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The UK Border Agency has announced changes to the way in which it processes applications by European nationals and their families for registration certificates, residence cards, family member residence stamps or confirmation of permanent residence in the UK. From June 1, 2009, the agency will check all applications upon receipt and will reject them unless the applicant has completed the application form correctly and provided the necessary supporting evidence. Family applications will be rejected in their entirety unless the necessary supporting evidence has been provided for all of the named applicants.

Further information about the application requirements is available at the agency’s “Applying under European Law” webpage.

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The European Union has formally adopted a work authorization program intended to attract highly skilled foreign workers and modeled after the United States’ Green Card program. The “Blue Card” will allow immigrants to work in any EU member state (except Great Britain, Ireland and Denmark) and will entitle card holders to limited social and welfare rights, for a renewable period of one to four years, EUobserver.com reported. Blue Card holders will receive equal treatment with nationals as to working conditions, including pay and dismissal, and will have some ability to move between EU member states. The program also includes penalties for employers who hire illegal immigrants.

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The Department of State has announced  the opening of its 21st domestic passport issuance facility in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Minneapolis Passport Agency, which opened on May 18, is designed to provide in-person passport services to American citizens throughout the North Central border region. The announcement noted: “With the final phase of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative scheduled to be implemented June 1, 2009, this agency will greatly improve our ability to meet the travel needs of our customers in several of our northern border states.” The Minneapolis Passport Agency serves U.S. citizens who have urgent/emergency travel needs, and has the capability to issue passport books and passport cards on-site to qualified applicants.

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Som Mittal, president of Nasscom, the industry association representing Indian software and IT services firms, recently met in Washington, D.C. with various U.S. government officials and representatives of trade organizations. In an interview with InformationWeek, Mittal stated that he was in D.C. "to provide perspective on the Durbin-Grassley bill," bipartisan legislation aimed at preventing abuse and fraud in the H-1B and L-1 visa programs. Based on his meetings, Mittal said he thinks that the Obama administration and Congress are likely to consider H-1B and L-1 provisions as part of broader immigration reforms, perhaps later this year.

Mittal also noted that, from his perspective, the H-1B and L-1 visa programs should be considered matters of trade policy rather than immigration, stating: “Our data shows that [H-1B visa holders] stay in the U.S. less than two years.” He further commented:

Other countries, including the U.K., France, Germany, Japan, and India provide work permits to bring in foreign workers temporarily. It's not about immigration, it's about trade.

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The UK Border Agency has announced  that, in order to assist the increasing number of foreign nationals who must enroll their biometric information (fingerprints and photograph) when they apply to extend their stay in the United Kingdom, in June it will open four additional biometric enrollment facilities. The latest information on the new sites is available on the agency’s webpage on biometric enrollment.

The agency’s announcement notes: “By recording and checking fingerprints and digital photographs against existing records before deciding whether to grant permission to stay, we can strengthen our border and reduce abuse of the system.” The agency has been issuing, since November 2008, compulsory identity cards to foreign nationals from outside the European Economic Area who extend their stay in the UK as partners or students. In March 2009, the agency expanded the scheme to additional applicant categories.

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As reported in The Los Angeles Times, the E-Verify program recently received a few boosts, with the Obama administration announcing that it wants Congress to allocate an additional $12 million to the program in the next fiscal year (bringing its budget to $112 million) and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano stating in a congressional hearing that E-Verify was "a cornerstone of workplace enforcement across the country." Almost 125,000 businesses are signed up for the E-Verify program. Some argue, though, that E-Verify will not solve the issue of illegal immigration and that expansion of the program would only push more undocumented workers underground. Others generally support E-Verify but criticize the program’s accuracy rate. The government reports that E-Verify has a 96% accuracy rate, and Napolitano has stated that the government plans to improve the accuracy of the databases.

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The Australia Government’s Department of Immigration and Citizenship has announced changes to its Subclass 457 employer sponsorship program. Effective May 15, 2009, Australian Standard Classification of Occupations (ASCO) major groups 5 to 7 no longer can be nominated under the Subclass 457 Standard Business Sponsorship (SBS) arrangements. If an employer is interested in employing a temporary overseas worker in ASCO groups 5 to 7, the employer may seek to enter into a labor agreement. Further details about the changes are available on the department’s webpage entitled “Frequently Asked Questions about changes to Subclass 457 program – Change to pathways for ASCO 5-7 Occupations.”

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On May 11, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued an announcement reminding customers that Public Law 111-9 extends—until September 30, 2009—the date by which international medical graduates must have be granted J-1 nonimmigrant status in order to later qualify for the “Conrad 30” program. Before this latest extension, the most recent sunset date for qualifying J-1 admission was March 6, 2009.

The current sunset date of September 30, 2009 applies to the date the medical doctor originally entered the United States in J-1 status or received a change of status to J-1 to complete a residency program in the United States. Doctors who acquired J-1 status before September 30, 2009 may pursue a waiver of the two-year foreign residence requirement under the Conrad 30 program, if they meet all the eligibility requirements
 

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The UK Border Agency has announced that passport holders from South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho, Bolivia and Venezuela who are registered on the Iris Recognition Immigration System (IRIS) will need to re-enroll in order to continue using the IRIS facility. IRIS is a means of border control allowing registered travelers to enter the United Kingdom through automated barriers at certain airports, where a registered person’s identity is confirmed by simply looking into a special camera.

Additional information about the re-enrollment requirement, and about IRIS generally, is available on the IRIS section of the Border Agency’s website.
 

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As reported by the Associated Press, China has implemented new visa regulations for U.S. citizens, effective May 4. A notice on the website for the Chinese Embassy and its consulates in the U.S., dated May 3, stated that all visa applications now will require six business days to process, with express and rush services for visa applications suspended until further notice. Visa applicants also must fill out a form declaring which countries and U.S. states they have visited during the preceding two weeks. The regulations appear to apply to all Chinese visas, including tourist and business categories.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu declined to comment on the specific visa changes for U.S. nationals, apart from saying that "relevant adjustment [to the visa policy] is non-discriminatory and is not targeted at any country. The adjustment of visa policy will not affect the normal entry of foreigners and exchanges of people."

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Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, speaking at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, stated that ensuring jobs for U.S. workers is one of her "top obligations," and that the DHS is increasing its enforcement of the H-1B visa program. As reported by Computerworld, Napolitano cited new fraud prevention tactics—including visits to work sites—implemented over the past month as an example of measures being taken to prevent abuses of the H-1B program. A 2008 study (PDF) by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service, found that as many as one in five H-1B applications were affected by either fraud or "technical violations" of the program.

Napolitano’s comments were in response to a question from Sen. Richard Durbin (D.-Ill.) raising concerns about H-1B visa holders displacing American workers. Durbin is co-sponsor of the H-1B Visa Fraud and Abuse Protections Act (S. 887) (see our previous post), which includes several enforcement provisions such as audits of employers. Napolitano stated that "our top obligations are to American workers, making sure American workers have jobs."
 

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Under a pilot program that was launched in New York in February and recently expanded to Los Angeles, the Army is waiving—for applicants who have certain skills—its requirement that recruits be U.S. citizens or green card holders. Through this program, the Army hopes to enlist 1,000 foreigners who have special language or medical skills and who are in the United States on temporary visas or have been granted asylum. As reported by The Los Angeles Times, response to the program has exceeded expectations, attracting applications from more than 7,000 people, many of them highly educated.

The program is aimed at addressing the shortage of soldiers with medical, foreign language and cultural abilities needed in the war on terror and peacekeeping efforts around the world. The Army seeks to enlist 333 healthcare professionals (including doctors, dentists, and nurses) and 557 people skilled in any of 35 languages, such as Arabic (but Spanish is not on the list). An additional 110 slots are earmarked for other services. 

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According to a new report by the Center for Immigration Studies, immigrants to the United States have been hit harder by the recession as compared to native-born Americans, with larger increases in unemployment among both educated and uneducated workers. The report, which was based on U.S. Census statistics, found that immigrants (legal and illegal) now have significantly higher unemployment than natives, which represents a departure from the recent past, when native-born Americans typically had higher unemployment rates. Immigrant unemployment in the first quarter of 2009 was 9.7%, the highest level since 1994 (when data began to be collected for immigrants). The current unemployment rate for natives is 8.6%, also the highest since 1994.

Other key findings of the study include:

• The immigrant unemployment rate is now 5.6 percentage points higher than in the third quarter of 2007, before the recession began. Native unemployment has increased 3.8 percentage points over the same period.
• Among immigrants who arrived in 2006 or later, unemployment is 13.3%.
• The number of unemployed immigrants increased 1.3 million (130%) since the third quarter of 2007.  Among natives the increase was five million (81%).

As reported in The Los Angeles Times, Steven Camarota, the study's coauthor, commented that many of the immigrant job losses came in low-skill occupations. In construction, for instance, the immigrant jobless rate climbed to 20% in the first quarter of 2009, from 4.7% 18 months earlier.

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Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, appearing before a Senate subcommittee, commented that illegal immigrants make a “significant” contribution to U.S. economic growth by increasing the flexibility of the workforce. As reported at Bloomberg.com, Greenspan also spoke in support of reforming the U.S. immigration laws, calling changes that would create legal avenues for workers to enter the country “badly needed.”

Greenspan was speaking before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security, which has commenced hearings on revisions to immigration policies. During his remarks, Greenspan also stated that, because U.S. schools do not produce enough skilled workers, the H-1B visa program should be expanded in order to fill the gap with immigrants who hold advanced degrees. 

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As reported by the Al Arabiya News Channel, the United Arab Emirates Minister of the Interior has issued a decree granting expatriate property owners multiple-entry visitor visas allowing them to stay six months at a time. Previously, the UAE had allowed foreign investment in property, but the residency rights of foreigners who purchased residential property were unclear.

Details of the decree include:

• Owners of developed properties (wholly-owned residential units, suitable for accommodating a family) can stay for six months from the date of entry into the UAE.
• The visa does not allow the property owner to work in the UAE.
• Upon expiration of the six month period, the property owner must return to his or her home country or any of the GCC countries.
• The initial six month visa may be renewed if certain conditions (minimum monthly income and property value) are met.
• The property must be worth at least AED 1 million ($272,300), and the owner’s fixed income must be at least AED 10,000 ($2,723) a month, or the equivalent in foreign currency.

Property analysts commented that the new policy still required clarification before it would have the intended effect of reviving the UAE’s real estate market. For example, it is unclear whether the decree applies to leasehold as well as freehold properties.

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Beginning in early August, Bahrain will implement a new labor law that will end the employer sponsorship system and permit foreign workers to change jobs without their employer’s consent. As reported in The National, the law was adopted following three years of consideration and is the first of its kind in the Gulf region.

The law is designed help end to the practice of some Bahraini employers that sponsor several—and sometimes hundreds of—foreign workers and charge them a “visa fee” to work with another employer. The workers, mostly from the Indian subcontinent, are not allowed to change jobs without their sponsor’s permission. Once the law takes effect, an employer will be able to terminate an employee’s contract and deport him or her with one month’s notice, and an employee will be able to leave his or her job after giving three months’ notice to the employer.

The law also is intended to help decrease the number of foreigners entering Bahrain to work. Currently there are more than 500,000 expatriates in the country, which accounts for about half of Bahrain’s population. The government also is considering a cap on the number of foreigners who enter Bahrain and expects to resolve by the question by the end of 2009.
 

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The State Department has published a revised Exchange Visitor Skills List in the April 30 issue of the Federal Register. The Skills List serves as the basis for making some J-1 visa holders subject to a two-year home country residence requirement. J-1 Exchange Visitors whose skills or fields of specialized knowledge appear on the Skills List will not be eligible to change to H or L temporary visa status or permanent residence until the two-year foreign residence requirement is satisfied or waived. The new list takes effect on June 28.  Continue reading about this development in the Littler ASAP "State Department Publishes New Exchange Visitor Skills List," written by Debra Baker, Jorge R. Lopez, Ian R. MacDonald and David C. Whitlock.

 

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On April 30, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a Fact Sheet discussing its revised Worksite Enforcement Strategy. The DHS enforcement strategy was revised at the direction of DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano after she expressed concerns that enforcement efforts were targeted more at employees rather than employers abusing the law. Indeed, the Fact Sheet acknowledges that there were more than 6,000 arrests related to worksite enforcement in 2008, but only 135 employers were arrested.

The revised strategy "reflects a renewed Department-wide focus targeting criminal aliens and employers who cultivate illegal workplaces by . . . knowingly hiring illegal workers." Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is to focus its resources on the criminal prosecution of employers that knowingly hire illegal workers, but will continue to arrest and prosecute illegal workers found during the course of worksite enforcement actions. ICE will also use all available civil and administrative tools, including fines and debarment, to deter illegal employment.

The Fact Sheet indicates that ICE will look for evidence of mistreatment of workers in addition to evidence indicating criminal conduct such as trafficking, smuggling, harboring, visa fraud, identification document fraud, or money laundering. Before conducting a raid and arresting workers at the site of employment, ICE will obtain indictments, criminal arrest or search warrants, or a commitment from the US Attorney's office to prosecute the employer. The existing humanitarian guidelines governing ICE’s behavior in raids affecting 150 or more employees will now apply to worksite enforcement efforts impacting 25 or more illegal workers.

The revised enforcement strategy suggests that there will be increased criminal enforcement efforts and interagency cooperative investigations. It is likely that ICE will continue the growing trend of planting agents within the employer's workforce to gather evidence of criminal activity. Going forward, it is almost a certainty that enforcement efforts will begin with an audit of I-9 compliance, particularly for employers in industries with high percentages of illegal workers, as well as for employers engaged in infrastructure projects. A recent Congressional Research Service report (PDF) analyzing unauthorized employment in the U.S. listed the following industries as having significant (over 10%) employment of illegal workers: Food Manufacturing, Agriculture, Furniture Manufacturing, Construction, Textiles and Apparel, Food Services, Administrative and Support Services, and Accommodation. Employers in these industries should review their I-9 compliance and adopt best practices to avoid adverse consequences related to employment of unauthorized workers.

This entry was authored by David Whitlock.
 

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The Minister of Labour for the United Arab Emirates has announced proposed legal revisions that would allow foreign workers who have lost their jobs to stay in the UAE for up to six months. Currently, expatriates need to leave the UAE within one month after their employment is terminated. As reported in The National, the proposed law would apply to workers of all nationalities and would extend their visas by between three and six months, depending on the worker’s job. Also, visa application fees would be reduced for companies that hire unemployed workers already in the UAE. The legislation is awaiting approval by the Cabinet and is expected to become law within two months.

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The Irish government has announced the introduction of revised legislation for work permits, which will make it more difficult for foreign nationals to seek employment in Ireland. The changes, which were reported at irishtimes.com, will come into effect on June 1 and apply primarily to first-time entrants in the labor market.

The key provisions of the revised legislation are:

• Permits will not be granted for jobs paying less than 30,000 Euros per year.
• Permits will not be granted for a number of professions including domestic workers and HGV (heavy goods vehicle) drivers.
• Stricter conditions for the renewal of permits—including higher fees—will apply.
• Spouses and dependents of future work permit holders will need to apply for permits in their own right.

The green card list, which covers professions offering salaries between 30,000 and 59,999 Euros per year, also has been revised. As of June 1, a number of positions in the healthcare, financial services and marketing sector also will be ineligible for work permits.

In announcing the coming changes, Mary Coughlan, Ireland’s Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Employment, commented that the revised legislation was needed due to the changing realities of the Irish labor market. So far in 2009, Ireland has granted a total of 2,087 work permits to foreign nationals, compared to 23,722 for the same period two years ago.

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