Impact of Issuance of H-1B Visas on US Labor Force

United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) will start accepting applications for new H-1B petitions tomorrow April 1, 2009 and the race to file the applications is now over for FY 2010. We are glad we got all our applications completed and in on time. Despite the economic downturn and likely reduction in visa petitions this year, we still believe that the H-1B quota will be exhausted within days.

In the meantime for those that are interested in statistics, National Foundation for American Policy, in its March 2009 report found that US Economy is large and diverse and that job losses cannot not be blamed on the issuance of the temporary H-1b work visa. The report primarily found that:

1. New H-1B visa-holders each year represent a small portion of the U.S. Labor Force – only 0.07 percent of the U.S. civilian labor force comprising of 154.6 million in 2008.
2. USCIS data revealed that India-based companies utilized 11.9 percent of the 2008 new H-1B petitions issued and that the 12,180 new H-1B visa holders hired by Indian companies in 2008 represented 0.0083 percent of the U.S. labor force, less than 1/100th of 1 percent.
3. More than 24,000 employers hired one or more individuals on an H-1B visa in FY 2008.
4. A large variety of employers, besides Indian IT companies use the H-1B visas, including public school systems (see table below)
5. H-1b holders are important to innovation and entrepreneuship in America. Harvard Economist William Kerr and University of Michigan Economist William Lincoln in their recent paper found higher invention and patent rates with increased H-1B admissions.

Top 20 Employers for New H-1B Petitions in FY 2008

EMPLOYER	NEW H-1B PETITIONS
Infosys Technologies Ltd.	4,559
Wipro Ltd.	2,678
Satyam Computer Services Ltd.	1,917
Tata Consultancy Services Ltd.	1,539
Microsoft Corp.	1,037
Accenture LLP	731
Cognizant Tech Solutions Corp.	467
Cisco Systems Inc.	422
Larsen & Toubro Infotech Ltd.	403
IBM India Private Ltd.	381
Intel Corp.	351
Ernst & Young LLP	321
Patni Americas Inc.	296
Terra Infotech Inc.	281
Qualcomm Inc.	255
Mphasis Corp.	251
KPMG LLP	245
Prince Georges Cty Public Schools	239
Baltimore City Public School System	229
Deloitte Consulting LLP	218

UN Report Indicates Britain to Become the Most Populous Country in the European Union by 2050

A recent United Nations forecast reports that Britain is set to become the most populous country in the European Union by 2050. UN also suggested that Britain will be the third most attractive destination for migrants, after the USA and Canada over the next 40 years.

The UN’s biennial population forecast found that approximately 174,000 immigrants are set to arrive in Britain each year from now to 2050. This means that Britain will overtake Germany in being the most populous country in the European  Union and that UK’s population will swell to 72.4 million as opposed to Germany’s population of 70.5 million by the year 2050. Furthermore,  70 per cent of the increase in UK’s population is estimated to be a result of immigration. 

This no doubt will put more pressure on the UK Border Agency, which is responsible for securing the United Kingdom borders and controlling migration in the United Kingdom, to further tighten up its immigration policies and possibly revise its new point-based immigration system in the future.

H-1B Petitions to be Accepted begining April 1, 2009 for Fiscal Year 2010

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has clarified that it will begin accepting the H-1B petitions to the fiscal year (FY) 2010 cap on April 1, 2009, which means that the petition will be considered accepted on the date the USCIS takes possession of the petition, not the date that the petition is postmarked.  Make sure you send the H-1B petition(s) before April 1, 2009 and certainly by Monday March 31st, 2009 at the very latest.

Typically, the USCIS will monitor the number of H-1B petitions received and notify the public of the date the USCIS has received the necessary number of petitions to meet the H-1B cap, known as the “final receipt date”. H-1B Petitions for the FY 2010, have a 65,000 numerical limitation for a start date of Oct. 1, 2009.

Can a Divorce after Issuance of a Green-card affect a Divorced Spouse’s Right to Obtain U.S. Citizenship?

In bad economic times, divorce rates increase dramatically as money issues drive couples apart and many spouses who receive their green-card/permanent residency through marriage to a U.S. Citizen or permanent resident worry that a later divorce may affect their citizenship or naturalization application.

Assuming, that the marriage was not a sham or for fraudulent purposes, divorce does not adversely affect a spouse’s immigration status after the spouse obtains a green card or permanent residence unconditionally and a divorce will not invalidate the green card or cause the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to deny a citizenship application automatically.

Divorce may however pose doubts and require the divorced spouse seeking to obtain U.S. Citizenship to reassure the USCIS interviewing officer that the marriage was not a sham. A good way to prove that your marriage was genuine is to take copies and originals of documents that show that you and your ex-spouse lived together, had joint bank accounts, and shared important and memorable moments together. Examples of documents include, home title or rent receipts or home lease in both names, joint bank account statements, credit card statements, photographs of both spouses on vacation, birth certificates of children born during the marriage, etc.

Also, divorce may delay a spouse’s right in obtaining citizenship in certain cases. For instance, a divorced spouse having a green-card who was married to a U.S. citizen will not be able to avail the short three year residency requirement, if the spouse is not married to the U.S. citizen for at least three years before the naturalization exam date. In essence, if the green-card holder spouse divorces the U.S. citizen spouse before three years of marriage have passed, then s/he will have to wait until the normal five year residency requirement has elapsed before s/he is eligible to apply to become a naturalized U.S. Citizen and cannot take advantage of the three year residency requirement.

Shortage of Trained Nurses and the Nursing Relief Act of 2009

Although there is a recognized shortage of professional nurses in the Untied States, this month’s U.S. Department of State’s Visa Bulletin lists that as of April 1, 2009,  waiting times for green card processing for nurses and other immigrants in the EB-3 category will increase from 4 years to at least six years, this includes nurses that are educated at U.S Nursing Schools.

This is doubtlessly difficult news for the healthcare industry that faces a critical shortage of approximately 126,000 nurses at present and is estimated to grow to half a million nurses by 2016, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

President Obama at a recent White House meeting on healthcare reforms opposed the idea of inviting overseas nurse to fill up the huge shortfall and instead argued that the best possible approach to meet this shortfall is to train people inside the country.

In early March, however,  legislation, called the “Nursing Relief Act of 2009” was introduced in the U.S. Congress, which, if passed, would create a special category of nursing visas, which would facilitate much faster and easier brining of registered nurses with an annual visa limit of 50,000.

To read the bill see here.

Understanding the Employment Verification Process and Revised Form I-9 For Employers and HR Proffessionals

The Form I-9 helps employers to verify that the individuals they hire are authorized to work in the United States. An employer is required to complete a Form I-9 for every new employee hired and prohibited from using the I-9 process to screen job applicants.

All employers are required by legislation to verify the identity and employment authorization of each employee they hire for employment in the United States after November 6, 1986, including non-citizens and nationals of the United States.

With increased Immigration enforcement by the Department of Homeland Security, understanding I-9 compliance and having established company procedures for tracking and maintaining I-9 compliance has become ever important for employers and HR Professionals. 

Employers can expect a revised Form I-9, which is likely to come into effect on April 3, 2009.

For more on employers’ obligations and differences between the current and revised Form I-9,  see our attorney, Hanishi Ali’s recent article published in the Indus Business Journal.

Study Reveals that Highly-Skilled Foreign Workers have a Positive Impact to the US Economy

A study on “The Budgetary Effects of Highly-Skilled Immigration Reform” released this month by the Technology Policy Institute, based in Washington D.C., finds that admitting highly skilled workers from foreign countries has a positive economic impact to the US economy.

In particular, the paper discusses that the foreign highly-skilled workers contribute significantly towards the federal budget, as they earn more and pay more taxes and are unlikely to receive any federal benefits, such as Medicare, Social Security, Medicaid, or other health or income-related benefits.  Highly skilled workers include those particularly in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics).

The paper finds:

• In the absence of green card and H-1B constraints, roughly 182,000 foreign graduates of U.S. colleges and universities in STEM fields would likely have remained in the United States over the period 2003-2007. They would have earned roughly $13.6 billion in 2008, raised the GDP by that amount, and would have contributed $2.7 to $3.6 billion to the federal treasury.

• In the absence of green card constraints, approximately 300,000 H-1B visa-holders whose temporary work authorizations expired during 2003-2007 would likely have been in the United States labor force in 2008. These workers would have earned roughly $23 billion in 2008, raised the GDP by that amount, and would have contributed $4.5 to $6.2 billion to the federal treasury.

• Similar results are obtained when analyzing legislation considered by Congress during the last few years. For example, under reasonable assumptions, the relaxation of green card constraints proposed in the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006 could have increased labor earnings and GDP by approximately $34 billion in the tenth year following enactment and had a net positive effect on the budget of $34 to $47 billion over ten years.

• Relaxation of H-1B caps under the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007 could have increased labor earnings and GDP by $60 billion in the tenth year following enactment and improved the federal budget’s bottom line by $64 to $86 billion over ten years.

• The flow of highly skilled immigrants to the United States increases entrepreneurship, economic growth, and productivity.

New Addition of N-400 for US Citizenship and Updated Naturalization Study Materials

If you are eligible for US Citizenship and decided to apply to become a U.S. Citizen, you should now use the 1/22/09 edition for Form N-400, Application for Naturalization, which is posted to the USCIS website.

The 1/22/09 edition requires that applicants must submit Form N-40o to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Lockbox for processing:

If you currently reside in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Guam or the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, you must send your application to the USCIS Lockbox Facility at:

USCIS
P.O. Box 21251
Phoenix, AZ 85036

For express/courier deliveries, use:

USCIS
Attn: N-400
1820 E Skyharbor Cicle S, Floor 1
Phoenix, AZ 85034

If you reside in Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands, you must send your application to the USCIS Lockbox Facility at:

USCIS
P.O. Box 299026
Lewisville, TX 75029

For express/courier deliveries, use:

USCIS
Attn: N-400
2501 S State Hwy 121, Bldg. #4
Lewisville, TX 75067

All naturalization applicants filing under the military provisions, section 328 or 329, should file their application at the Nebraska Service Center regardless of geographic location or jurisdiction. Please send your application to:

Nebraska Service Center
P.O. Box 87426
Lincoln, NE 68501-7426

USCIS has also updated its Naturalization Publications and Study Materials:

1. Guide to Naturalization, M-476 — English available online at www.uscis.gov/natzguide

2. The Citizen’s Almanac, M-76 — English available online at www.uscis.gov/files/nativedocuments/M-76.pdf

3. Information and study materials for the new naturalization test can be found at  www.uscis.gov/newtest

Adjustment of Consular Exchange Rate for US Consulates in India

The U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, India, announced an adjustment of the consular exchange rate for rupee to dollar conversions at all U.S. consulates in India.

Effective Friday, March 6, 2009, all United States Consular Sections in India will adjust the consular exchange rate from Rs. 52 to the dollar to Rs. 55 to the dollar.

The new application fee for nonimmigrant visas is Rs. 7,205 (equivalent to USD $131).

Receipts issued by HDFC Bank prior to March 6, 2009 that reflect a payment of Rs. 6,812 will remain valid.

For a full listing of specific fee changes visit the Embassy website at http://newdelhi.usembassy.gov

Stimulus Bill and its affect on H Filings Clarified

USCIS has clarified that that Section 1611 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Stimulus bill) 

- Does not apply to extensions

- USCIS is currently reviewing whether or not it applies to change of status petitions