VISANOW Voice Newsletter - January 2007

“Travelers Redress Inquiry Program” To Be Launched Soon

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently announced a new “Traveler Redress Inquiry Program” (TRIP). The program will allow individuals to submit requests to the DHS after being repeatedly identified for additional screening at immigration ports of entry, unfairly or incorrectly delayed, or denied boarding due to watch list misidentification issues or erroneous information in DHS systems. TRIP will serve as the central processing point for redress inquiries. Requests will be routed to the appropriate DHS departments, the U.S. Department of State, and airport and airline operators for a review of the traveler’s status.

A new online system will allow individuals access to information collected by TRIP, with the exception of exempt law enforcement information that could potentially allow terrorists to avoid detection.

Travelers can begin submitting their inquiries to TRIP beginning February 20, 2007. Instructions on how to file and track the progress of an inquiry will be made available on that date.

Anticipated Slowdown of Employment-Based Immigration Evidenced in February 2007 Visa Bulletin

The most recent Visa Bulletin issued by the U.S. Department of State (DOS) is the first to show no forward movement for any employment-based preference immigration categories. The Schedule A category (reserved for registered nurses and physical therapists) has also been eliminated.

This is to be expected after DOS announcements in Fall 2006 that progress would slow down significantly. Demand had been expected to dramatically increase with the clearing of the labor certification application backlog at the DOL’s Backlog Elimination Centers in Philadelphia, PA, and Dallas, TX. Because of this, the DOS has warned that retrogression (the backward movement of dates) is still possible as the dates advance and the number of potential applicants increases.

Conversion of Pre-PERM Traditional Recruitment Cases to Reduction in Recruitment Still Available

The deadline to participate in the DOL’s “hold harmless” opportunity for the conversion of pre-PERM labor certification applications from Traditional Recruitment (TR) labor certification to Reduction in Recruitment (RIR) passed on January 22, 2007. Despite this, it is still possible to convert a pending TR labor certification application to the more quickly processed RIR queue.

The “hold harmless” opportunity offered by the DOL’s two Backlog Elimination Centers in Philadelphia, PA, and Dallas, TX, places a hold on the processing of a case. This allows the employer to complete the recruitment necessary to support a request to convert to RIR without the fear that the backlog center will post the job order for the case or issue TR supervised recruitment instructions (which would normally preclude a conversion to RIR). One of the conditions of taking advantage of this opportunity is that the RIR conversion request must be submitted by April 1, 2007.

RIR requests can still be submitted outside the “hold harmless” procedures, but since the backlog centers cannot be asked to place a hold on the case, the conversion request must be submitted before the backlog center posts the job order for the case or issues TR supervised recruitment instructions.

The backlog centers do not announce the issuance of TR supervised recruitment instructions in advance, nor do they publish processing times. For this reason, we recommend an RIR conversion request outside the “hold harmless” procedures be pursued only with the guidance of an immigration professional who knows the current status of TR processing at the backlog centers. In general, cases with later priority dates are the best candidates for these types of RIR conversions, since the backlog centers will not be processing these cases for quite some time.

Are You Ready to File Your FY 2008 H-1B Applications?

Employers planning on filing Fiscal Year 2008 H-1B visas for new foreign employees are strongly encouraged to initiate their petitions immediately in anticipation of an April 1, 2007 filing date.

The FY 2007 cap was met in record time with a "final receipt date" of May 26, 2006, just two months after the numbers were initially released. Recent trends indicate that the FY 2008 cap will be met even sooner. If employers do not file their petitions under the 65,000 cap, they will likely have to wait until FY 2009 H-1B numbers become available April 1, 2008. Please note, the start date for FY 2008 H-1Bs will be October 1, 2007. April 1, 2007 is merely the date that petitions for FY 2008 can be filed.

If you have new foreign employees that are candidates for an H-1B, make sure to begin the application process as soon as possible to avoid any unnecessary delays.