News Update - April 18, 2007

By Alan Lee, Esq.^†‡

USCIS Runs H-1B Computer Lottery And Will Send Receipts

USCIS announced on April 12, 2007 that it completed the computer generated random selection of H-1B petitions subject to the congressionally mandated cap for FY 2008. Each of the 123,480 cap-subject petitions was given a unique numeric identifier and 65,000 were drawn by random computer lottery. The successful numeric identifiers were transmitted to Service Centers for continued processing. Petitions not chosen are to be returned with the fee(s) to the petitioner or their representative. The 15-day premium processing period for those cases filed with the request and fee for such began April 12, 2007.

USCIS expects this process of receipts and return of fees to take approximately 4 weeks. USCIS also announced that those petitions that received receipts issued in error before the random computer selection (April 12), were voided and cannot be used as evidence of selection. If those cases were selected, petitioners will receive new receipts and if they were not they will receive the petitions and return of fees.

Comprehensive Immigration Reform Proposals Spur Record Number of Tax Filings

The New York Times reported on April 16, 2007 that illegal immigrants were sending in tax returns in what appeared to be record numbers. This trend continues despite recent immigration raids in workplaces. The newspaper cited possible comprehensive immigration reform currently proposed in Congress, which would require proof of filing taxes for possible benefits including the possibility of eventual citizenship, as a possible catalyst. The article also quotes immigrants stating that they recognize it is their responsibility to pay taxes and that doing so may also benefit them in legalizing in the future. The IRS allows tax filing using an individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN) since illegal immigrants cannot obtain Social Security numbers. According to the New York Times, the Internal Revenue Service does not ask about immigration status and, except for very limited circumstances, does not report taxpayer information to other agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security.

† The author is a 26+ year practitioner of immigration law based in New York City. He was awarded the Sidney A. Levine prize for best legal writing at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in 1977 and has written extensively on immigration over the past years for the ethnic newspapers, World Journal, Sing Tao, Pakistan Calling, Muhasha and OCS. He has testified as an expert on immigration in civil court proceedings and was recognized by the Taiwan government in 1985 for his work protecting human rights. His article, "The Bush Temporary Worker Proposal and Comparative Pending Legislation: an Analysis" was Interpreter Releases' cover display article at the American Immigration Lawyers Association annual conference in 2004, and his victory in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in a case of first impression nationwide, Firstland International v. INS, successfully challenged INS' policy of over 40 years of revoking approved immigrant visa petitions under a nebulous standard of proof. Its value as precedent, however, was short-lived as it was specifically targeted by the Administration in the Intelligence Reform Act of 2004.

‡ This article © 2007 Alan Lee, Esq.

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