Immigrant visas approved!

 I helped a U.S. citizen file petitions for her three sisters.  They were recently approved by USCIS!

More H-1B visas needed as economy heats up

As the unemployment rate goes down, thanks to former President Obama, we need thousands more H-1B visas for skilled workers.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services reached the 65,000-visa allocation in just six days!
There are 20,000 master's H-1B visas, and applications have swallowed those visas as well.
By not authorizing more H-1B visas, Congress is hurting our economy.  See

https://tinyurl.com/y8fm9x6r

We protect animals: Why can't we protect schoolchildren?

I have a question. If Alabama can enact laws and regulations to limit the number of rounds or shells that hunters may use when hunting animals, why are there no such regulations to protect schoolchildren?

http://www.eregulations.com/alabama/guide/legal-arms-ammunition-hunting/

DACA needs to be re-authorized

For hundreds of thousands of Dreamers, the Deferred Action for Child Arrivals (DACA) program is literally a lifeline.  Currently, hundreds of Dreamers are losing their DACA protection from deportation or removal and losing their employment authorization.
Congress needs to turn DACA into statute law to give these young people protection.

DACA is not unconstitutional

"Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Tuesday the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program is unconstitutional and is being "rescinded.'
'We cannot admit everyone who would like to come here,' Sessions told reporters at the Justice Department.
The states of New York and Washington said ahead of Sessions' announcement that if President Donald Trump ended the program they would challenge the decision in court. Sessions said the immigration program was responsible for jobs being denied to Americans, and for a surge of minors at the southern border. - Robert Shroeder, MarketWatch

This statement by the Attorney General is not true.  DACA is not unconstitutional and no federal court has successfully found DACA unconstitutional. Presidents from Eisenhower to Kennedy to Nixon to Ford to Carter to Reagan to Clinton to both Bushes and Obama have used their discretion under U.S. immigration laws to grant admissibility to aliens or to deport them. Were all of these presidents' actions in exercising their discretion "unconstitutional"?  I think not.
I guess it depends on how many people you want to help or hurt. Obama clearly wanted to help children brought here by their parents. These children did not have legal capacity to break the law.
Or a president can do what Donald Trump has done and hurt more than 800,000 American children and their families, friends and employers.
It depends on whether the president has good character and decency.

USCIS expands in-person interviews for certain immigration benefit applicants

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will begin expanding in-person interviews for certain immigration benefit applicants whose benefit, if granted, would allow them to permanently reside in the United States. This change complies with Executive Order 13780, “Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States,” and is part of the agency’s comprehensive strategy to further improve the detection and prevention of fraud and further enhance the integrity of the immigration system.

Effective Oct. 1, USCIS will begin to phase-in interviews for the following:

• Adjustment of status applications based on employment (Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status).
• Refugee/asylee relative petitions (Form I-730, Refugee/Asylee Relative Petition) for beneficiaries who are in the United States and are petitioning to join a principal asylee/refugee applicant.

Previously, applicants in these categories did not require an in-person interview with USCIS officers in order for their application for permanent residency to be adjudicated. Beyond these categories, USCIS is planning an incremental expansion of interviews to other benefit types.

“This change reflects the Administration’s commitment to upholding and strengthening the integrity of our nation’s immigration system,” said Acting USCIS Director James W. McCament. “USCIS and our federal partners are working collaboratively to develop more robust screening and vetting procedures for individuals seeking immigration benefits to reside in the United States.”

Conducting in-person interviews will provide USCIS officers with the opportunity to verify the information provided in an individual’s application, to discover new information that may be relevant to the adjudication process, and to determine the credibility of the individual seeking permanent residence in the United States.  USCIS will meet the additional interview requirement through enhancements in training and technology as well as transitions in some aspects of case management.

H-1B visa random selection process ends for FY2018

USCIS announced on April 7, 2017, that it has received enough H-1B petitions to reach the statutory cap of 65,000 visas for fiscal year (FY) 2018. USCIS has also received a sufficient number of H-1B petitions to meet the U.S. advanced degree exemption, also known as the master’s cap.

USCIS received 199,000 H-1B petitions during the filing period, which began April 3, including petitions filed for the advanced degree exemption. On April 11, USCIS used a computer-generated random selection process, or lottery, to select enough petitions to meet the 65,000 general-category cap and the 20,000 cap under the advanced degree exemption. USCIS will reject and return all unselected petitions with their filing fees, unless the petition is found to be a duplicate filing.

The agency conducted the selection process for the advanced degree exemption first. All unselected advanced degree petitions then became part of the random selection process for the 65,000 cap.