 |
|
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
U.S. IMMIGRATION SYSTEM | hOT TOPICS EMPLOYMENT-BASED BACKLOGS – Three years ago, if you wanted to point the finger and blame someone for why it took so many years to get a green card, you could point to the backlogs at the Department of Labor (DOL). Depending on the state in which the job was located, getting a Labor Certification approved could take from six months to three years or more. Overall, the backlog of Labor Certification cases grew to a staggering 366,000 cases at its worst, and this bottleneck left tens of thousands of available green cards (“immigrant visa numbers”) unclaimed within the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) system since employers were spending so much time and effort fulfilling the recruitment and advertising obligations of the DOL. The elimination of the Labor Certification backlog has its ups and downs. On the one hand, this first critical stage of the Permanent Residence process for most foreign workers now is completed faster than ever before. On the other hand, it has resulted in a glut of new cases falling into the jurisdiction of USCIS with the result that the sheer number of new cases has vastly exceeded the 140,000 employment-based immigrant visa numbers allotted by Congress. This number is further reduced by the fact that spouses and children are counted against the 140,000 limit. That means that a worker with a wife and two children requires four green cards (“immigrant visa numbers”), not just one green card. The 140,000 cap is an artificially low amount when considered in light of the fact that more than triple that number of immigrants are allowed into the country based on family sponsorship. The effect those family-based immigrant workers have on the wages of U.S. workers is not viewed as detrimental, but the artificially low cap of 140,000 employment-based green cards is based on the argument that allowing in more foreign workers could harm U.S. worker wages. In its first year, PERM generated over 80,000 approvals, and a similar pace of filings continues this past year and into the future. Adding to that furious pace of Labor Certification approvals, if even half of the 366,000 backlogged RiR and traditional Labor Certifications are approved, that adds up to roughly 250,000 new cases that are passed along for processing to USCIS. The bottom line is that there are not nearly enough green cards available for the number of foreign workers whose employers want them to get green cards. This fiasco is reflected on the monthly Visa Bulletin published by the U.S. Department of State (DOS). A sponsored worker’s place in line (their “priority date”) is determined by the date the Labor Certification Application was filed. Right now, only those workers whose Labor Certification was filed on or before August 1, 2002, are able to file their I-485 Application for Permanent Residence or to have a pending I-485 approved at this time. Perhaps even more troubling is the fact that the cut-off date has remained stuck there for more than four months and shows no signs of moving forward any time soon. In the end, it is clear that if Congress really favors employment-based immigration as a way to keep American companies competitive, it will need to pass legislation such as the STRIVE [link to our article] Act that will greatly increase the number of employment-based green cards, or ideally even remove the cap entirely and allow the market to decide in any given year how many companies should be allowed to have their temporary employees become Permanent Residents. |
Aronson & Associates, P.A. |