New U. S. Passport Office in Dallas

New U. S Passport Office in Dallas opened on July 13, 2009
Furnished by Lal Varghese, Attorney at Law, Dallas

The Department of State plans to expand the existing network of 21 passport agencies and centers nationwide by opening new passport agencies in the State of Vermont, in the cities of Buffalo, New York, El Paso, Texas, Atlanta, Georgia and San Diego, California, and by establishing public counters at two existing locations, the National Passport Center in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and the Arkansas Passport Center in Hot Springs, Arkansas. This expansion will be undertaken utilizing funds appropriated by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

These new agencies will be open to the public and will provide the citizens of these communities with easy access to the full range of passport services. These agencies will have the capability to issue passports onsite and provide same-day service to qualified applicants. The Department is working with the General Services Administration to identify appropriate space in each of the locations and the Department will provide updates to the public through the Department’s Recovery Act website as project schedules are finalized. In March, the Department opened a new passport agency in Detroit and another new passport agency in Minneapolis in May. The Western Passport Center, a mega adjudication center with a public counter, will be co-located with the existing passport printing facility in Tucson. These activities were funded through the Department’s normal budget and appropriations process.

The U.S. Department of State opened its twenty-second domestic passport issuance facility in Dallas, Texas on July 13, 2009. The Dallas Passport Agency is located at 1100 Commerce Street (Federal Building) in downtown Dallas and is designed to join the Houston Passport Agency in providing in-person passport services to American citizens throughout the southwest border region. The Dallas location provides access to a major domestic and international airport and will be instrumental in helping American citizens with their travel plans. The Dallas Passport Agency serves U.S. citizens who have urgent/emergency travel needs and has the capability to issue passport books on-site to qualifying applicants. Dallas will have the means to issue the U.S. passport card onsite in the near future. With the final phase of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative that was implemented in June, this agency will greatly improve our ability to meet the travel needs of our customers in several states along our southern border. Information on the cost and how to apply for a passport book and/or a passport card is available at travel.state.gov. U.S. citizens may also obtain passport information by phone by calling the National Passport Information Center toll-free at 1-877-487-2778.

THE U.S. PASSPORT CARD IS NOW IN PRODUCTION

The U. S Passport Agency began issuing of the U.S. Passport Card on July 14, 2008. Till now, they have issued over 1,000,000 U.S. Passport Cards. Applications for the U.S. Passport Card are being processed in approximately 4-6 weeks from the time of application. The wallet-size passport card is convenient and less expensive than the passport book. However, the U.S. Passport Card cannot be used for international air travel. This new travel document can be used to enter the United States from Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Bermuda at land border crossings or sea ports-of-entry. This card also can be used as a second ID in addition to the driver’s license or picture ID, whenever such second ID is needed. It is always a smart idea to carry U. S Passport Card with you so that you can prove your legal status at any time it is needed under the new stringent laws being implemented in United States.

A current or previous passport book holder, who is eligible to use Form DS-82 , may apply for a passport card as a renewal by mail. First time applicants for a U.S. Passport, and those not eligible to use Form DS-82, must apply for a passport card in person using Form DS-11. The card has the same period of validity as the U.S. Passport Book: 10 years for an adult and 5 years for minors under age 16. The card costs $45 for a first-time adult passport applicant and $35 for all minor applicants under age 16, regardless of whether they are previous passport book or cardholders. Adults who already have a fully valid passport book may apply for the card as a passport renewal by mail and pay only $20.

To facilitate the frequent travel of U.S. citizens living in border communities and to meet DHS's operational needs at land borders, the passport card contains a vicinity-read radio frequency identification (RFID) chip. This chip points to a stored record in secure government databases. There is no personal information written to the RFID chip itself. With RFID technology, Customs and Border Protection inspectors will be able to access photographs and other biographical information stored in secure government databases before the traveler reaches the inspection station. The passport card uses state-of-the-art security features to prevent against the possibility of counterfeiting and forgery. In addition, a protective sleeve is provided with each passport card to protect against unauthorized reading or tracking of the card when it is not in use.

Disclaimer: Lal Varghese, Attorney at Law does not claim authorship for above referenced information. Lal Varghese, Attorney at Law or the publisher is not responsible or liable for anything stated above, since it is generalized information about the subject matters collected from various sources including Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, State Department, Federal Register, and American Immigration Lawyer’s Association (AILA) Advocacy Center, and other legal sources. For individual cases and specific questions you are advised to consult an attorney of your choice or contact the agencies mentioned above. You can visit our website at: www.indiaimmigrationusa.com or www.indiaimmigrationusa@yahoogroups.com for more information about other related immigration matters.

GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE OPTIONAL PRACTICAL TRAINING INTERIM FINAL RULE (IFR) (SECOND PART)

Lal Varghese, Attorney at Law, Dallas

A student must work at least 20 hours per week in a qualifying position to be considered employed. If a student has a variable schedule, within a month, it should average out to at least 20 hours per week. Each day (including weekends) during the period when OPT authorization begins and ends that the student does not have qualifying employment counts as a day of unemployment. OPT authorization begins on the employment start date shown on the student’s EAD. The only exception is that periods of up to 10 days between the end of one job and the beginning of the next job are not included in the calculation of time spent unemployed. This 10 day exception also applies to the first 10 days from the start date on the student’s EAD. All OPT employment, including post-completion OPT, is required by 8 CFR 214.2(f)(10)(ii)(A) to be in a job that is related to the student’s degree program.
For students who are not on a STEM extension, this employment may include: Paid employment. Students may work part time (at least 20 hours per week when on post-completion OPT) or full time. Students may work for more than one employer, but all employment must be related to each individual student’s degree program and for pre-completion OPT cannot exceed the allowed per week cumulative hours. Students, such as musicians and other performing artists, may work for multiple short term employers (gigs). The student should maintain a list of all gigs, the dates and duration. Work for hire. This is also commonly referred to as 1099 employment where an individual performs a service based on a contractual relationship rather than an employment relationship. If requested by DHS, students should be prepared to provide evidence showing the duration of the contract periods and the name and address of the contracting company. Self-employed business owner.
Students on OPT may start a business and be self-employed. The student should be able to prove that he or she has the proper business licenses and is actively engaged in a business related to his or her degree program. Students on post-completion OPT should be able to provide evidence showing they worked an average of at least 20 hours per week while employed by the agency. Students may work as volunteers or unpaid interns, where this practice does not violate any labor laws. The work should be at least 20 hours per week for students on post-completion OPT. A student should be able to provide evidence, acquired from the student’s employer, to verify that he or she worked at least 20 hours per week during the period of employment.
Students authorized for an OPT STEM extension must work at least 20 hours per week for an E-Verify employer in a position directly related to each individual student’s STEM degree. For students who are on a STEM extension, this employment may include: Paid employment. All employment during the STEM extension must be paid employment. Volunteer experience does not count as employment for the purpose of maintaining F-1 status during the STEM extension. Students may work for more than one employer, but all employment must be related to each individual student’s degree program and all employers must be enrolled in E-Verify. Work for hire. This is also commonly referred to as 1099 employment where an individual performs a service based on a contractual relationship rather than an employment relationship. The company for whom the student is providing services must be registered with E-Verify.
If requested by DHS, students must be prepared to provide evidence showing the duration of the contract periods and the name and address of the contracting company. Students on a STEM extension can start a business and be self-employed. In this situation, the student must register his or her business with E-Verify and work full time. The student must be able to prove that he or she has the proper business licenses and is actively engaged in a business related to his or her degree program. Students on a STEM extension may be employed by an employment agency or consulting firm. The employment agency or consulting firm must be registered with E-Verify, but the third parties contracting with the agency or firm (for which the student is providing services) need not be students on a STEM extension are allowed to volunteer, incidental to their status. This means that volunteer work is allowed but does not count as employment for the purpose of maintaining F-1 status.
Students may work for multiple employers, but all the employers must be enrolled in E-Verify. SEVP recommends that students maintain evidence — for each job — of the position held, proof of the duration of that position, the job title, contact information for the student’s supervisor or manager and a description of the work. If it is not clear from the job description that the work is related to the student’s degree, SEVP highly recommends that the student obtain a signed letter from the student’s supervisor or manager or the employer’s hiring official stating how the student’s degree is related to the work performed.
DSOs should advise students of the options available and on the potential problems associated with violating status by exceeding the period of authorized unemployment. A student who has exceeded the period of unemployment while on post-completion OPT has violated status unless he or she has taken one of the following actions: applied to continue his or her education by a change of level or transferring to another SEVP-certified school; departed the United States; taken action to otherwise maintain legal status.
A student may work with an expired employment authorization document while a STEM extension is pending since it automatically extend a student’s work authorization for up to 180 days while the student’s STEM extension application is pending. A student may change employers while the STEM extension application is pending with USCIS. However, if the STEM extension period has started, the employer must also be an E-Verify employer. The student must report the change in employment to his or her DSO. The DSO must update the student’s employer information in SEVIS and the student should submit an amended Form I-765 to the appropriate USCIS Service Center, providing the new employer’s E-Verify number and a copy of the USCIS receipt notice for the first Form I-765. A brief letter explaining the submission should also be included. There is no fee associated with submitting the amended Form I-765. A student may not travel outside of the United States if his or her employment authorization document expires and the STEM extension request is pending with USCIS. The student must wait to receive the new employment authorization document. A student may change employers during the STEM extension. However, the employer must also be an E-Verify employer. The student must report the change in employment to his or her DSO. (Concluded)

Disclaimer: Lal Varghese, Attorney at Law does not claim authorship for above referenced information. Lal Varghese, Attorney at Law or the publisher is not responsible or liable for anything stated above, since it is generalized information about the subject matters collected from various sources including the web sites of Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, State Department, Federal Register, and American Immigration Lawyer’s Association (AILA) Advocacy Center, and other legal sources. For individual cases and specific questions you are advised to consult an attorney of your choice or contact the agencies mentioned above. You are also requested to visit our law firm website at: www.indiaimmigrationusa.com or www.indiaimmigrationusa@yahoogroups.com or www.indiaimmigrationusa.blogspot.com for more information about other related immigration matters. You can contact Attorney Lal Varghese at (972) 788-0777 or at (972) 788-1555, Fax (972) 556-1109 or at E-Mail: attylal@aol.com for any questions regarding this article free of any charges. We will also do an initial consultation on any immigration related legal matter on the phone free of any charges maximum to a length of five minutes as a special service to the community.

Cap Count for H-1B and H-2B Workers for Fiscal Year 2010
Lal Varghese, Attorney at Law, Dallas
The word "Cap" refers to annual numerical limitations set by Congress on certain nonimmigrant visa classifications, e.g., H-1B and H-2B. Caps control the number of workers that can be issued a visa in a given fiscal year to enter the United States pursuant to a particular nonimmigrant classification. Caps also control the number of aliens already in the United States that may be authorized to change status to a cap-subject classification. The immigration fiscal year begins from October 1 and ends on September 30 of next year.
The H-1B visa program is used by some U.S. employers to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise in a specialized field and a bachelor's degree or its equivalent. Typical H-1B occupations include architects, engineers, computer programmers, accountants, doctors and college professors. The H-1B visa program also includes certain fashion models of distinguished merit and ability and up to 100 persons who will be performing services of an exceptional nature in connection with Department of Defense (DOD) research and development projects or coproduction projects. The current annual cap on the H-1B category is 65,000. Not all H-1B non-immigrants are subject to this annual cap. Please note that up to 6,800 visas may be set aside from the cap of 65,000 during each fiscal year for the H-1B1 program under the terms of the legislation implementing the U.S.-Chile and U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreements. Unused numbers in this pool are made available for H-1B use for the next fiscal year. Hence, the actual numbers available for regular H1-B program in a fiscal year is limited to 58,200 visas.
H-1B non-immigrants who are employed, or who have received an offer of employment, by institutions of higher education or a related or affiliated nonprofit entity, as well as those employed, or who will be employed, by a nonprofit research organization or a governmental research organization are exempt from the cap. Please remember that this does not apply to regular Non Profit organizations like churches, mosques or temples unless they are affiliated to institutions of higher education.
The H-1B Visa Reform Act of 2004 makes available 20,000 new H-1B visas for foreign workers with a Master's or higher level degree from a U.S. academic institution. For each fiscal year, 20,000 beneficiaries of H-1B petitions on behalf of persons who hold such credentials are statutorily exempted from the cap.
USCIS will deny or revoke all petitions filed by an employer for the same H-1B worker if more than one filing is discovered. If multiple petitions are discovered, whether one or more such petitions are approved, USCIS will data enter all those duplicative petitions, retain all fees, and either deny the petitions or, if a petition was approved, revoke the petition. The petitions will not be returned to the petitioner.
As of May 1, 2009, approximately 45,000 H-1B cap-subject petitions and approximately 20,000 petitions qualifying for the advanced degree cap exemption had been filed. USCIS will continue to accept both cap-subject petitions and advanced degree petitions until a sufficient number of H-1B petitions have been received to reach the statutory limits, taking into account the fact that some of these petitions may be denied, revoked, or withdrawn.
An H-1B1 may be also is a national of Chile or Singapore coming to the United States to work temporarily in a specialty occupation. The law defines an H-1B1 specialty occupation as a position that requires theoretical and practical application of a body of specialized knowledge. The beneficiary must have a bachelor's degree or higher (or equivalent) in the specific specialty. The combined statutory limit is 6,800 per year. The cap for H-1B1 for FY2010 has not been reached as of the date of this Update.
The H-2B visa category allows U.S. employers in industries with peak load, seasonal or intermittent needs to augment their existing labor force with temporary workers. The H-2B visa category also allows U.S. employers to augment their existing labor force when necessary due to a one-time occurrence which necessitates a temporary increase in workers. Typically, H-2B workers fill labor needs in occupational areas such as construction, health care, landscaping, lumber, manufacturing, food service/processing, and resort/hospitality services.
The Save Our Small and Seasonal Businesses Act of 2005 (SOS Act) divided the annual numerical limitations of 66,000 into two halves. As of FY 2010, an H-2B petition may not be filed more than 120 days before the date of the actual need for the H-2B worker's labor/services identified on the labor certification. As a result, USCIS normally begins receiving H-2B petitions with employment start dates in October and June. The H-2B numerical limit set by Congress per fiscal year is 66,000. Generally, an H-2B worker who extends his/her stay in H-2B status will not be counted again against the numerical limit. An alien who changes nonimmigrant status to H-2B is counted against the annual H-2B cap.
The H-3 nonimmigrant visa category is for aliens who are coming temporarily to the U.S. to receive training (other than graduate medical education or training) that is not available in their home countries. The training may be provided by a business entity, academic, or vocational institute. The H-3 nonimmigrant visa category also includes aliens who are coming temporarily to the U.S. to participate in a special education training program for children with physical, mental, or emotional disabilities. There is a limit of 50 visas per fiscal year allocated to H-3 aliens participating in special education training programs. As of March 30, 2009, three of these H-3 visas had been approved with a start date in FY 2009.
Disclaimer: Lal Varghese, Attorney at Law does not claim authorship for above referenced information. Lal Varghese, Attorney at Law or the publisher is not responsible or liable for anything stated above, since it is generalized information about the subject matters collected from various sources including the web sites of Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, State Department, Federal Register, and American Immigration Lawyer’s Association (AILA) Advocacy Center, and other legal sources. For individual cases and specific questions you are advised to consult an attorney of your choice or contact the agencies mentioned above. You are also requested to visit our law firm website at: www.indiaimmigrationusa.com or www.indiaimmigrationusa@yahoogroups.com for more information about other related immigration matters. You can contact Attorney Lal Varghese at (972) 788-0777 or at (972) 788-1555, Fax (972) 556-1109 or at E-Mail: attylal@aol.com for any questions regarding this article free of any charges. We will also do an initial consultation on any immigration related legal matter on the phone free of any charges maximum to a length of five minutes as a special service to the community.