The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced yesterday that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) extended its approval of Form I-9 (Employment Eligibility Verification) to August 31, 2012. All U.S. employers are responsible for completion and retention of Form I-9  for each individual they hire for employment in the United States. This includes citizens and non-citizens. [...]

The Orlando Sentinel reported today that Senator Edward “Ted” Kennedy of Massachusetts died last night after losing his battle with brain cancer. He was 77. In his approximately 50 year tenure in the Senate, he has seen 10 presidencies come and go including his brother’s.  He was influential in passing legislation that significantly improved health care, civil rights, education, immigration, and much more. He was a driving force back [...]

The Washington Times reported recently that with President Obama having postponed immigration reform until sometime next year because of more pressing issues such as health care reform and the economy, immigrant rights groups have criticized the Obama Administration by saying that immigration reform is “slipping away.” Several groups have said the only short term solution for undocumented immigrants until immigration reform ultimately [...]

The Orlando Sentinel reported today that an Immigration Judge in Florida terminated deportation proceedings against an Egyptian man named Yousef Megahed who was acquitted earlier this year of terrorism related charges and ruled that he should not be deported. Mr. Megahed was not immediately released following the judge’s decision.  His attorney, Charles Kuck said his client would likely remain [...]

The Orlando Sentinel reported today that senior officials from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (USICE) said that their agents in the Fugitive Operations Teams who are responsible for identifying and apprehending immigrants that have ignored deportation orders, will continue to arrest immigrants who are in the United States illegally that happen to be in an area where USICE agents are conducting an apprehension. [...]

The Orlando Sentinel reported today that senior officials from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (USICE) said that they are no longer using arrest quotas to identify and apprehend immigrants who have ignored deportation orders to leave the United States. The USICE declined to state the specifics on how the quotas were previously implemented or which quotas were suspended. Officials did state however, that the suspension of quotas would [...]

The Washington Times reported recently that President Obama said that Congress would not be able to pass an immigration reform bill until sometime next year.  The President acknowledged that there are more pressing issues at this time to deal with such as healthcare reform and the economy.  Right now though, the issue that seems to be the most pressing is health care reform. [...]

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently reopened the H-2B non-agricultural petition application period for Fiscal year (FY) 2009 in an effort to issue the approximately 25,000 visas that have gone unissued. On January 8, 2009, the USCIS announced it accepted and approved enough H-2B visa petitions to meet the annual cap of 66,000.  However, the U.S. Department of State issued only 40,640 [...]