News Update - May 21, 2009
By Alan Lee, Esq.†‡
H-1B Cap Count and The Faces of the New Immigration Leadership
Officials
In H-1B news, the cap count as of May 18, 2009, remained approximately
65,500 of the qualifying 85,000 having been used. Readers should
note, however, that the Department of Labor recently announced that
the old labor condition application (LCA) system will remain operational
through June 30, 2009, instead of shutting after May 14, 2009. This
means that a delaying factor in having H-1B petitions expeditiously
filed is removed until July 1, 2009, thus promoting quicker use
of the remaining members. Under the new LCA system, approvals may
require seven days for an adjudication. The present system usually
yields an LCA approval instantaneously upon electronic filing. An
approved LCA is required as a precondition to filing an H-1B petition.
Confirmation of appointments have been made for the leadership
of U.S.I.C.E. to be John Morton, and DHS General Counsel to be Ivan
K. Fong; and President Obama has just announced his intention to
nominate Alejandro Mayorkas as the new head of U.S.C.I.S. Mr. Morton
is described as an career official with expertise in immigration
enforcement and criminal prosecution. He began as a trial attorney
in 1994 and now serves as the acting deputy assistant attorney general
in the criminal division. Mr. Fong was previously deputy associate
attorney general with the Department of Justice with key responsibility
for civil litigation and enforcement. He is considered extremely
well versed in cyber crime. Mr. Mayorkas is currently a partner
at the prestigious law firm, O'Melveney & Myers, and was previously
U.S. attorney for the Central District of California. The National
Law Journal recently named him one of the 50 most influential minority
lawyers in America.
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