The publicly traded company, Infosys Ltd, is set to be slapped with a fine of about $35 million dollars. The investigation came into fruition because of questions on how this Indian outsourcing company brought their employees to the US. Most of their workers came on the B-1 (tourist for business) visa and not on the H-1B work visa.

Many folks that come to the US with work visas hold an H-1B visa in particular. The US issues a maximum of 65,000 H-1B work visas per fiscal year. Infosys brought an unknown amount of employees via the B-1 visa route—a path that requires less elements to prove and does not have a cap on the amount of visas issued. Further, Infosys did not maintain complete Form I-9s for their employees. The Form I-9 is a document that employers have employees complete upon hire to demonstrate that the employee has authorization to work in the US.

The Form I-9 might seem straight forward, but it has brought many woes and thousands of dollars of fines to companies across the United States. But the Infosys $35 million dollar fine is the largest thus far.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/infosys-faces-record-us-immigration-fine-2013-10-29?mod=wsj_share_tweet

President Barack Obama signed a bill this morning to raise the debt ceiling. This is a short term fix to the problem that left the government in a partial shutdown for 16 days. 

A new budget will need to be approved by mid-January, otherwise the government will be in a similar position again.

What does this mean for immigration? Courts are slowly reopening, and will soon be hearing non-detained immigration cases. During the shutdown, judges were only holding hearings on the detained cases. 

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/10/17/senate-begins-vote-on-budget-bill-boehner-pledges-house-wont-block-it/

Post 2013-election, immigration became a hot topic once again. The polls showed that more Hispanics came out to vote, and that immigration was a topic they cared about. Since then, the Gang of Eight proposed new legislation to address the current US immigration problems. This includes an attempt to resolve the fact that we have millions of people living in the country without lawful immigration status.

After approval in the Senate, the bill is now waiting for Congressional approval. In the meantime, our country and world face other issues of interest including the war in Syria and national debt.

Immigration reform activists are trying to heighten the interest and awareness about the changes needed in our immigration laws. For now, the push for change is a little stagnant. But it doesn't mean that things cannot change. I think that there is still hope, and activists are reviving the hype that immigration had earlier this year.

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/09/outside-groups-try-to-revive-immigration-reform-96950.html

One part of immigration that many Americans have dealt with  is the Form I-9. A new employee typically completes this form when
starting a new job. The Form I-9 may look simple. However, it can bring
many woes to an employer if not handled properly. The reason is because under
the Obama administration, more employers are receiving audits inquiring into the
employee I-9 forms resuling in fines that cost employers thousands of dollars.


BeginningTODAY employers will need to start using the new Form
I-9. Below is a link with the new document. This form can get very complicated. Therefore, it is a good idea to discuss Form I-9 with an experienced attorney and learn about Best Practices in dealing with the form.


http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/i-9.pdf

 Last year, the Obama administration spent almost $18 billion on immigration enforcement. This is more than the amount spent on all other federal enforcement agencies combined (that total is $14  billion)!
 
That is a lot of taxpayer money going towards enforcement of our
government’s immigration laws. One thing to note is that under the Obama  administration, he has deported more immigrants in his first term than  President W. Bush did in his two terms in
office.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/08/us/huge-amounts-spent-on-immigration-study-finds.html?smid=fb-share

 House Judiciary Committee Chair, Lamar Smith, introduced a new
immigration bill this week. The focus of the bill is to replace one program with
a new program.

Currently, we have an immigration program called Diversity Lottery. The diversity lottery is basically a lottery for citizens of particular countries which are not substantially represented in the United States. Folks from that country specific list enter the lottery, and if their number is picked, they could have the opportunity of obtaining permanent residence in the U.S.  There has been some controversy regarding the diversity lottery in the past because  critics argue that it can give people a free pass of obtaining a U.S. Green Card, which can been seen as “not
fair.”

 The GOP Bill will get rid of the diversity lottery program and give more visas to people with advanced high-tech degrees. The proposed bill would allow 55,000 of these visas. My question is whether this bill will cure the immigration issues raised by others about our immigration problem.

 What do you think?

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/nov/26/gop-immigration-bill-keeps-the-well-educated/?utm_source=AILA+Mailing&utm_campaign=dfa8249839-AILA8_11_28_12&utm_medium=email

The Goldberg Law Office, PLLC wishes each of you a very happy Thanksgiving holiday. This time of the year, we are reminded of all of the wonderful opportunities we have living in the United States.

We are thankful for the clients we have and the people in our community that support our firm.

May this holiday bring you and your family a lot of joy and appreciation.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours!

The Pentagon now has a program available for legal immigrants in
the US that can lead toward obtaining US citizenship. The program started in
2009, but was stopped in 2010.

 Recruiters are pleased with the Pentagon reinitiating the  program. It will allow for folks who are in the US on temporary visas such as  student visas, the chance to obtain U.S. citizenship at a faster pace than the  current times available. Sometimes people who come to the U.S. to study, and then have an employer sponsor them for permanent residence, must still wait several years before obtaining the actual permanent residence. Once a person is  a permanent resident, the typical wait-time to apply for citizenship is five  years. Under this program, immigrants may get citizenship right after basic  training, which in itself is a mere 10 weeks.


Opening the army to immigrants has become more of an issue since  Major Nidal Malik Hasan opened fire on soldiers in Ft. Hood, Texas back in 2009.  However, he was American born.


Immigrants that have been a part of the program have excelled, and the Pentagon is looking forward to the new recruits that will enlist in the program.

 
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/28/us/pentagon-reopens-program-allowing-immigrants-with-special-skills-to-enlist.html?_r=0

Mississippi is the first state to join a lawsuit against the  Obama administration immigration policy. The case Mississippi joins is one in  which 10 ICE (Immigration Customs and Enforcement) officials sue the administration on its handling of immigration affairs. Click here to read our  blog post back in August 2012 regarding the existing lawsuit.

 The governor of Mississippi believes that the administration is asking that states turn a blind eye to illegal immigration. 
 
As a Houston immigration lawyer, I work with immigrants and  immigration officials constantly. This area of the law is quite complicated,  and there are many different groups involved in the adjudication and  enforcement of the laws. Each group has its own interests in the immigration debate. This news of Mississippi shows how not only an immigration agency disagrees with the president’s policies, but some states also  disagree.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/10/mississippi-joins-lawsuit_n_1956059.html?utm_hp_ref=politics&utm_source=AILA+Mailing&utm_campaign=d816a95211-AILA8_10_12_12&utm_medium=email
 

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services prepared to process 300,000 applications for the new Deferred Action/Dream Act program by October 1.
However, by that date, they only received 120,000. Many people are still unsure
about whether to apply. 

Some believe that as more applications get approved, and friends see that other friends are getting work permits and social security cards, that may prompt more people to want to apply.  

One big result of the Deferred Action/Dream Act policy is that dreamers are requesting their school records. High school, middle school, and elementary school records may be good evidence to prove certain aspects needed to get approved for Deferred Action/Dream Act. 

For more information about Deferred Action or the Dream Act, contact our Dream act lawyer today.


http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-illegal-kids-20121002,0,4879720,full.story?utm_source=AILA+Mailing&utm_campaign=86f2c357e5-AILA8_10_4_12&utm_medium=email