Ombudsman Public Teleconference blog
January 27 2012 | 
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By Yasmin Blackburn, Esq.
On January 11, 2012, our office participated in the Ombudsman’s Public Teleconference: USCIS’ Validation Instrument for Business Enterprises (VIBE): How Is It Working? The answer was a resounding NOT WELL. The complaints ranged from industry to industry, but consistently the participants complained about
- Being forced to pay for their information to be updated by a service that is supposed to be free and without further obligation
- Being made to wait unreasonably long periods of time to have information updated if they didn’t succumb to the sales tactics of the Duns representatives
- Being unable to have minor issues resolved in a timely manner
- Being required to create multiple, paid accounts, for branches of a company in order to effect an accurate report on the corporate structure
- Receiving multiple RFE’s for the same or similar VIBE issues over a short time span (Ie. An RFE for the same issue, for a company that was VIBE verified within the prior 3-9 months)
During the teleconference, we were advised to possibly include more information and make the documentation more clear with regard to corporate structure to which I called in and explained that our office typically sends 8 lbs. or more of documentation to substantiate our cases. We send everything from shareholder certificates, to documents verifying incorporation for both entities, bank statements for both companies, payroll records and tax filings for both companies, lease agreements…pretty much the entire kitchen sink of documentation that could and should verify a company exists. And despite all of this information, we still get RFEs for VIBE related reasons. RFEs that pretty much leave you wondering what else could USCIS possibly want when there is NO more documentation to give?
I even went so far as to explain to the Ombudsman’s office that we incorporate the documents requested in a previous RFE into a new filing and we STILL get RFE’d to which he responded “That’s odd…it should not be happening that way.” He was actually speechless, which clarified for this listener that 1) DUNS has made VIBE into a cash cow and 2) USCIS is clueless about how inaccurate the VIBE database is and how heavily their reliance on it impacts US based employers across industries.
I felt good after the teleconference and I feel even better having read the attached VIBE update from USCIS. Clearly they were listening…hopefully they will take action.
HHS Poverty guidelines for 2012
January 27 2012 | | Hits: 1
Effective 1/26/12, Health and Human Services (HHS) provides an update of the HHS poverty guidelines to account for the last calendar year's increase in prices as measured by the Consumer Price Index. Read the updated poverty guidelines for 2012.
DOS Warns of Visa Retrogression (EB2)
January 18 2012 | | Hits: 31
According to the Department of State, China and India: Reports from USCIS indicate the rate of new filings for adjustment of status in recent months has been extremely low. This fact has required the continued rapid forward movement of the cut-off date. However, once the level of new filings or USCIS processing increases significantly, it will be necessary to slow or stop the movement of the cut-off. DOS warns, that readers are once again advised that an eventual need to retrogress the cut-off date is also a distinct possibility. February 2012 Visa Bulletin.
February 2012 Visa Bulletin
January 09 2012 | | Hits: 26
The latest February 2012 Visa Bulletin is now available.
USCIS to Propose Changing the Process for Certain Waivers
January 08 2012 | | Hits: 21
On Jan. 6, 2012, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) posted a notice of intent in the Federal Register outlining its plan to reduce the time that U.S. citizens are separated from their spouses and children under certain circumstances while those family members go through the process of becoming legal immigrants to the United States. Currently, spouses and sons and daughters of U.S. citizens who have accrued a certain period of unlawful presence in the United States, and have to leave the country as part of the legal immigration process, are barred from returning to their families for as long as 3 or 10 years. They can receive a waiver to allow them to return to their families by showing that their U.S. citizen family member would face extreme hardship as a result of the separation. This proposal would streamline the processing of these individuals’ waiver applications based on unlawful presence; USCIS proposes to process their waiver applications in the United States before any American family faces separation. The process would only apply to immigrants who are eligible for a visa.