For Immediate ReleaseOffice of the Press SecretaryContact: 202-282-8010Department of State: 202-647-2492
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the U.S. Department of State (DOS) remind the traveling public that as of Jan. 31, 2008, all adult travelers will be required to present proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate, and proof of identity, such as a driver's license, when entering the United States through land and sea ports of entry. DHS will be issuing a notice in the Federal Register formally announcing the change.
This change is a necessary step to prepare travelers and ease the transition to the future requirements of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI). WHTI proposes to establish documentation requirements for travelers entering the United States who were previously exempt, including citizens of the U.S., Canada, and Bermuda. As recommended by the 9/11 Commission, Congress enacted WHTI in the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004. WHTI will result in both enhanced security and increased facilitation across the border once implemented. During this transition, DHS and the Department of State are working diligently to minimize the impact on legitimate trade and travel.
Currently, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers may accept oral declarations of citizenship from U.S. and Canadian citizens seeking entry into the United States through a land or sea border. However, as of January 31, 2008:
Oral declarations of citizenship alone will no longer be accepted. U.S. and Canadian citizens ages 19 and older will need to present a government-issued photo ID, such as a driver's license, along with proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate or naturalization certificate. Children ages 18 and under will only be required to present proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate. Passports and trusted traveler program cards - NEXUS, SENTRI and FAST - will continue to be accepted for cross-border travel. All existing nonimmigrant visa and passport requirements will remain in effect and will not be altered by this change.
DOS reminds the public that the current turnaround time for a passport is four to six weeks, so Americans planning international travel may wish to apply now. For information on obtaining a U.S. Passport visit www.travel.state.gov or call 1-877-487-2778. Specific documentation requirements for land, sea and air travel may be found at www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/vacation/ready_set_go/. To learn more about NEXUS, SENTRI and FAST, visit www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/trusted_traveler/.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Surge Brings New Immigration Backlog
By JULIA PRESTONThe New York TimesNovember 23, 2007
Immigration authorities are swamped in new bureaucratic backlogs resulting from an unanticipated flood last summer of applications for citizenship and for residence visas, officials said.
In July and August alone, the federal Citizenship and Immigration Services agency received 2.5 million applications, including petitions for naturalization as well as for the entire range of immigrant visas. That was more than double the total applications it received in the same two months in 2006, said a spokesman, Bill Wright.
In the 2007 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, the agency received 1.4 million petitions from legal immigrants to become United States citizens, about double the number of naturalization petitions in the 2006 fiscal year, Mr. Wright said.
The surge began after Jan. 31 when the immigration agency announced fee increases averaging 66 percent for most applications, official figures show. The increases went into effect July 30. The contentious tenor of the immigration debate also prompted legal immigrants to apply for citizenship. “We did our absolute best to foresee the surge we would have,” Mr. Wright said. “We certainly were surprised by such an immediate increase with such a volume.”
The deluge has been so great that the agency is struggling to send out notices acknowledging it has received the applications. According to a special Web page the agency set up for applicants, as of Nov. 16 the agency’s processing center in Texas is sending out receipts for naturalization petitions that arrived by July 26. The processing center in Vermont is just now acknowledging naturalization petitions that came in by July 30.
Also contributing to the surge are about 300,000 applications in July and August for legal permanent resident visas, commonly known as green cards, from highly skilled immigrants. The jump in applications for the employment-based green cards resulted from the resolution of a mix-up in June between Immigration and Citizenship Services and the State Department, which is responsible for making visas available. The agencies had first invited the applications, then said they would not be accepted. They then reversed course, agreeing to accept them.
Immigration officials said it could take more than a year to decide many of the recent applications.
The processing backlogs are different from the visa backlogs that have burdened the United States immigration system for years. Because of annual limits on all green cards, immigrants from some countries like Mexico and the Philippines often have to wait decades for visas to become available. Now the agency has fallen behind on the bureaucratic work of logging in applications and deciding whether to grant visas or allow immigrants to become United States citizens.
In addition to the fee increase, the rush of naturalization requests was also prompted by anti-immigrant language in the debate over immigration policy this year, lawyers and advocates for immigrants said. Also, the immigration authorities had announced they were preparing a new, more difficult test for aspiring citizens, which they unveiled in September.
“People are scared,” said Ignacio Donoso, an immigration lawyer at the Monty Partners firm in Houston. “And they want to avoid the fees, and they do not want to face a more demanding test. So you are going to have people running like mad to apply, yet the government doesn’t hire any more staff to handle it.”
Citizenship and Immigration Services is required by Congress to draw most of its operating budget from fees. When the agency head, Emilio T. Gonzalez, announced the fee increases in January, he pledged that the agency would become more efficient and reduce wait times for deciding applications. Fees for naturalization, for example, increased 66 percent, to $675 from $405.
The agency plans to use the higher revenues to hire 1,500 employees, an increase of about 10 percent over its current staff of 15,000, Mr. Wright said. For the time being, agency employees have volunteered to work overtime to help clear the backlog.
Much of the rush for naturalization came from legal Latino immigrants. Hispanic organizations, including the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund, and Univision, the Spanish-language television network, led a nationwide naturalization campaign this year in which hundreds of thousands of longtime legal immigrants signed up to become citizens.
Immigration officials said they would work to complete naturalization petitions in time for new citizens to vote in the elections next November. They strongly denied that the delays had any partisan political motivation.
“We know what this issue is,” Mr. Wright said, but he cautioned there were limits to how much the agency could expedite its procedures.
“We are not going to sacrifice quality or security to speed up just to get the numbers,” he said.
Immigration authorities are swamped in new bureaucratic backlogs resulting from an unanticipated flood last summer of applications for citizenship and for residence visas, officials said.
In July and August alone, the federal Citizenship and Immigration Services agency received 2.5 million applications, including petitions for naturalization as well as for the entire range of immigrant visas. That was more than double the total applications it received in the same two months in 2006, said a spokesman, Bill Wright.
In the 2007 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, the agency received 1.4 million petitions from legal immigrants to become United States citizens, about double the number of naturalization petitions in the 2006 fiscal year, Mr. Wright said.
The surge began after Jan. 31 when the immigration agency announced fee increases averaging 66 percent for most applications, official figures show. The increases went into effect July 30. The contentious tenor of the immigration debate also prompted legal immigrants to apply for citizenship. “We did our absolute best to foresee the surge we would have,” Mr. Wright said. “We certainly were surprised by such an immediate increase with such a volume.”
The deluge has been so great that the agency is struggling to send out notices acknowledging it has received the applications. According to a special Web page the agency set up for applicants, as of Nov. 16 the agency’s processing center in Texas is sending out receipts for naturalization petitions that arrived by July 26. The processing center in Vermont is just now acknowledging naturalization petitions that came in by July 30.
Also contributing to the surge are about 300,000 applications in July and August for legal permanent resident visas, commonly known as green cards, from highly skilled immigrants. The jump in applications for the employment-based green cards resulted from the resolution of a mix-up in June between Immigration and Citizenship Services and the State Department, which is responsible for making visas available. The agencies had first invited the applications, then said they would not be accepted. They then reversed course, agreeing to accept them.
Immigration officials said it could take more than a year to decide many of the recent applications.
The processing backlogs are different from the visa backlogs that have burdened the United States immigration system for years. Because of annual limits on all green cards, immigrants from some countries like Mexico and the Philippines often have to wait decades for visas to become available. Now the agency has fallen behind on the bureaucratic work of logging in applications and deciding whether to grant visas or allow immigrants to become United States citizens.
In addition to the fee increase, the rush of naturalization requests was also prompted by anti-immigrant language in the debate over immigration policy this year, lawyers and advocates for immigrants said. Also, the immigration authorities had announced they were preparing a new, more difficult test for aspiring citizens, which they unveiled in September.
“People are scared,” said Ignacio Donoso, an immigration lawyer at the Monty Partners firm in Houston. “And they want to avoid the fees, and they do not want to face a more demanding test. So you are going to have people running like mad to apply, yet the government doesn’t hire any more staff to handle it.”
Citizenship and Immigration Services is required by Congress to draw most of its operating budget from fees. When the agency head, Emilio T. Gonzalez, announced the fee increases in January, he pledged that the agency would become more efficient and reduce wait times for deciding applications. Fees for naturalization, for example, increased 66 percent, to $675 from $405.
The agency plans to use the higher revenues to hire 1,500 employees, an increase of about 10 percent over its current staff of 15,000, Mr. Wright said. For the time being, agency employees have volunteered to work overtime to help clear the backlog.
Much of the rush for naturalization came from legal Latino immigrants. Hispanic organizations, including the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund, and Univision, the Spanish-language television network, led a nationwide naturalization campaign this year in which hundreds of thousands of longtime legal immigrants signed up to become citizens.
Immigration officials said they would work to complete naturalization petitions in time for new citizens to vote in the elections next November. They strongly denied that the delays had any partisan political motivation.
“We know what this issue is,” Mr. Wright said, but he cautioned there were limits to how much the agency could expedite its procedures.
“We are not going to sacrifice quality or security to speed up just to get the numbers,” he said.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Lawrence J. Needle Speaks to Clemson Faculty
Mr. Needle will speak on current Immigration Topics on Wednesday, November 7.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Social Security Administration Issues “No Match” Rule
The Social Security Administration (SSA) issued a final rule effective September 14, 2007 regarding I-9 employment verification and the receipt of no match letters from the SSA. The employer sanctions provisions of the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA) govern the manner in which employers may be held liable for failing to complete, or improperly completing, an I-9 form for each employee hired. Similarly, employers may be held liable if the employer has either actual or constructive knowledge that a worker is not authorized for employment in the United States. In addition, however, IRCA includes penalties for citizenship and national origin discrimination and for those employers committing document abuse.
Most violations prosecuted by the government in the past have concerned paperwork violations. For example, an employer has always been required to accept documents such as driver’s licenses and social security cards at face value if those documents appeared genuine on their face. In other words, an employer could not refuse one of those documents if they appeared authentic without subjecting itself to potential claims of national origin or citizenship discrimination. Very few employers were ever subject to fines for actual knowledge that an employee was unauthorized to work.
Under the new regulations, however, the government now has an additional weapon at its disposal to demonstrate that an employer has “constructive knowledge” that an employee is not authorized to work in the United States. If an employer follows guidelines in the regulations, however, after receiving a “no match” letter from the SSA, the employer is provided a “safe harbor” defense should the government later seek to charge the employer with constructive knowledge that an employee has no valid working status in the United States.
According to the government’s website, an employer must take a number of steps in the event it receives a no match letter and apply all such steps equally with respect to any of its employees. Because the government recognizes that the social security records are not infallible, the immigration service first requires an employer to check for clerical errors within 30 days to ensure that the no match result was not the fault of a clerical error on the part of the employer. If this does not resolve the problem, the employer must then request the employee to confirm whether or not the employer’s records are accurate. An employer may ask the employee to resolve any discrepancy with the Social Security Administration, but in no event may the employee fail to resolve the matter with the SSA within 90 days of the employer’s receipt of the SSA letter.
If an employer is actually able to successfully resolve the “no match” within 90 days, the employer should ensure that the Social Security Administration has corrected its own records by using the social security number verification service and also keep a copy of the date and time of verification. The verification service can be found at www.socialsecurity.gov/employer/SSNV-htm. The telephone number is 1-800-772-6270.
The Department of Homeland Security indicates that, if none of these measures resolve the issue within 90 days of receipt of the no match letter, the employee must complete within three days a new I-9 form with additional documentation verifying the employee’s work authorization. However, the employee may not utilize any document containing the prior social security number in dispute. Furthermore, the employee is required to provide a photograph establishing his/her identity.
If the new I-9 cannot be completed within three days after 90 days of receipt of the no match letter, the employer must terminate the employee. Otherwise, the employer risks civil, and even potential criminal, liability for continuing to hire an unlawful worker. If the employer continues to hire such workers, the employer will be deemed to have constructive knowledge of an employee’s unauthorized status. However, employers should not terminate employees without first attempting to resolve the no match letter, or treat certain employees differently from other employees, in order to avoid any potential charge of employment discrimination.
As a result of these regulations, there has been a genuine uproar from the business community, as well as the AFL-CIO, other unions, etc. complaining that enforcement of these regulations could be tremendously disruptive to the economy and could easily lead to the termination of employees who actually do have appropriate work authorization but which cannot be verified due to inadequate or incomplete records from the SSA. Just recently, a federal district court judge in California issued a preliminary injunction enjoining the Department of Homeland Security from enforcing regulations at least until October 1, 2007, when a separate federal judge will consider whether or not to grant a permanent injunction.
Advocates for different groups have argued, among other things, that the no-match rules could be used as a pretext to fire employees if they report a wage claim, or workplace hazard, or if they get injured on the job. Others have claimed that both the DHS and SSA have overstepped their constitutional bounds in issuing the regulations, claiming that the DHS and SSA cannot use wage and tax data in order to enforce immigration law. Others have taken a more practical approach in arguing that SSA records are sometimes incomplete or plain inaccurate which could lead to employers dismissing employees who actually have appropriate work authorization. These scenarios could potentially lead to discrimination against those employees who are terminated because they appear to be foreign if employers otherwise fear being slapped with civil, or even potential criminal, sanctions. Unfortunately, in the absence of comprehensive immigration reform, businesses face heightened scrutiny and even greater responsibilities each time they receive a no match letter.
Most violations prosecuted by the government in the past have concerned paperwork violations. For example, an employer has always been required to accept documents such as driver’s licenses and social security cards at face value if those documents appeared genuine on their face. In other words, an employer could not refuse one of those documents if they appeared authentic without subjecting itself to potential claims of national origin or citizenship discrimination. Very few employers were ever subject to fines for actual knowledge that an employee was unauthorized to work.
Under the new regulations, however, the government now has an additional weapon at its disposal to demonstrate that an employer has “constructive knowledge” that an employee is not authorized to work in the United States. If an employer follows guidelines in the regulations, however, after receiving a “no match” letter from the SSA, the employer is provided a “safe harbor” defense should the government later seek to charge the employer with constructive knowledge that an employee has no valid working status in the United States.
According to the government’s website, an employer must take a number of steps in the event it receives a no match letter and apply all such steps equally with respect to any of its employees. Because the government recognizes that the social security records are not infallible, the immigration service first requires an employer to check for clerical errors within 30 days to ensure that the no match result was not the fault of a clerical error on the part of the employer. If this does not resolve the problem, the employer must then request the employee to confirm whether or not the employer’s records are accurate. An employer may ask the employee to resolve any discrepancy with the Social Security Administration, but in no event may the employee fail to resolve the matter with the SSA within 90 days of the employer’s receipt of the SSA letter.
If an employer is actually able to successfully resolve the “no match” within 90 days, the employer should ensure that the Social Security Administration has corrected its own records by using the social security number verification service and also keep a copy of the date and time of verification. The verification service can be found at www.socialsecurity.gov/employer/SSNV-htm. The telephone number is 1-800-772-6270.
The Department of Homeland Security indicates that, if none of these measures resolve the issue within 90 days of receipt of the no match letter, the employee must complete within three days a new I-9 form with additional documentation verifying the employee’s work authorization. However, the employee may not utilize any document containing the prior social security number in dispute. Furthermore, the employee is required to provide a photograph establishing his/her identity.
If the new I-9 cannot be completed within three days after 90 days of receipt of the no match letter, the employer must terminate the employee. Otherwise, the employer risks civil, and even potential criminal, liability for continuing to hire an unlawful worker. If the employer continues to hire such workers, the employer will be deemed to have constructive knowledge of an employee’s unauthorized status. However, employers should not terminate employees without first attempting to resolve the no match letter, or treat certain employees differently from other employees, in order to avoid any potential charge of employment discrimination.
As a result of these regulations, there has been a genuine uproar from the business community, as well as the AFL-CIO, other unions, etc. complaining that enforcement of these regulations could be tremendously disruptive to the economy and could easily lead to the termination of employees who actually do have appropriate work authorization but which cannot be verified due to inadequate or incomplete records from the SSA. Just recently, a federal district court judge in California issued a preliminary injunction enjoining the Department of Homeland Security from enforcing regulations at least until October 1, 2007, when a separate federal judge will consider whether or not to grant a permanent injunction.
Advocates for different groups have argued, among other things, that the no-match rules could be used as a pretext to fire employees if they report a wage claim, or workplace hazard, or if they get injured on the job. Others have claimed that both the DHS and SSA have overstepped their constitutional bounds in issuing the regulations, claiming that the DHS and SSA cannot use wage and tax data in order to enforce immigration law. Others have taken a more practical approach in arguing that SSA records are sometimes incomplete or plain inaccurate which could lead to employers dismissing employees who actually have appropriate work authorization. These scenarios could potentially lead to discrimination against those employees who are terminated because they appear to be foreign if employers otherwise fear being slapped with civil, or even potential criminal, sanctions. Unfortunately, in the absence of comprehensive immigration reform, businesses face heightened scrutiny and even greater responsibilities each time they receive a no match letter.
New Feature
Lawrence J. Needle is proud to announce the launch of a terrific new feature on the firm's website, The Immigrant Update. Visitors can access up to the minute information regarding immigration issues of interest. We are very proud of this new feature and encourage you to visit it frequently.
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