The Immigration Service (CIS) lists its processing times for immigration petitions and applications on their web site.

Most immigration applications and petitions must be submitted to one of the following USCIS Service Centers: (1) Laguna Niguel, California; (2) Lincoln, Nebraska; (3) Mesquite, Texas; and (4) St. Albans, Vermont and (5) the National Benefits Center in Missouri.

These service centers periodically issue lists of their processing times for various types of petitions and applications. We link to the latest list issued by each service center.

Warning: Processing times may appear faster on the official lists than they are in reality.

To see how fast (or slow) your service center is processing a particular type of petition or application, see our Government Processing Times Page at

The AAO's most recent published processing times (June 14, 2005) may be found at

To check the Official Processing Times of your Department of Labor Regional Office and your State Workforce Agency (SWA), see

The State Department web site contains a "Visa Wait List" page which permits readers to choose a particular U.S. consular post and learn how long it takes the post to process temporary, nonimmigrant visas. See

3. Nurses: How to Apply for an RN Residing Abroad

Now, after successfully immigrating 5,000 RNs, here's an outline of the current, cumbersome 10-step program used to immigrate RNs who are residing abroad:

(1) Submit Form I-140 to appropriate CIS Service Center - Remember to do the proper posting (or serve the bargaining representative if the RNs are unionized), obtain a prevailing wage determination from the state workforce agency. Also, remember that the RN must have "a full and unrestricted license" in the state of intended employment, or have a CGFNS Certificate or have passed the NCLEX-RN examination.

(2) After the I-140 is approved (possibly after responding to a couple of RFEs) in 3-6 months, wait another month or two, and you will receive a letter from the National Visa Center (NVC) in New Hampshire asking you to pay the appropriate filing fees for the RN and her family members to a P.O. Box, not in New Hampshire, but in Missouri. No checks are accepted, only money orders or cashiers checks.

(3) FedEx the money to the NVC ASAP.

(4) Wait another month, and you will receive another missive from the NVC in New Hampshire containing applications for immigrant visas and alien registration, part I & II (Form DS-230), a barcode sheet and a list of documents that the RN and her family will need to produce.

(5) FedEx the DS-230 (Part I only) and the barcode sheet to NVC (New Hampshire) ASAP.

(6) Wait another 2-3 months, and you will receive still another letter from the NVC in New Hampshire requesting all of the original documents required for the immigrant visa interview in Manila, New Delhi or wherever. Also, NVC will request a copy of the biographic data page of the applicant's passport, including the expiration date of the passport for each IV applicant. (This is not how it works for London and most European posts. You will get a letter from NVC stating that the case has been transferred to the proper consulate and then a letter from the U.S. Embassy with the visa instruction package. You do not send anything to NVC.)

(7) FedEx all of the above documents to the NVC.

(8) Wait another month, and you will receive another letter from the NVC (I am NOT kidding you!) containing an immigrant visa appointment at the U.S. Consulate abroad, instructions for the medical exam, and a request for two color photographs.

(9) Appear at your interview with your passports and your VisaScreen Certificate.

(10) A week or so following your interview, you will receive a packet. Buy your plane tickets to fly to the U.S.

We wonder whether, considering the huge shortage of RNs in U.S. hospitals, the NVC could not streamline the system described above by consolidating some of the steps. The only beneficiary of the present system is FedEx!

National Public Radio ran a story on July 20 mistitled "Nursing Shortage May Be Easing". In fact, the story predicts that the nurse shortage in the U.S. may quadruple by 2012 with 800,000 vacancies for RN positions. We link to the audio file from our "NPR" page at

4. Success Story: Relief from Removal - A Tale of 2 Cities

This July, we represented a man in a removal proceeding before an Immigration Judge in San Francisco. The man had a good case for cancellation of removal.

He entered the U.S. from the Philippines in 1990, and had resided in this country continuously for 15 years. He is a person of good moral character. He and his wife, who is also residing in the U.S. without papers have four children born in the U.S. ranging in age from 13 to less than one year. The two oldest children are honor students who are active in numerous extracurricular activities, some of which they participate in together with their father. Our client gave direct testimony for about 40 minutes. The ICE Trial Attorney asked a couple of questions. The Immigration Judge found that our client had met both the continuous physical presence and good moral character requirements, and finally, that his citizen children would suffer "exceptional and extremely unusual hardship" if their father were forced to return to the Philippines. The government declined to appeal the Judge's decision. The entire proceeding lasted less than an hour.

Although the facts in this case were very strong, they pale before those of Benjamin and Londy Cabrera, a couple whose applications for cancellation of removal we have been pursuing in Los Angeles for over three years.

Mr. and Mrs. Cabrera are from two different countries, Mexico and Guatemala. They have been physically present in the U.S. for years longer than our San Francisco client, and the government concedes that they are both persons of good moral character. Their two U.S. daughters are both honor students. Mrs. Cabrera has worked as a teacher's aide at their school. Their older daughter is completing her third summer on scholarship from Johns Hopkins University, and she is presently studying in Rhode Island. Unlike the children in our San Francisco case, the second daughter has experienced medical problems as a result of her parents' immigration status. Finally, unlike our San Francisco client whose parents, brothers and sisters all reside in his native country, most of the Cabreras' parents, brothers and sisters, and their children, reside lawfully in the U.S. Family separation is a strong factor in evaluating the hardship to the Cabrera's daughters and their parents.

In addition, Mr. Cabrera's mother suffers from severe diabetes and has had several of her toes amputated. She stayed with the Cabreras while she recuperated from surgery and they contribute to her emotional and financial support.

All in all, the Cabreras, with five qualifying relatives who would suffer hardship if Mr. and Mrs. Cabrera were forced to leave the U.S. have one of the strongest cases for relief that I have seen during my almost 30 years of practicing immigration law both for the INS (1976-82) and in private practice.

Based on the above facts, Immigration Judge Bruce Einhorn granted the Cabreras applications for cancellation of removal in March 2002.

Why didn't the matter end when Judge Einhorn issued his decision?

Only because government Trial Attorneys in Los Angeles seem to challenge the hardship determinations of Immigration Judges simply as a matter of course.

In September 2003, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), in a brief decision, reversed the decision of Judge Einhorn and ordered the Cabreras to return to their countries. The BIA failed to consider the hardship to the Cabrera's second daughter and to all three of their permanent resident parents in violation of the BIA's own precedent decisions which require them to consider hardship "in the aggregate".

The Los Angeles Times, the Associated Press and numerous television and radio stations brought the plight of the Cabreras to the attention of the public. This prompted Senator Dianne Feinstein and Representative Lucile Roybal-Allard to introduce private bills on behalf of the Cabreras in the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives. Senator Feinstein even took the time to write to the agency and ask why the BIA often reverses Judges' rulings in cancellation of removal case, and why, when the law permits the courts to approve 4,000 cancellation of removal applications yearly, the actual number of such cases which are approved is only about one-third of this number.

Our law firm appealed the BIA's ruling to the Federal Appeals Court. At first, the government challenged our right to do so. Nonetheless, the Court granted the Cabreras a stay of removal. Ultimately, the government asked the Court, on narrow legal grounds, to return the case to the BIA and then to Judge Einhorn. We did not oppose the government's request. We expect that sometime in the next few months, the Cabreras will be granted another hearing before Judge Einhorn.

During the past three years, the Cabreras' case has only gotten stronger and the hardships that their children and parents would face have become more extreme. We are ready to present their case again before Judge Einhorn. Assuming that the Judge again grants the Cabreras' applications for cancellation of removal, the government has the power to bring this long-drawn out case to a speedy conclusion.

How?

Simply do what the Trial Attorney did in our recent case in San Francisco. If the Judge again rules in favor of the Cabreras, the government could simply accept his decision.

For a complete record of the Cabreras' case, see

5. Immigration Trivia Quiz: A Passage to India

The quiz consists of three seemingly unrelated images. The winner will be the first person to explain what these images have in common. See

6. Mr. Shusterman Travels to the Indian Subcontinent

However, due to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, we decided to cancel our travel plans.

Now, in December 2005 and January 2006, we plan to spend three weeks touring the Indian subcontinent. We are looking forward to exploring Delhi, Mumbai, Goa, the "Pink City" of Jaipur, enjoy lunching at the Lake Palace in Udaipur, visiting the majestic Taj Majal and the mysterious caves at Ajanta and Ellora.

Since 2001, I have spoken at dozens of recruitment conferences across the U.S. A few of the recruiters have asked me if I would consider presenting immigration seminars in India for physicians, nurses and computer professionals. Some even offered to provide round-trip business-class airfare and luxury hotel accommodations for my wife and me if I would consent to conducting such seminars.

I politely declined since, at that time, I had no intention of visiting India. However, now that we have decided to spend some time in India, I am open to the possibility of conducting a limited number of seminars as long as this would not interfere with our vacation plans.

We will finalize our travel plans within the next few days and weeks. Persons and organizations wishing to contact me regarding conducting seminars for health care and computer professionals in India may do so by e-mail at carl@shusterman.com

7. Senators Cornyn and Kyl Introduce Immigration Bill

What follows is a summary of the provisions of the proposed legislation:

Border Enforcement and Visa Security

• Authorizes sufficient resources, including 10,000 Border Patrol Agents (same figure as Intelligence progress made in hiring and deploying the agents) and 1,250 new Customs and Border Protection Officers (working at ports of entry). Authorizes $5 billion over 5 years for accompanying technology (e.g. cameras and sensors) and infrastructure (e.g. stations and checkpoints), to stop illegal border crossing

• Expands and improves Expedited Removal, which provides a streamlined means of removing aliens who are clearly ineligible to enter the U.S. Authorizes $50 million over 5 years

• Strengthens US-VISIT entry-exit system to better track and identify aliens who enter the country and those who fail to depart

• Increases the bond amount for aliens from noncontiguous countries

• Cancels all visas in the possession of an alien if he or she fails to depart U.S. at end of stay

• Authorizes $50 million over 5 years in grants for American Indian Tribes on border adversely affected by illegal immigration

Strengthening Interior Enforcement and Leveraging State and Local Law Resources

• Provides the Department of Homeland Security with 10,000 detention beds over 5 years to eliminate the release of illegal aliens into the country

• Clarifies State and local authority to enforce federal immigration laws

• Expands Institutional Removal Program to identify criminal aliens in federal and state correctional facilities and remove them upon completion of their sentences

• Authorizes $4.45 billion to reimburse states and counties for costs related to the incarceration of criminal illegal aliens and $200 million each year for the costs of processing criminal illegal immigrants through local criminal justice systems

• Authorizes 1,000 smuggling and status violations investigators over 5 years (200 more per year than Intelligence Reform bill)

• Authorizes 250 additional DOJ immigration judges and 500 DHS trial attorneys over 5 years

• Allows the Department of Homeland Security to expeditiously remove aliens who were previously deported and then reentered illegally

• Increases penalties for alien smuggling, document fraud, drug trafficking and gang violence

• Establishes new Assistant Attorney General in the Department of Justice to oversee immigration enforcement and litigation, to ensure high level DOJ attention and accountability

Worksite Enforcement

• Authorizes 10,000 additional agents over 5 years to investigate employers who hire illegal aliens. Also 1,000 new investigators over 5 years to detect fraud in application process

• Increases the penalties for unauthorized employment of aliens, social security fraud and false claims to citizenship

• Requires within one year, issuance of secure machine-readable, tamper- resistant Social Security cards

• Closes loopholes in identity theft by establishing minimum standards for state-issued birth certificates

• Requires within one year that all new hires participate in a Social Security-based electronic employment eligibility verification system

• Assists employers by reducing the number of documents that workers may present to establish identity and employment authorization

Obligations of Participating Countries

• Requires countries to enter into bilateral agreement with U.S. government before the nationals of the country are allowed to participate in a temporary worker visa program or Mandatory Departure status

• Requires aliens to have a minimum level of health coverage, which can be provided by the participating country, the alien or the employer

• Encourages countries to provide housing incentives for returning workers

• Requires participating country to:

  • Cooperate in efforts to control illegal immigration

  • Immediately accept return of nationals who are ordered removed from the U.S.

  • Work with U.S. to reduce gang violence, human trafficking and smuggling

  • Provide access to databases and information on criminal aliens and terrorists

Temporary Worker Program

• Establishes new visa category that allows aliens to enter the U.S. to work temporarily when there are no available U.S. workers

• Limits the period of visa to two years, after which the alien must return home for one year. Alien may participate up to three times (for a total of 6 years of employment in the U.S.)

• Requires completion of background checks, health screening and issuance of biometric documentation to participating aliens

• Establishes a Temporary Worker Task Force to prepare a report on the effect of the temporary worker program on wages and employment of U.S. workers, which would then form basis of cap

• Family members may visit principal worker in the U.S. for no longer than 30 days within a given year

Mandatory Departure and Reentry in Legal Status

• Allows aliens who are present in the U.S. illegally to apply for Mandatory Departure, which enables them time to depart the United States voluntarily and reenter the country through normal legal channels (e.g. as temporary worker)

• Aliens granted Mandatory Departure status are ineligible to obtain permanent resident status (i.e. green card) while in the U.S. - they must depart and reenter through normal legal channels

• Aliens are registered, fingerprinted, and checked against all available criminal/terrorist lists

• Aliens are issued secure, biometric identity documentation. The documents will function as identity documents and employers will use document readers to verify identity and employment authorization

• Provides incentives for aliens to depart the United States immediately, but all aliens are required to depart prior to five years

• Aliens who return to home country within a short period of time may quickly reenter through legal channels as a temporary worker and are not required to spend up to 10 years outside of the country

• Aliens who fail to depart are ineligible for any other immigration benefit for a period of ten years

Circular Migration and Visa Backlog Reduction

• Creates temporary worker investment funds to encourage aliens to return home

• Reduces visa backlog waiting times by allowing the recapture of unused visa numbers and terminating the Diversity Visa Program

We link to the complete text of the Cornyn-Kyl bill as well as to a two-page summary of the bill and an 11-page section-by-section analysis of the proposed law from our "Immigration Legislation" page at    

8. Schedule of Upcoming Immigration Law Seminars

1. August 23                   AILA Teleconference
   2:00 - 3:30pm (ET)

   Topic - Allied Health Care Workers

   • Licensing; Visa Screen; CGFNS
   • NIV and IV Options for Nurses
   • NIV and IV Options for Therapists

   Co-Panelists: Naveen Rahman, Maria Mercedes Badia-Tavas

   For program and registration information (AILA members only), please see

   http://www.aila.org/content/default.aspx?docid=16294

2. September 15                  Los Angeles, California
   8:30 - 9:30am

   Topic: Introduction to Immigrant Visas

   Los Angeles County Bar Association, Immigrant Legal Assistance Project

   For more information, see

   http://calendar.lacba.org/calendar/index.cfm?fuseaction=ViewCalendarEvent&CalendarEventID=996

3. September 15                     Audio Conference: Kennedy Information
   10:00 - 11:30am (PT)

   Topic: Recruiting the Foreign-Born Healthcare Candidate: New Legislation and Strategies

   For program and registration information, please see

   http://www.kennedyinfo.com/audio/

4. September 23                    San Antonio, Texas

   Topic: Immigration Research on the Internet

   University of Texas School of Law

   Co-Panelist: Eugene Flynn For program and registration information, please see

   http://conferences.utcle.org/law/cle/conferences/fall2005/IM05/index.html

5. October 11                             Disney's Contemporary Resort
   3:30 - 4:30pm                         Orlando, FL

   Topic - Immigration and Foreign Nurses
   Breakout Session 324

   Nursing Management Congress 2005

   For program and registration information, please see

   http://www.nmcongress.com/nmc_2005_attendee_broch.pdf

6. November 17                           San Francisco, California
   9:00 - 10:00am

   Topic - Return to the Virtual Border: Update from the Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security

   Practising Law Institute's 38th Annual Immigration and Naturalization Institute

   For program and registration information, see

   http://www.pli.edu/product/program_detail.asp?ptid=511&stid=3&id=EN00000000021724 (Link is no longer operational.)

9. Chat Schedule, Transcripts, Audios & Videos

Chats

Since 1999, we have served as the official immigration experts for About.com. We have participated in dozens of free chats since then. Our chats always focus on a particular subject.

Links to the transcripts of all of our chats are posted online on our "Chat" page at

Immigration Audios

• Welcome To Our Web Site!
  http://shusterman.com/audio/welcome.ram

• Understanding the H-1B Cap Law: AC-21
  http://shusterman.com/audio/h1bcapla.ram

• Temporary Visas to Visit, Study or Work in the U.S.
  http://shusterman.com/audio/temp.ram

• Obtaining A Green Card To Live and Work in the U.S.
  http://shusterman.com/audio/gc.ram

• How to Become a Citizen of the U.S.
  http://shusterman.com/audio/usc.ram

• IMG's and Canadian Physicians
  http://shusterman.com/audio/md.ram

We link to selected audio programs regarding immigration produced by National Public Radio at

Immigration Videos

See our videos and accompanying power point presentations:

• Physicians: J Waivers, H-1B and O-1 Visas
  http://shusterman.com/video/img100302_p1.ram

• Physicians: Obtaining Permanent Residence
  http://shusterman.com/video/img100302_p2.ram

• Physicians: Questions and Answers
  http://shusterman.com/video/img100302_qa.ram

10. Winner of our July 2005 Immigration Trivia Quiz

Dear Mr. DeDomenico,

Here are my answers to this month's quiz. I have been involved with immigration law as an amateur for nearly ten years, starting with my own H-1B and Green Card case, and now I am in the middle of applying for my citizenship - I just had my fingerprints taken.

Should I be the first to answer your questions, please feel free to donate the free consultation to the second person; I'm just participating for the fun of it.

Categories with numerical limits: H-1B and H-2.

Categories that allow spouses to work: L-1, E-1, E-2 and J-1 allow spouses to work. Also, family members of G and A visa holders (i.e., diplomats) are allowed to work.

Countries whose citizens do not need a visa: there are quite a few programs that all allow entry to the USA for various classes of people without a visa, and under various different conditions.

Non-immigrants from Canada almost never need visas nor even passports (they only need visas for E and K classifications). Mexican citizens can use a border-crossing card in place of both a passport and visa as long as they enter as B visitors for no more than 72 hours, and stay within the border zone (I believe 25 miles).

Non-immigrants can enter the US in B-1 or B-2 status (with some additional restrictions, such as a limit of 90 days and no extension permitted) without a visa from Andorra, Iceland, Norway, Australia, Ireland, Portugal, Austria, Italy, San Marino, Belgium, Japan, Singapore, Brunei, Liechtenstein, Slovenia, Denmark, Luxembourg, Spain, Finland, Monaco, Sweden, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, New Zealand, United Kingdom. There has been some talk about removing France and Italy from the program, ostensibly because they do not have biometric passports.

In addition, US nationals (i.e., citizens of Western Samoa and Swains Island) can enter the USA without a visa. Citizens of the Federated States of Micronesia and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands can also enter the USA without a visa and are permitted to work in the USA. I believe this also applies to Palau. This is a special right under a Compact of Free Association.

British Virgin Island nationals can enter the US Virgin Islands without a visa.

Citizens of the following countries can enter Guam - but not the rest of the USA - without a visa for up to 15 days: Australia, Brunei, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Taiwan (residents thereof who begin their travel in Taiwan and who travel on direct flights from Taiwan to Guam without an intermediate layover or stop except for stops in a U.S. territory enroute), the U.K. (British National Overseas, British Dependent Territory passports), Vanuatu and Western Samoa

Persons involved with the construction of border security projects can enter the USA in the course of their work without a visa (and without inspection).

Finally, any person, regardless of nationality, can be paroled into the USA without a visa, usually either with Advance Parole, or as humanitarian parole.

And of course, US citizens can always enter the USA without a visa.

In all honesty, I don't think I covered all classes of such people yet...

Ingo Pakleppa

Congratulations!

Carl Shusterman

Certified Specialist in Immigration Law, State Bar of California
Former U.S. Immigration & Naturalization Service Trial Attorney (1976-82)
Board of Governors, American Immigration Lawyers Association (1988-97)
Phone: (213) 623-4592 Fax: (213) 623-3720
Law Offices of Carl Shusterman, 600 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1550
Los Angeles, California 90017

"We can't reward lawbreakers, but we also have to deal with the reality of our enormous undocumented population. We have a national interest in identifying these individuals, providing them with incentives to come out of the shadows, go through security background checks, pay back taxes, pay penalties for breaking the law, learn to speak English and regularize their status."

"The vast majority of immigrants, documented or undocumented, are here because they want a piece of the American dream. Many of them risk everything they have to come to this country seeking a better life for themselves and their families."

August 1, 2005

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