “unavailable." On January 10, 2007, AILA Liaison contacted Charlie Oppenheim, Chief of Immigrant Visa Control and Reporting at the Department of State, to speak about the announcement of India EB-2 visa unavailability in the February 2008 Visa Bulletin. By early November 2007, there were indications that USCIS demand for India EB-2 visa numbers would place significant pressure on the overall annual limitation, leading to the decision to roll back the priority date for India EB-2 for December 2007 to 01JAN02, and for January 2008 to 01JAN00. Even with those significant retrogressions, USCIS requested almost 300 India EB-2 for December. (As an indication of the rate of demand and how close to the quarterly and annual limits usage is, the USCIS requested three India EB-2 numbers for January, all with dates prior to 01JAN00.) There is some possibility that India EB-2 could again become available if it appears that the demand for India EB-1 will not exceed the annual limit, but that determination will not be made until the second half of the fiscal year. For China-mainland born EB-2, if the demand remains as it has been over the last couple of months, it is expected that the 01JAN03 cut-off date will hold. It is also likely that all numbers will be used within the current cut-off date. As is always the case, Mr. Oppenheim is looking for mechanisms to maximize number usage so that no visa numbers remain unallocated. Also, he is looking for ways to make additional India and China-mainland born numbers available, such as by making sure that unused numbers that had been sent to consular posts are promptly returned. The February 2008 Visa Bulletin is available at 3. H-1B Filing Alert 4. The Department of State Issues Travel Documentation Reminder The Department of State issued a reminder that, effective January 23, 2007, all persons traveling by air between the U.S. and Canada, Mexico, Bermuda, and the Caribbean region are required to present a passport or other valid travel document to enter or re-enter the U.S. Beginning January 31, 2008, U.S. and Canadian citizens need to present either a Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI)-compliant document, or a government-issued photo ID, such as a driver’s license, plus proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate. At a later date, to be determined, the Departments of State and Homeland Security will implement the full requirements of the land and sea phase of WHTI. Proposed rules require most U.S. citizens entering the U.S. at sea or land ports of entry to have either a U.S. passport; a U.S. passport card; a trusted traveler card such as NEXUS, FAST, or SENTRI; a valid Merchant Mariner Document (MMD) when traveling in conjunction with official maritime business; or a valid U.S. Military identification card when traveling on official orders. Members of the U.S. Armed Forces on active duty traveling on orders are exempt from the passport requirement. The passport requirement does not apply to U.S. citizens traveling to or returning directly from a U.S. territory. U.S. citizens may begin applying in advance for the new, limited-use, wallet-size passport card beginning February 1, 2008. The Department said it expects that the cards will be available and mailed to applicants in spring 2008. When available, it will only be valid for land and sea travel between the U.S. and Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean region, and Bermuda. A related 23-page letter on the WHTI from Richard Stana, Director of Homeland Security and Justice Issues for the Government Accountability Office, to the House of Representatives' Subcommittee on Border, Maritime and Global Counterterrorism, is available at http://www.aila.org/content/default.aspx?docid=24355. Among other things, Mr. Stana noted that the GAO "acknowledge[s] that DHS has taken a number of actions to prepare for testing and deploying technologies and managing the implementation of other WHTI activities. However, as key elements of planning for program management and execution remain uncertain, we continue to believe that DHS faces challenges deploying technology, and staffing and training officers to use it." More information on the WHTI is available at http://travel.state.gov/travel/cbpmc/cbpmc_2223.html. 5. The Department of Homeland Security Begins Collecting 10 Fingerprints at Logan Airport The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on January 22, 2008, that it has begun collecting additional fingerprints from international visitors arriving at Boston Logan International Airport (Logan). The change is part of the DHS's upgrade from two- to 10-fingerprint collection. For more than four years, U.S. Department of State (DOS) consular officers and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers have been collecting biometrics—digital fingerprints and a photograph—from all non-U.S. citizens between the ages of 14 and 79, with some exceptions, when they apply for visas or arrive at U.S. ports of entry. The department's US-VISIT program includes checks of a visitor's fingerprints against DHS records of immigration violators and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) records of criminals and known or suspected terrorists. The DHS said that collecting 10 fingerprints improves fingerprint matching accuracy and the agency's ability to compare a visitor's fingerprints against latent fingerprints collected by Department of Defense (DOD) and the FBI from "known and unknown" terrorists. Additionally, visitors' fingerprints are checked against the FBI's Criminal Master File. On an average day at Logan, almost 2,000 international visitors complete US-VISIT biometric procedures. Visitors from the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, and France comprise the largest numbers of international visitors arriving at Logan. Washington Dulles International Airport began 10-fingerprint collection on November 29, 2007, and Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport began 10-fingerprint collection on January 6, 2008. Seven other ports of entry will soon begin collecting additional fingerprints: Chicago O'Hare International Airport, San Francisco International Airport, George Bush Houston Intercontinental Airport, Miami International Airport, Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, Orlando International Airport, and John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. The remaining air, sea, and land ports will transition to collecting 10 fingerprints by the end of 2008, the DHS said. The announcement is available at
http://netmail.verizon.net/webmail/ 6. New ICE System Analyzes Suspicious Relationships, Patterns U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is implementing, effective February 29, 2008, the "ICE Pattern Analysis and Information Collection System" (ICEPIC). The system is intended to assist investigators by "identifying suspect identities and discovering possible non-obvious relationships among individuals and organizations" to discover violations of customs and immigration laws as well as possible terrorist threats or plots, according to a DHS report. The databases, which ICE declined to identify specifically, include those that track foreign students and visitors, immigrants, criminals and suspected terrorists. "All ICEPIC activity is associated with ongoing and valid law enforcement investigations," the report noted. The system reportedly includes the terrorist watch list, from which an estimated 15,000 people have appealed to have their names removed because of incomplete information or inaccuracies. According to the agency, ICEPIC builds on earlier ICE initiatives to verify the identity of Special Interest Aliens (SIAs), as designated by the Department of State. In 2003, ICE implemented the National Security Entry Exit Registration System (NSEERS) to manage the growing collection of over 500,000 SIA records. National and international terrorist threats during 2004 and 2005 resulted in ICE reviewing not only the SIA records in NSEERS, but also the records of those registered with the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) and entered into the United States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US VISIT) system. ICEPIC reveals relationships to an identified target, but it is not used to reveal a "predictive pattern," the report said. From the relationships identified, ICE agents will develop specific leads and intelligence for active and new investigations. ICE is claiming certain exemptions from the Privacy Act. A proposed rule announcing the system is available at
http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20081800/ 7. Recent Firm News |
