United States: Greece Joins Visa Waiver Program

Greece has become a member of the Visa Waiver Program (VWP), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced. DHS estimates that, in about 30 days, Greek citizens should be able to begin using the program to make short trips for business or tourism visits without the need to obtain a visa, provided that they meet program requirements.

The Visa Waiver Program allows foreign nationals from designated countries to enter the United States for business visits or tourism visits up to 90 days without the need to obtain a B-1/B-2 visitor visa from a U.S. consulate. Greece joins 35 other countries that already participate in the program. These are Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brunei, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

To use the VWP, Greek citizens must hold an “e-Passport” embedded with an integrated computer chip that stores the traveler’s biographic data, digital photograph and other information. Like all VWP travelers, they will also be required to register and obtain an approval to travel in the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) before departing for the United States. ESTA applications are submitted online at https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/, and should be made at least 72 hours before planned travel.

Source: Fragomen

Costa Rica: New Immigration Law Takes Effect

Costa Rica adopted a new immigration law that went into effect on March 1, 2010. In addition to significant changes to the business visitor and temporary residence categories (reported here), the new law introduces a new social security registration requirement for residence and work permit applicants, imposes heightened penalties on foreign nationals who remain in Costa Rica beyond their authorized period of stay and significantly increases filing fees for residence applications.

New Social Security Registration Requirement
Foreign applicants for residence and work authorization, including intracompany transferees and seconded employees who remain on their home country employer’s payroll, must now provide proof that they have registered with the Costa Rican Social Security Administration (CCSS) prior to submitting their applications, including change-of-status and renewal applications. Applications submitted by unregistered foreign nationals will be denied. Previously, while foreign nationals were subject to the social security registration requirement, they were not required to provide proof of their registration with the CCSS prior to applying for residence or work authorization.

New Penalties for Noncompliance
Foreign nationals who remain in Costa Rica beyond their authorized period of stay are now subject to fines of US$ 100 per month of overstay. Foreign nationals who do not pay their fines for overstaying are now barred from re-entering Costa Rica for a period equal to three times the period of their overstay. For example, if a foreign national remains in Costa Rica illegally for two months and fails to pay the corresponding fine, he or she will be barred from reentering Costa Rica for six months from the date of his or her last departure.

Heightened Filing Fees for Residence Applications
Under the new law, filing fees for initial and renewal residence applications increased to US$ 250 (up from US$ 30), and US$ 123 (up from US$ 58) respectively.

The Costa Rican authorities have not yet issued implementing regulations for the new law. Fragomen is monitoring the situation and will provide updates as they become available.

The content of this alert is provided for information purposes only.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the global immigration professional with whom you work at Fragomen Global Immigration Services or send an email to lar@fragomen.com.

Source: Fragomen

Poland, Warsaw: Work Permit Delays

Work permit processing times for Warsaw, Poland have doubled from thirty to sixty days due to new filing procedures that took effect at the beginning of the year.

New work permit application processes in Warsaw, Poland have caused processing times to double – from 30 days to 60. Since January 1, applications for both work permits and residence permits for Warsaw must be submitted to the Mazowieckie Provincial Office, instead of being submitted to two different provincial offices. This new, simplified procedure was expected to cause delays initially, but not as significant as those now being reported. Polish Immigration Offices outside of Warsaw were unaffected by the change.

Note that Polish work permit application procedures will be further simplified next year, with the introduction of the EU Blue Card, which will combine the residence permit and the work permit into one single document.

In preparing this alert, Fragomen worked closely with Move One Relocations in Warsaw. The content herein is provided for informational purposes only.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the global immigration professional with whom you work at Fragomen Global Immigration Services or send an email to emea@fragomen.com.

Source: Fragomen

Russia: Employers May Now Apply for Work Permits for 2010

Russian authorities recently released the 2010 work permit quota distributions for each region of the Russian Federation. The Russian government sets a national quota for the maximum number of available work permits each year, which are later allocated by region and occupation. Employers cannot file work permit applications on behalf of foreign workers until the allocation figures are released. Now that they have been, employers may now file work and employment permit applications and invitation letter applications for 2010.

Nationwide, the quota will be 1,944,356 for all types of work permits in 2010. This figure is based on Russian employers’ reported needs for 2010. The number of work permits reserved for Moscow city is 250,000 overall. There is an additional 85,600 for the outlying Moscow region.

An additional 583,307 quota numbers will be held in reserve for all regions of Russia. The reserve quota may be made available to employers later in the year, at the discretion of Russian authorities.

In preparing this article, Fragomen has worked closely with the Migration Law Department of the Russian firm, VISTA Foreign Business Support (VFBS). The content herein is provided for informational purposes only.

Source: Fragomen

Brazil: New Procedures for In-Country Registrations

As previously reported, the Foreign Division of the Federal Police Department of São Paulo in Brazil has changed the registration procedures for work permit holders. In general, foreign nationals who will remain in Brazil for more than 90 days must register with the Federal Police within 30 days of entry. Foreign nationals holding work permits for employment in São Paulo must now schedule an appointment to register, using a password they can obtain from the Federal Police. Upon receiving the password, the foreign national will automatically receive instructions which will inform him or her of the date and time for the registration. On average, registration appointments are now occurring 35 days after the request. Priority services are no longer available.

Work permit holders are permitted to start working in Brazil before they complete the registration procedures. They are not permitted to travel outside Brazil, however, until registered. In addition, work permit holders cannot obtain Brazilian documents such as the CTPS (employment and social security booklet) or their RNE Card, the form of identification used by foreign nationals in Brazil, until their registration is complete. The 35-day wait for registration appointments will delay the issuance of these documents, which may delay the ability of employers to add work permit holders to Brazilian payrolls.

Source: Fragomen

United States Reminder: FY 2011 H-1B Cap Filing Season Opens on April 1

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will begin accepting Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 H-1B cap petitions on April 1, 2010. Though the business immigration community does not anticipate the huge initial surge of filings and rapid cap exhaustion of past years, filing petitions on April 1, or at least during the first five business days of the filing period, is still the best option to ensure that your organization can meet its H-1B hiring needs for the coming fiscal year.

When Might the Cap Be Reached?

This year, the pace of cap usage during the upcoming filing season is difficult to predict because of several competing factors. The fiscal 2010 cap was reached just a few months ago, so there is not likely to be the kind of pent-up demand that employers have experienced in previous H-1B seasons. At the same time, improvements in the economy and in some industries could mean more cap petitions than last year’s slower overall filing rate would suggest. Even though cap usage was generally slow throughout most of the last fiscal year, there was a spike in quota number usage in November and December, suggesting a resurgence of demand.

Under agency regulations, if USCIS receives more than enough petitions to reach the 65,000 standard cap in the first five business days of the filing season – Thursday, April 1, 2010 through Wednesday, April 7, 2010 – it runs a lottery to select the cases that are awarded quota numbers. Eligible advanced-degree filings would continue to be accepted until sufficient numbers are received to exhaust the 20,000 exemption for these cases. If more than 20,000 advanced degree exemption-eligible cases are received during the initial five days, but the standard cap has not been reached, the otherwise exempt cases will simply spill over to the standard pool.

Cases that are not selected in the lottery are rejected and returned along with their filing fees. If the quota is not reached during the first five days, as occurred during the FY 2010 filing season, USCIS continues to accept filings until it determines that it has received enough cases to meet the cap for the year.

Planning for the Filing Season

If your organization is planning to petition for H-1B employment in FY 2011, contact your designated Fragomen professional to discuss the application process. As always, advance preparation is key. Timing is particularly important this year because of the uncertainty about numbers and the fact that the opening of the filing period falls during several holidays. Some important points to keep in mind:

• Gather supporting documentation promptly. Petition documentation should be gathered and prepared as soon as practicable, especially in light of USCIS’s new policies on documenting the employer-employee relationship in H-1B cases (discussed further here).
• Get certified LCAs as soon as possible. Because of new procedures and longer processing times, labor condition applications (LCAs) should be sought from the Department of Labor well in advance of April 1. USCIS’s narrow policy on accepting H-1B filings without certified LCAs will expire on March 9 — weeks before the April 1 opening of the filing season. (The agency had originally stated the policy would expire on March 4, but has since clarified that the last date for filing within this limited exception is March 9.)
• Be prepared for last-minute procedural changes. It is not unusual for the government to announce changes in the filing process shortly before the April 1 opening date. Employers should note, however, that proposed changes to the Form I-129 nonimmigrant worker petition, reported here, are still in the review process and, if ultimately approved, would not take effect until after the opening of the FY 2011 H-1B filing season.

Source: Fragomen

United States: ICE Boosts I-9 Audit Efforts in Several States

Over the past week, Fragomen has learned that numerous employers throughout the United States have recently received notices of I-9 inspection from U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE). ICE officials have not been able to confirm that these audits are the result of a nationwide initiative akin to the programs that resulted in the 652 and 1,000 audits announced last July and November respectively. However, ICE did issue a press release yesterday announcing that its Special Agent-in-Charge in New Orleans had issued 180 audit notices to employers in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee. In fact, the reports received by Fragomen suggest that increased audit efforts are occurring in far more than just these five states.

Even in the absence of any specific nationwide initiative, the growing number of audits is consistent with the Department of Homeland Security’s focus on strict enforcement of the employment eligibility verification laws against employers. It is more important than ever for employers to be proactive in ensuring strict compliance with the I-9 program and other immigration-related requirements, as it is always preferable for an employer to discover and correct errors during a self-audit than to wait for the government to find violations.

If you have any questions concerning ICE’s recent efforts to audit I-9s or about any other issue related to maintaining a legal workforce, please contact the Fragomen profession with whom you work, or email your question to compliance@fragomen.com.

Source: Fragomen

United States: Technical Problems Plague DS-160 Online Nonimmigrant Visa Application

Foreign nationals who are trying to fill out Form DS-160, the new, fully electronic nonimmigrant visa application, have been experiencing widespread technical problems and delays. The Department of State (DOS) is attempting to resolve the problems, but in the meantime, individuals who are unable to complete the online form should check with the consulate where they will apply for alternate application procedures. Employers should be aware that foreign employees may be delayed in obtaining their visas and entering or reentering the United States while the system problems persist.

Technical problems have affected the DS-160 system for several months, but have increased markedly in recent days because a very large number of consulates began to require the online form as of March 1. Due to the flood of new applications, the electronic system became overloaded. DOS is in the process of fully implementing Form DS-160 at all consulates. The form is expected to become mandatory by April 30, 2010, when it will completely replace Form DS-156, the paper-based nonimmigrant visa application.

As an interim measure, many consulates – with the exception of those in Mexico – have temporarily resumed accepting the paper Form DS-156 and accompanying forms. Foreign nationals who are having difficulty completing Form DS-160 online should check with the consulate to determine whether Form DS-156 can be submitted as an alternative. (Contact information for all U.S. consulates is available at http://usembassy.gov/.) If the consulate will accept Form DS-156, applicants may access it and other paper-based visa application forms here. After completing the form, applicants must print out a hard copy and bring it to the visa interview.

Source: Fragomen

Singapore: Foreign Worker Levies to Gradually Increase Over the Next Three Years, Starting July 1, 2010

Companies that sponsor “S” Pass and Work Permit holders will be required to pay increased foreign worker levies starting on July 1, 2010. For “S” Pass holders, the monthly levy per foreign worker will be raised to SGD100-120 (approximately US $71 – $85) beginning July 1, 2010, and gradually increase to a maximum of SGD150-250 by July 2012. For Work Permit holders, the changes to the levy tiers and rates will be based on the employer’s industry sector.

Beginning July 1, 2010, employers that sponsor “S” Pass and Work Permit holders will be required to pay increased monthly levies for their foreign employees. The levies will increase gradually in stages through July 1, 2012. By increasing the levies, Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower (MOM) seeks to regulate the demand for “S” Pass and Work Permit holders and encourage hiring of local workers and foreign nationals with higher skills and qualifications.

The MOM also announced that it will increase monitoring and enforcement activities against employers that attempt to recover levies from their foreign workers, whether directly or indirectly. Employers that do so may face prosecution and may be prevented from hiring foreign workers.

“S” Pass

The MOM is introducing a new two-tier levy system for holders of “S” Passes, a type of employment pass for middle-level skilled foreign workers earning a basic salary of at least SGD1,800 a month. Employers will be required to classify their “S” Pass holders into two tiers: (i) a basic tier comprised of the “S” Pass holders that make up less than 20 percent of the employer’s total workforce, and (ii) a second tier consisting of remaining “S” Pass workers that make up 20-25 percent of the company’s total workforce. Note the “S” Pass quota limits the number of “S” Pass holders an employer can hire at 25 percent of the company’s total workforce.

The monthly levy per “S” Pass holder will be raised from the current rate of SGD50 to SGD100 for the basic tier, while a new rate of SGD120 will be introduced for the second tier. These levy rates will be adjusted every six months until July 1, 2012, when the basic tier levy will reach a maximum of SGD150 while the second tier levy will reach a maximum of SGD250.

Work Permit

The new levy tiers and rates for Work Permits, a type of employment authorization for unskilled and semi-skilled foreign workers with a basic monthly salary of less than SGD1,800, will be based on the sponsoring employer’s industry sector (e.g. manufacturing, services, or construction). The changes are very detailed, but in general, there will be a greater differentiation in levy rates between skilled and unskilled Work Permit holders.

Full details of the changes to the levy rates and tiers for “S” Passes and Work Permits are available on the MOM’s website by clicking here.

The content of this alert is provided for informational purposes only. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the global immigration professional with whom you work at Fragomen Global Immigration Services or send an email to SGInitiations@fragomen.com.

Source: Fragomen