According to the most recent count, as of July 10, over 15,000 are still available for issuance.

USCIS Updates FY 2010 H-1B Count (Updated 7/13/09)
Cite as “AILA InfoNet Doc. No. 09042065 (posted Jul. 13, 2009)”

July 10, 2009 H-1B Cap Count

As of July 10, 2009, approximately 44,900 H-1B cap-subject petitions had been received by USCIS and counted towards the H-1B cap. Approximately 20,000 petitions qualifying for the advanced degree cap exemption had been filed. USCIS will continue to accept both cap-subject petitions and advanced degree petitions until a sufficient number of H-1B petitions have been received to reach the statutory limits.

Senate Adds Two Immigration-Related Enforcement Amendments to FY10 Homeland Security Appropriations Bill
Cite as “AILA InfoNet Doc. No. 09070869 (posted Jul. 8, 2009)”

The Senate has thus far agreed to include two immigration enforcement-related amendments to the FY10 Homeland Security Appropriations bill (HR 2892).

The first amendment (#1371) sponsored by Senator Sessions (R-AL) would permanently reauthorize the Basic Pilot/E-Verify program and mandate its use among federal contractors and subcontractors. After a Motion to Table (kill) the amendment failed 44-53, Senator Leahy (D-VT) introduced a second-degree amendment to the Sessions amendment which would permanently authorize the EB-5 regional centers program. Both amendments were agreed to by a voice vote.

The second amendment (#1399) sponsored by Senator DeMint (R-SC) would require the completion of at least 700 miles of reinforced fencing along the southwest border by December 31, 2010. The amendment passed 54-44.

Debate on the DHS appropriations measure is on-going at this time and we expect additional amendments to be introduced as the debate continues so stay tuned to InfoNet for more updates.

If regular order is followed, once the Senate passes its version of the FY10 DHS Appropriations bill, it will go to conference where leaders from both chambers will attempt to reconcile differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill.

Secretary Napolitano Strengthens Employment Verification with
Administration’s Commitment to E‐Verify
Release Date: July 8, 2009
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
Contact: 202-282-8010
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today strengthened employment eligibility
verification by announcing the Administration’s support for a regulation that will award federal contracts only to
employers who use E-Verify to check employee work authorization. The declaration came as Secretary
Napolitano announced the Department’s intention to rescind the Social Security No-Match Rule, which has never
been implemented and has been blocked by court order, in favor of the more modern and effective E-Verify
system.
“E-Verify is a smart, simple and effective tool that reflects our continued commitment to working with employers to
maintain a legal workforce,” said Secretary Napolitano. “Requiring those who seek federal contracts to use this
system will create a more reliable and legal workforce. The rule complements our Department’s continued efforts
to strengthen immigration law enforcement and protect critical employment opportunities. As Senator Schumer
and others have recognized, we need to continue to work to improve E-Verify, and we will.”
E-Verify, which compares information from the Employment Eligibility Verification Form (I-9) against federal
government databases to verify workers’ employment eligibility, is a free web-based system operated by DHS in
partnership with the Social Security Administration (SSA). The system facilitates compliance with federal
immigration laws and helps to deter unauthorized individuals from attempting to work and also helps employers
avoid employing unauthorized aliens.
The federal contractor rule extends use of the E-Verify system to covered federal contractors and subcontractors,
including those who receive American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds. After a careful review, the
Administration will push ahead with full implementation of the rule, which will apply to federal solicitations and
contract awards Government-wide starting on September 8, 2009.
On average, one thousand employers sign up for E-Verify each week, totaling more than 134,000 employers
representing more than half a million locations nationwide. Westat, an independent research firm, found that 96.9
percent of all queries run through E-Verify are automatically confirmed work-authorized within 24 hours. The
figure is based on statistics gathered from October through December 2008. Since October 1, 2008, E-Verify has
processed more than six million queries. In an April 2009 American Customer Satisfaction Index Survey of over a
thousand E-Verify participants, E-Verify scored 83 out of a possible 100 points—well above the latest federal
government satisfaction index of 69 percent.
In addition to expanding participation, DHS continues to enhance E-Verify in order to guard against errors,
enforce compliance, promote proper usage, and enhance security. Recent E-Verify advancements include new
processes to reduce typographical errors and new features to reduce initial mismatches. In May 2008, DHS
added access to naturalization database records which increased the program’s ability to automatically verify
naturalized citizens’ status, reducing citizenship-related mismatches by 39 percent. Additionally, in February
2009, the agency incorporated Department of State passport data in the E-Verify process to reduce mismatches
among foreign-born citizens. Other initiatives underway will bring further improvements to Federal database
accuracy; add new tools to prevent fraud, misuse, and discrimination; strengthen training, monitoring, and
compliance; and enhance privacy protections.
DHS will be proposing a new regulation rescinding the 2007 No-Match Rule, which was blocked by court order
DHS: Secretary Napolitano Strengthens Employment Verification with Administration’s … Page 1 of 2
http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/releases/pr_1247063976814.shtm 7/8/2009
AILA InfoNet Doc. No. 09070861. (Posted 07/08/09)

USCIS Updates FY 2010 H-1B Count (Updated 7/8/09)
Cite as “AILA InfoNet Doc. No. 09042065 (posted Jul. 8, 2009)”

July 3, 2009 H-1B Cap Count

As of July 3, 2009, approximately 45,000 H-1B cap-subject petitions had been received by USCIS and counted towards the H-1B cap. Approximately 20,000 petitions qualifying for the advanced degree cap exemption had been filed. USCIS will continue to accept both cap-subject petitions and advanced degree petitions until a sufficient number of H-1B petitions have been received to reach the statutory limits.

We provide to readers below a recent post on the website of the American Immigration Lawyers’ Association commenting on a new initiative in the Senate to extend the E-Verify program. Because we suspect that the expansion of the E-Verify program will likely be a cost of comprehensive immigration reform, we will keep track of such legislative initiatives. For those readers unfamiliar with E-Verify, it has been an ever expanding program which mandates its participants to clear the work eligibility of all new hires through a database administered by the Social Security Administration. Proponents of the program argue that the E-Verify program will markedly reduce the hire of undocumented workers, opponents contend that E-Verify is riddled with inaccuracies that could adversely affect the hire of legal immigrants and non-immigrants, and even citizens, in addition to being a costly program for businesses, especially small businesses, to administer:

Tuesday, July 7, 2009
There He Goes Again–Sessions and E-Verify
Senator Sessions cannot leave his hands off of E-Verify. Now in “stealth” mode, Senator Sessions has slyly introduced an E-Verify amendment (SB 1371) during today’s full Senate vote on the DHS appropriations bill.

The Sessions amendment calls for a permanent reauthorization of the Basic Pilot/E-Verify program, and mandates its use for all federal contractors and subcontractors - including the verification of all existing employees. This amounts to a massive expansion of a program that is still not ready for prime-time.

We must call our Senators and tell them to oppose this sneak attack by Senator Sessions for the following reasons:
It would impose exorbitant costs on businesses at a time when our economy is most vulnerable:
An economic analysis commissioned by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
concluded that the net societal costs of the program would be $10 billion a year
– a cost that would be felt disproportionately by small businesses.
It would make Basic Pilot/E-Verify permanent without addressing its well documented database inaccuracies:
A 2007 independent evaluation of the program commissioned by DHS found that
the Basic Pilot/E-Verify database “is still not sufficiently up to date” to meet
the requirements for “accurate verification.”
SSA has estimated that if Basic Pilot/E-Verify were to become mandatory and
the databases were not improved, SSA database errors alone could result in 3.6
million workers a year being misidentified as not authorized for employment.
This would result in 6 out of every 100 workers having to visit an SSA office to
correct their records or lose their job.
It would force workers and businesses to pay a high price for Basic Pilot/E-Verify’s inaccuracies:
Queries submitted to Basic Pilot/E-Verify by Intel Corporation in 2008 resulted
in nearly 13 percent of all workers being initially flagged as unauthorized for
employment. All of these workers were cleared by Basic Pilot/E-Verify as
work-authorized, but only after “significant investment of time and money”
and “lost productivity.”
We urge all AILA members to call their Congressman