| Dear Readers, On September 2nd, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that
it has received 45,900 H-1B petitions that will count against the congressionally-mandated cap for fiscal year 2005, which spans
October 1, 2004 through September 30, 2005. The total number of petitions allowed for the fiscal year 2005 is 65,000. At this rate,
we expect the cap to be reached sometime within the next 60 to 90 days.
We recommend employers who wish to employ new H-1B
foreign workers file their H-1B petitions as soon as possible. For more information, please see the story below. It is my pleasure to serve you and keep you informed. If you have any questions or
concerns about immigration,
please feel free to e-mail me at sardar@durrani.com. Sincerely, 
Sardar Durrani | | | | In This Week's Issue: USCIS Announces It Has Received 45,900 H-1B petitions
As Of Sept. 2, 2004
PEC to Aid Immigration Review System by Making Immigration Courts
Paper-Free
Immigration Appeals Swamp Federal Court
System
A Guide to Immigration Law & Domestic
Violence
AILA Releases Press Statement on Implementing 9/11
Commission's Immigration Recommendations
Pakistani Students Seek Tech Pact With
India
USCIS Announces It Has Received 45,900 H-1B petitions As Of
Sept. 2, 2004
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that it has received
45,900 H-1B petitions that will count against the Congressionally-mandated cap for fiscal year 2005 (October 1, 2004 through
September 30, 2005). The limit in fiscal year 2005 is 65,000.
You can read the rest of this story here. PEC to Aid Immigration Review System by Making Immigration Courts
Paper-Free PEC Solutions Inc. of Fairfax, Vir. won a five-year, $14.1 million contract from the
Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review to help build a new system for managing documents and streamlining the
appeals process.
The project aims to transform the agency and immigration courts from paper-based organizations to paper-free
ones. "It will eliminate much of the need to ship paper documents around the courts," said Reed Hyde, director of the Justice
Systems Center at PEC Solutions.
The Executive Office for Immigration Review collects information about non-citizens who
appear in immigration courts, and hears and decides immigration cases for detainees, criminal aliens and asylum seekers. The office
consists of three organizations -- the Office of the Chief Immigration Judge, the Board of Immigration Appeals and the Office of the
Chief Administrative Hearing Officer.
You can read the rest of the story here. Immigration Appeals Swamp Federal Court System Because of changes in the way the U.S. Department of Justice handles immigration cases,
federal circuit courts are being buried under a 600 percent increase in deportation and asylum appeals, leading some judges to worry
whether they can deliver justice.
The lion's share of the appeals - 47.6 percent last year - are landing in the 9th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals, which includes the popular immigrant entry states of California and Arizona.
Chief 9th Circuit
Judge Mary Schroeder of Phoenix said 872 immigration appeals were filed in her court in all of 2000, and 2,900 in the first six
months of 2004.
You can read the rest of this story here.
A Guide to Immigration Law & Domestic Violence
This guide, prepared as a quick-reference for New York State judges, discusses the
interplay between immigration law and domestic violence. You can read the guide here. Pakistani Students Seek Tech Pact With India
Today the first major bill to implement the recommendations of the National Commission on
Terrorist Attacks upon the United States ("9/11 Commission" or "Commission") was introduced in Congress. Several other bills are
expected to be introduced in the next few weeks. These bills follow the July release of the Commission's final report that offers an
account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and makes recommendations designed to guard
against future attacks.
The chief sponsors of the bill introduced today are Senators John McCain (R-AZ), Joseph Lieberman
(D-CT), Arlen Specter (R-PA), and Evan Bayh (D-IN), and Representatives Christopher Shays (R-CT) and Carolyn Maloney (D-NY). If
enacted, this measure has the potential to profoundly impact our immigration system by initiating changes in diverse areas that
include border security and entry-exit systems, identification security, travel to the United States, training, technology, and
database capacity.
You can read the rest of this story here.
AILA Releases Press Statement on Implementing 9/11 Commission's
Immigration Recommendations
A great deal of apprehension and curiosity has brought a group of 36 students across the
border from Pakistan to see for themselves and learn from India's success in the IT sector.
At the end of the weeklong visit,
the captivated members of the Lahore-based Society for the Advancement of Computer Science expressed keenness to join hands with
Indian institutions and industries to capitalise on each other's strengths.
"We came here primarily to remove from the
students' minds the mystery about India and to encourage a change in attitude," said Zaeem Khan, a professor of Punjab Institute of
Computer Sciences of the University of Central Punjab in Lahore.
"With Pakistan having recently set up a software export
promotion board, we also expect to see a good growth in future in IT. Shortage of human resources is, however, a major problem,"
Khan told IANS.
You can read the rest of this story here.
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