Pederson Immigration Law Group, P.C.

Pederson Immigration Law Group January 2009 Newsletter

Sunday, 18 January 2009

In order to better serve our clients, Pederson Immigration Law Group has launched a monthly newsletter to keep our clients up to date on immigration matters which impact them. We are proud to inaugurate our newsletter to coincide with the historic inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama on January 20, 2009 as the first African-American President in America and the child of a foreign-born father. We are optimistic that President Obama will be able to forge the necessary bi-partisan alliances in Congress which will make meaningful immigration change a reality, hopefully by the end of 2009. Threatening to thwart what we believe to be our new President's good intentions to engineer positive immigrant friendly reform of our immigration system is the spiraling unemployment rate among American citizens.

In this issue:

MLK/Inauguration Schedule.
We Have a New Attorney at our Firm.
Jan Pederson selected as a 2009 Super Lawyer
AAO reaffirms MBBS degree is advanced degree
Action Alert! April 1, 2009 Deadline for Filing H-1B Petitions
PERMS lost in Cyberspace?
Processing Priority Dates for PERM Filings
New PERM Form ETA 9080 targeted for implementation in Spring 2009
NEW DELAYS IN ADJUDICATION OF LCAs
Spring Comes Early for Some Visa Seekers in Mexico.
Uncle Sam Wants FMGs
Travel Reminder for business visitors and tourists using the Visa Waiver Program
E-Verify Mandatory in February for Federal Contractors .
New Employment Verification Rule (I-9)

USCIS/Nebrask Policy on Multiple I-140s

Monday, 12 January 2009
The Nebraska Service Center confirmed that it will follow USCIS headquarter's policy and delay processing the second I-140 filed on the same labor certification that is the basis of an appealed I-140, rather than denying the second I-140. It makes no difference if the second I-140 is filed in the same or in a different I-140 category than the first I-140, NSC will not process the second filing until the first I-140 and original labor certification is returned to the NSC by the AAO.
Read more...

USCIS Trend to deny EB2 Status to International Medical Graduates with MBBS medical degrees!

Tuesday, 06 January 2009

While Jan Pederson and other members of the Foreign Medical Graduate Task Force are working with USCIS to correct an alarming trend at TSC to deny EB2 I-140 petitions filed by international medical graduates who have been awarded MBBS degrees, holding they are not "advanced degrees" required for employment-based second preference immigrant visa classification, we wanted to alert our clients and readers of this trend. We are most optimistic that with outstanding leadership at USCIS headquarters, the denial trend will cease and denied cases will be reopened and granted.

We will keep you updated on the situation. We have attached an excellent summary of the situation and the arguments supporting EB2 status prepared by our esteemed colleague and friend, Bob Aronson. Please email us at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it with your comments.