From "jieyin@midway.uchicago.edu (CSSA at UC)" Wed Jan 17 15:43:18 1996 Flags-MM: 000000000001 Return-Path: jieyin@midway.uchicago.edu Received: from dura.spc.uchicago.edu (root@dura.spc.uchicago.edu [128.135.84.94]) by midway.uchicago.edu (8.7.1/8.7.2) with ESMTP id PAA11504; Wed, 17 Jan 1996 15:41:36 -0600 (CST) Received: from haven.uchicago.edu (root@haven.uchicago.edu [128.135.12.3]) by dura.spc.uchicago.edu (8.6.10/8.6.4) with ESMTP id PAA14961; Wed, 17 Jan 1996 15:39:27 -0600 Received: from midway.uchicago.edu (midway.uchicago.edu [128.135.12.73]) by haven.uchicago.edu (8.6.12/8.6.4) with ESMTP id PAA01103; Wed, 17 Jan 1996 15:34:17 -0600 Received: from [128.135.75.83] (igor-23.bsd.uchicago.edu [128.135.75.83]) by midway.uchicago.edu (8.7.1/8.7.2) with SMTP id PAA10864; Wed, 17 Jan 1996 15:39:24 -0600 (CST) Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Date: Wed, 17 Jan 1996 15:41:28 -0500 To: cssa@dura.spc.uchicago.edu From: jieyin@midway.uchicago.edu (CSSA at UC) Subject: CSSA NEWS Special Issue (Jan. 18) The CSSA at UC will sponsor an Immigration Law seminar on Feb.,10,1996,1:00pm-3:00pm at kent 107(Kent Chemical Laboratory,1020 E. 58th St.,Chemistry Department, University of Chicago). It is FREE! Everybody are welcome! FREE IMMIGRATION LAW SEMINAR >From : Brian B. Jiang, Attorney at Law To: Chairperson of CSSA, all Chinese and other foreign students and scholars Re: Upcoming FREE Immigration Law Seminar Dear Sir and Madam: I am an immigration attorney specializing in employment-based immigration. Recently I conducted series of seminars, on the East Coast, on how to apply for residence without employer sponsorship and labor certification. Intended attendants of my seminar are Scholars and graduate students who warmly welcomed my seminar. Due to the overwhelming response I have received so far, I am planning similar seminars in the following cities: Galveston, Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Philadelphia, New York, Hanover(NH), Chicago, Ann Arbor(MICH), Iowa City. The topics of the seminar include: * Different ways to avoid labor certification, job offer, and sponsorship of employers in applying for permanent residence(green card). This is important since many scholars and students cannot obtain the sponsorship >From universities and yet sponsorship has been traditionally the only way to apply for residence. I * How to establish extraordinary ability, outstanding ability,exceptional ability, and 'NATIONAL INTEREST'. (Please see the attached Immigration News on the topic). * How to obtain J-1 waivers without going through work units in China. This is crucial to many people who came on J visas since now a simple no-objection letter from previous unit is no longer sufficient to get approval from the Chinese Embassy. Worse yet, Chinese government will no long process J-1 waivers for those who come after 1-1-96. * Impact of the pending Simpson Bill on future immigration. The schedule of my seminar is as follows: Galveston: 2-2-96 Friday at 7:30pm UT Galveston Med. Ctr. Houston : 2-3-96 Sat. at 2:00pm Baylor College of Medicine at Room McMillen 015 San Antonio: 2-4-96 Sunday at 1:00pm UT Health Science Ctr. at Room 309 L Austin: 2-4-96 Sunday at 7:30pm University of Texas at Room Welch 2.246(Speedway and 24th Street) Philadelphia: 2-5-96, Mon. Uni. of Pennsylvania New York: 2-7-96, Weds. Dartmouth: 2-8-96, Thurs. at 7:30 p.m. Dartmouth College at Room 612A Vail. Michigan: 2-9-96, Fri. at 7:30 p.m. Uni. of Michigan at Lee Icocca Hall Chicago: 2-10-96, Sat. at 1:00pm University of Chicago at Kent 107, Chemistry Dept Iowa City: 2-12-96, Mon. at 7:30pm University of Iowa at Iowa Room of Student Center You are certainly welcome to attend my seminar if you are interested. If not, I would really appreciate it if you can forward this message to your fellow students and scholars. If you don t care to do any of the above, just ignore this message as it is not intended to annoy you. Wishing you a prosperous 1996. Respectfully, Brian Jiang Attorney at Law Tel: (619)278-5480 Fax: (619)278-5492 Email: 73344.437@Compuserve.com ============================================================================ Attachment : IMMIGRATION LAW NEWS provided by Law Office of Brian B. Jiang Tel: (619)278-5480 Fax: (619)278-5492 Email: 73344.437@Compuserve.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------- Labor Certification: What is Labor Certification and How to Avoid It ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------- **************************************************************************** What is Labor Certification? ---------------------------- Labor certification(LC) is the process whereby the Department of Labor(DOL) certifies the unavailability of US workers for a particular job, and the prevailing wages. LC is a prerequisite for a professional to apply for an immigrant visa. LC requires that a foreign national establish that: * There are not enough U.S. workers who are able, willing, qualified, and available at the time of application for a visa and admission to the United States and at the place where the alien is to work; AND * The employment of such aliens will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of the workers in the United States who are similarly employed. Problems In Obtaining Labor Certification ------------------------------------------ Currently, LC for California applicants can take up to 18 months and recent trends suggest that the process may take even longer. Furthermore, it will take an additional 6 to 8 months to complete that INS process. Therefore, the entire process may take as long as 2 years before the alien will receive permanent residence in the form of a Green Card. This is assuming, of course, that the foreign national still has employer sponsorship throughout the process. One of the most important concerns is employer sponsorship. In many cases, an employer is unable or unwilling to sponsor the alien seeking to obtain labor certification. However, employer sponsorship is a mandatory requirement to obtain LC approval. Additionally, there has been increasing difficulty in obtaining permanent labor certifications for alien immigrants. For example, for the 1993 fiscal year, the national approval rate for alien labor certification applications fell to a low of 62 percent. Since the enactment of the Immigration Act of 1990, the total number of labor certifications has declined considerably, due in part to a much stricter level of scrutiny being applied to LC applications by the DOL. Under the current administration, the DOL has enjoyed considerably more leeway than in the past to exercise its skepticism towards the employment of foreign workers by U.S. employers. Avoiding Labor Certification ---------------------------- Avoiding labor certification can not only increase the speed with which an alien can obtain an immigrant visa, but it can also increase the chances that the case will be approved. Currently, there are two ways to avoid LC, both of which require qualifying under a specific classification. * First employment-based preference for "priority workers" ----------------------------------------------------------- One of the best way to avoid labor certification is to qualify in the first employment-based preference for "priority workers." This category comprises three subgroups that covers aliens of "extraordinary ability" in the arts, athletics, business, education, and sciences; "outstanding" professors and researchers; and executives and managers being transferred to the U.S. by an international firm. Please note, however, that the second subgroup, "outstanding" professors and researchers, requires employer sponsorship. * Second employment-based preference "national interest" waiver --------------------------------------------------------------- For those individuals not qualifying for the first classification, there is a second classification that can also be used to circumvent LC. This is the second employment-based preference "national interest" waiver. This "national interest" waiver consists of a petition requesting that the applicant be granted a waiver of the LC because the nature of the applicant's work is in the national interest. Although "national interest" has not been specifically defined, the INS has set out seven factors which, if satisfied, would demonstrated that the applicant's work falls within the "national interest." These factors include the following: i.) improving the US economy; ii.) improving wages and working conditions of US workers; iii.) improving education and training programs for US children and underqualified workers; iv.) improving health care; v.) providing more affordable housing for young and/or older; poorer US residents; vi.) improving the environment of the US and making more productive use of natural resources; or, vii.) involving a request from an interested US government agency. If the INS is convinced that it would be in the national interest, it will approve an employment-based petition for advanced degree professionals, and aliens with exceptional ability in business, science, and the arts, without an underlying job offer. The advantage to the national interest waiver is that if the INS approves that petition, the alien is not only exempted from the job offer requirement, but he or she is also exempted from the individual labor certification requirement which is usually applicable to immigrants in the second employment-based category. Summary ------- The recent developments in immigration law and the current trend resulting in the reduction of approvals for LC applications have led many aliens to seek faster and more effective means of obtaining permission to live and work in the United Sates. One of the most effective means of accomplishing the alien's objective is to avoid the LC process altogether. This can be done in two ways; qualifying in the FIRST EMPLOYMENT-BASED PREFERENCE FOR "PRIORITY WORKERS" OR qualifying in the SECOND EMPLOYMENT-BASED PREFERENCE "NATIONAL INTEREST" WAIVER. The end result of pursuing these two avenues is a savings in time and a higher chance of getting approved. For more information regarding the labor certification process and ways to avoid it, please contact The Law Office of Brian B. Jiang (619)278-5480