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USCIS discontinues old e-filing system

USCIS has discontinued its old e-filing system and will concentrate its resources on its soon-to-be launched Electronic Immigration System.

Affected immigration forms include:

Form I-131, Application for Travel Document
Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker
Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization
Form I-821, Application for Temporary Protected Status
Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing Service

After Sept. 20, you must file the paper versions of the forms listed above, which may be downloaded from the USCIS website:  www.uscis.gov

U.S. economy needs more H-1B visas -- a LOT more

USCIS received about 233,000 H-1B petitions during the filing period, which began April 1, including petitions filed for the advanced degree exemption. On April 13, 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 limit.

More evidence that Kris Kobach wasted taxpayers' money in Texas

The DACA program (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) which provides "deferred action" for certain children who were brought to the United States, in most cases, by their parents many years ago has been upheld by the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction over Texas, in a unanimous ruling.

Kris Kobach, the secretary of state of Kansas, is well known for challenging laws and (in this case) executive action by President Obama, and costing taxpayers many millions of dollars.  He was involved in making the case to a federal district judge in Texas that the DACA and DAPA (Deferred Action for Parent Accountability) programs are unconstitutional.  That ruling was swiftly appealed to the Fifth Circuit by the Justice Department.  The case below is a strong indication that the federal district judge's opinion will be reversed.

http://tinyurl.com/mjlog62

To Judge Hanen:

Perhaps you were not told this, or did not learn this through your own research or that of your law clerk, but the federal government, through its immigration service, has had the authority to grant employment authorization and other benefits to "illegal aliens" since at least the 1960s.  The only thing at all unusual about the president's executive order is the large number of people affected.