News Update - October 16, 2010

By Alan Lee, Esq.

Focus On Social Networking Sites By FDNS; Latest H-1B Count

As warned in our posting of September 5, 2010, government agencies are looking into individuals' postings on social networking sites in adjudicating applications for non- immigrant visas at the consulates and entry to the United States at the ports of entry.  (See  "Current H-1B Count; Added Information Needed on H-1B Petitions; Asylum Application Success Rates Up; Watch Out for FACEBOOK").  Now information has become available that U.S.C.I.S. is circulating an internal memo by its Office of Fraud Detection and National Security (FDNS) giving a step-by-step process of how a generic social networking website works and stating that the postings provide an excellent vantage point for FDNS to observe the daily life of beneficiaries and petitioners who are suspected of fraudulent activities; that people generally speak honestly on these sites because all their friends and families are interacting with them; and that the social networking gives FDNS an opportunity to reveal fraud by browsing the sites.  Among the social networking sites referred to in the memo are Facebook, MySpace, Netlog, Habbo, Badoo, and Cyworld. 

Latest statistics as of October 8, 2010, showed that H-1B cap use for FY-2010 has now reached 57,300 of the approximately 85,000 allotted numbers.  This was an increase of 2300 petitions over the last count on October 1st.  Of the 57,300, 41,900 were filed under the regular H-1B cap, and 15,400 under the H-1B U.S. Masters or higher cap.

 


The author is a 30+ 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 © 2010 Alan Lee, Esq.

 

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