Rachel Huan Kao's Archived Articles
Immigration
News
March 2005
Spanish spoken here!
Please join me in welcoming Francisca, a Spanish-speaking assistant in
my office. She will provide Spanish language assistance as needed. Please
ask for her if you need Spanish language assistance.
SEVIS Fee
Applicants for F, J, or M visas with first-time I-20 or DS-2019 forms
issued on or after September 1, 2004 must pay a SEVIS fee prior to applying
for their visas. The full SEVIS fee is $100, and applies to most applicants.
The reduced SEVIS fee is $35, and is paid by short-term exchange visitors.
Applicants who are participating in Federal Government-sponsored programs
(program numbers begin with “G-1”, “G-2”, or “G-3”)
are not subject to the fee. Derivatives of F-1, J-1, and M-1 visa holders
are not required to pay the fee.
Commonwealth of the
Northern Mariana Islands
The Ninth Circuit found that based on the Covenant between the Commonwealth
of the Northern Mariana Islands and the United States, Act of March 24,
1976, all persons born on or after January 9, 1978 are citizens of the
United States. This decision overrules the district court’s decision.
California Service
Center helps out
Nebraska and Texas Service Centers have begun sending immediate relative
I-130 petitions to California Service Center for adjudication to alleviate
the backlogs at the Nebraska and Texas Service Centers. As a result, cases
filed with Nebraska and Texas Service Centers will receive receipt notices
from California to reflect this change.
New Photo Requirements
CIS announced that all required photographs should be passport-style,
the current standard utilized by the Department of State. All pending
cases should wait for further instructions and not send in new photographs
until requested to do so.
H-1B Cap 2005
As of September 20, 2004, CIS has reported that they will likely be able
to accept H-1B petitions for fiscal year 2005 for a few more weeks. After
the supply of H-1B’s has been exhausted for fiscal year 2005, petitioners
and beneficiaries will have to wait for fiscal year 2006, which begins
October 1, 2005, or work on getting an increase in H-1B’s through
legislative means.
Labor Certification
Applications
The Department of Labor mobilized their personnel to focus on H-2A cases
for the past several months. Since December 2003, officers at the Chicago
Regional Office have not worked permanent labor certification cases, but
rather temporary H-2A cases, at the behest of the National Office. Beginning
in mid-July, officers have been able to return to processing permanent
labor certification applications. This explains the lack of activity in
permanent cases since December. Anecdotal information from other regions
indicates that other Regional Offices have been similarly affected by
the National Office’s priority handling of H-2A temporary cases.