As most people know by now, immigration reform is on the horizon and the Senate has just completed its ruling on the many different parts combined into one bill, all regarding various issues in Immigration Reform. The Senate has ruled favorably to the biggest immigration reform we have seen the year of 2001. Specifically, if passed, this Bill would allow the more than 11 million undocumented people in the U.S. to become U.S. Citizens within a 13-year plan for them to become documented.

The Bill has also proposed an increase in the number of H-1B work visas. An H-1B visa is a work visa that is available to individuals who hold a bachelor’s degree in a specialized field and have a bona fide job offer from a U.S. company for a specialized position, such as a position in IT, engineering, accounting, science, etc. The increase in H-1B visa numbers is extremely needed, as in this year alone, there were more than 120,000 applicants and only 65,000 H-1B visas available.

We look forward to the passing of this Bill to become Law, especially since TRAC states that more than 1,500 people are arrested Daily for immigration violations. A large number of those arrested are in the state of Texas, which again shows us that we need an immigration law that will provide help to the undocumented foreign nationals in our country.

While we have all been waiting for this “new law” for years now, it seems that this Bill is not yet Law. The next step is that the Bill would be fully debated on the Senate floor during the first week of June 2013.

Generally speaking, an immigrant should only have one alien number throughout the course of their immigration process and the same alien number should be placed on that applicant’s naturalization certificate. These days, though, there have been some complaints online that applicants will receive one alien number on their employment card and then will receive a completely different alien number on their newly issued green card.

If you receive your green card and you notice that the alien number is a different one than the alien number that was previously issued to you on the employment card, you should take some action to ensure that the mistake is corrected. For instance, you can file a form I-90 and mark that there is a mistake on the green card resulting from USCIS error. In other words, check the box that says that a service error took place. You do Not need to attach a filing fee, but be sure to follow the instructions for the I-90 form.

However, some people do not want to mail in their newly issued green card. As a result, those individuals can write a letter to USCIS and request that the two alien numbers be merged into one file. Be sure to keep a copy of this letter and send it to USCIS via certified mail so that you can keep proof of mailing for your records. Please also call USCIS at 1-800-375-5283 after you mail the letter, to see if any action has taken place on merging your two files. It is best to keep records of your letter to USCIS, though, as you may have no record of the details of your phone call to USCIS.

Until you have a new green card issued with the correct alien number or you have knowledge that the two alien number files have been consolidated, be sure to list all alien numbers on future applications with USCIS, including address changes, for example.

The most recently issued Visa Bulletin has some good news for family category 2A, which is the category for lawful permanent residents filing for their spouses and / or children under 21 years old and unmarried. The current priority date for this category is now July 15, 2010. This means that applicants that filed their cases for their loved ones on or before July 15, 2010 have now reached their priority date.

It is important to note that just because USCIS approves the petition form, this alone does Not mean that the case is ready for processing. In order for the case to be processed and sent over to the U.S. Embassy, the petition form must first be approved AND the priority date must be current. The priority date system applies to lawful permanent residents filing for their spouse and children, but U.S. citizens filing for their spouses and children under 21 years old (and unmarried) do not have to wait for any priority date.

I want to share this case with you, because I personally found it quite interesting. This is not a case that I have handled, but one that I heard about from Fox news Latino. The case involves a Mexican national who was previously ordered deported from the U.S. He has three children here in the U.S.

The Mexican national, Mr. Felipe Montes, was given legal permission to return to the U.S. so that he can physically appear for his court battle in North Carolina regarding fighting for custody of his three (3) biological children. Mr. Montes received permission to remain in the U.S. for ninety (90) days, based on Humanitarian grounds.

This case is interesting because it is the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that allowed him to re-enter the U.S. This case hopefully will give hope to people in similar situations to apply for Humanitarian permission to temporarily enter the U.S. Of course, a grant of humanitarian parole is in the discretion of the Officer.

In Mr. Montes’ case, he has three U.S. citizen children with his U.S. citizen wife, and his wife remained in the U.S. while he was deported back in 2010. Unfortunately, his wife could not take care of those kids and the kids were placed in foster care where they were about to be adopted by foster families. Mr. Montes was the primary bread winner, and when he was deported, his wife would not financially support the children.

Thankfully, Mr. Montes was allowed to re-enter the U.S. so that he could fight for custody of his biological children, and according to his family law attorney, his presence was desperately needed at the hearing.

This case points to the reality that there are about 5,000 children of deported or detained immigrants currently being placed in foster homes, mainly due to the parents’ not having the appropriate immigration status to remain in the U.S.

As part of my practice as an immigration lawyer for eleven years now, I have seen numerous cases with applicants that have several last names or different spellings of their last names. Some of my clients have a different last name in their passport than on their birth certificate translation, etc.

To end the confusion regarding which last name spelling or variation to include in the immigration paperwork, the Vermont Service Center (VSC) has provided a brief guidance in their Stakeholders newsletter. The following information applies to the following cases only: All I-129 cases (work visas, religious visa, fiancé visa, etc.), I-539, I-765 (employment card), and I-131 (travel document). This information does Not apply to green card applications.

The Vermont Service Center has indicated that regardless of what name the applicant places on the application form, the VSC Officer will list the applicant’s name as spelled on the applicant’s passport. The only exception provided to this basic rule is that the applicant’s name will be changed to the name on the visa issued to the applicant, if this visa was issued subsequent to the passport. If there is no visa that was issued to the applicant subsequent to the passport, then the VSC will change the applicant’s name as according to the passport provided by the applicant.

From previous experience, it is generally a good idea to have the passport contain the same name as the applicant’s birth certificate and translation of the birth certificate. In this way, the confusion will be lessened as to the applicant’s identity.

In any event, be sure to list ALL variations of names used in the appropriate box for other names used. Carefully placing all previous names used in this box will ensure the USCIS Officer that the applicant is being truthful as to their identity and exact name.

According to USCIS as released in the Vermont Service Center Stakeholder Newsletter issued on or about July 19, 2012, Form I-130 filed by a lawful permanent resident who later becomes a naturalized U.S. citizen will now automatically become upgraded once the petitioner becomes a naturalized U.S. citizen.

In the past, when a lawful permanent resident becomes a naturalized U.S. citizen, the petitioner would need to send USCIS a letter and a copy of their certificate to reflect their new status as a U.S. citizen. However, now the Vermont Service Center has upgraded their system by creating the program that tracks the petitioners’ alien numbers and will automatically upgrade their status in the system once they become a U.S. citizen.

The difference is that a U.S. citizen does not have a waiting period when sponsoring their spouse or parent. A lawful permanent resident, however, does have a priority date when sponsoring their spouse and they will need to wait until their priority date becomes current before their application will be sent to the National Visa Center for processing to prepare the paperwork for the U.S. Embassy.

If however the Form I-130 has Already Been Approved, then you must notify USCIS and / or the National Visa Center of the upgrade in your status by providing a copy of the naturalization certificate.

USCIS has just announced that it has reached the H-1B maximum amount of visas available for year 2013. The next time period that H-1B’s can be filed will begin on or about April 1, 2013, for an employment start date of October 1, 2013.

A precedent case has just been released online that I found very interesting. This case was released in the Third Circuit, and is called Jose Gonzalez v. Secretary of Department of Homeland Security. It involves a case where an immigrant obtained his green card by filing based on his marriage to his U.S. citizen wife, and he was caught for lying to USCIS because he secretly had another life that he failed to mention to USCIS. The immigrant in the instant case had married his U.S. citizen spouse in the year of 1999. He then filed for his two year green card, which was approved, and then he filed his application to remove the conditions. On his application to obtain his permanent 10-year green card, he placed on his application that he did not have any children.

The USCIS approved the removal of his conditional residence, and he received his 10-year permanent green card on or about August of 2004. He then decided to file for divorce, and his divorce became final on or about March of 2005, so less than one year later.

Then Mr. Gonzalez filed for naturalization in December of 2006, and on his naturalization application he stated that he has two children, one born in 2000 and his second child born in 2001. Mr. Gonzalez also amended his children’s birth certificates once he obtained his green card. He in fact had moved in with his children and the mother of his children soon after receiving his green card.

The USCIS denied his naturalization application, citing that he had lied to USCIS at the time of filing for the removal of his conditional status by stating at that time that he had no children. USCIS states that Mr. Gonzalez therefore failed to meet the requirement of good moral character, which is a requirement that all immigrants must meet in order to obtain naturalization in the U.S. His misrepresentations (i.e. lies) do not need to be material to cause an applicant to fail being a person of good moral character. One small irrelevant lie allows USCIS to find that a person lacks good moral character.

Mr. Gonzalez argued that he did not know that the two children were his children at the time he applied for his 10-year green card. He pointed to the fact that he later amended their birth certificates. The Court notes, however, that he was having relations with the mother around the time that the children were conceived. He gave her money and supported her in other ways; therefore he had sufficient knowledge that these children could be his biological children. The Court notes that he did not adopt these children, but rather he amended their birth certificates instead, further showing that he should have had knowledge that these were his children.

Recently I handled a case for one of my clients, where the U.S. citizen petitioner / mother sponsored her 20 year old daughter. We had filed her adjustment of status petition on or about May 24, 2011, and we needed the I-485 approved on or before June 24th, as she was turning 21 years of age on June 25th, 2011, and possibly then “aging out”. I explained to the client that time is of the essence, and then I started immediately working on the case.

Once it was filed, I made several info pass appointments where I was able to explain to USCIS the “emergency” nature of this case due to the impending deadline. I also sent several faxes and, just when I started to get worried, I received a phone call from USCIS stating that they would provide us an emergency appointment on June 24th, 2011 at the local office in Jacksonville, FL. Luckily, all the documents were in order and the Officer was able to approve the case. We are very proud that we were able to assist this family.

Of course, the facts above may be different from yours and therefore, please do not rely on the facts above to mean that your case will be approved as well.