Announcement: Participants of Large Scale U.S. Marriage Fraud Scheme Indicted

A U.S. federal grand jury in Houston, Texas issued a 206 count indictment involving a massive marriage fraud scheme on April 30, 2019.

According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a total of 96 individuals were involved in a suspected criminal enterprise designed to create sham marriages between individuals in Texas and Vietnam. The scheme allegedly led by Ashley Yen Nguyen, also known as Duyen of Houston purported the following:

• Duyen received $50,000- $70,000 from Vietnamese individuals marrying U.S. citizens.
• Agreements were prorated with suspects paying an additional amount for each immigration benefit received.
• Duyen and other suspects allegedly recruited U.S. citizens to engage in sham marriages as petitioners who received a portion of the proceeds from Vietnamese spouses. 

“Marriage fraud is a serious crime,” commented USCIS Houston District Director Tony Bryson. “The indictment reveals how successful our relationships are with our law enforcement and intelligence partners when it comes to investigating marriage fraud.” 

Director Byson continued noting that people enter into sham marriages to work around U.S. immigration laws.

Update on Employer’s Training Obligation for Optional Practical Training Extension For STEM Students

The United States Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently updated their website so that the training experience of F-1 visa international students who receive science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) degrees can no longer complete their optional practical training (OPT) in the workplace of their employer’s clients or customers. The USCIS reasoned that the prohibition because the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has no authority to visit the client or customer’s workplace.

Under the STEM OPT rule, ICE is authorized to perform site visits to employer locations that train STEM OPT students. The visitations are done to ensure that the STEM OPT program requirements are complied with. To qualify as an employer, the employer must attest to the following terms and conditions:

• The employer will have a bona fide/real employer-employee relationship with the student.

• The employer has sufficient resources and personnel available to provide appropriate training in connection with the specified opportunity at specified location(s).

• ICE may, at its discretion, conduct a site visit of the employer to ensure that program requirements are being met, including that the employer possesses and maintains the ability, personnel, and resources to provide structured and guided work-based learning experiences consistent with this Plan.

• The STEM OPT student will not replace a full- or part-time, temporary or permanent U.S. worker. 

• The training opportunity will assist the student in attaining his or her training goals.

The requirement that students must be bona-fide employees of the employer is explained in a Rule by the Homeland Security Department issued on March 11, 2016 (“Final Rule”):

“Accordingly, DHS clarifies that students cannot qualify for STEM OPT extensions unless they will be bona fide employees of the employer signing the Training Plan, and the employer that signs the Training Plan must be the same entity that employs the student and provides the practical training experience.”

Considering that there is no restriction as to the location of the training program, the new limitation on the workplace of STEM-OPT students found on the USCIS website seems to expand the requirements for the training of STEM OPT students. As mentioned above, the Final Rule on STEM OPT only requires that a STEM OPT student be hired as a bona-fide employee of the employer signing the training plan, and that the employer that signs the training plan will be the one that provides the practical training experience. 

Despite the contradiction in the rules, STEM OPT students should be mindful that completing their international studies and their OPT by working in the place of business of their employer’s clients could result in a finding that the employer was not properly supervising the student’s training. The finding that the employer was not properly supervising the student’s training could lead to a determination of a status violation which, in turn could lead to the STEM OPT student’s retroactive accrual of unlawful presence, if the new rule on unlawful presence explained in the USCIS memo posted on May 11, 2018 becomes effective on its terms on August 9, 2018.

by: Enterline and Partners Consulting

Changes in Immigration Policy

    A series of small moves concerning the Trump Administration's immigration policy have recently been undertaken.

      CNN reports the following actions made by the administration:

• Attorney General Jeff Sessions has issued a Decision directing the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) to refer cases for his review when such cases have issues relating to when there is “good cause” to grant a continuance for a collateral matter to be adjudicated. Under this Decision, the BIA’s decisions on the matter are automatically stayed pending the Attorney General’s review.

• The Commerce Department announced that it will include on the 2020 Census a question about U.S. citizenship.

• Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced a new directive wherein immigration officers will no longer automatically release pregnant women from immigration custody but will instead require a case-by-case evaluation.

• The State Department proposed that visas applicants and alien registration be required to submit five years of identifiers for certain social media platforms. Previously, visa applicants were required to submit prior telephone numbers, email addresses, and international travel.

• Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed that the White House is reviewing a proposal requiring immigration caseworkers to consider a wider range of factors to determine whether an applicant is likely to become dependent on public assistance. The proposal seeks to expand the term “public charge” as used in the Immigration and Nationality Act and to define the types of public benefits that are considered in the determinations. U.S. Law authorizes the rejection of immigrants if they are likely to become a “public charge.”

• The Department of Justice and the City of West Spring Palm Beach announced that it has reached an agreement regarding West Palm Beach’s Resolution Number 112-17. The City agreed to issue a memorandum stating its position that its local laws do not restrict information sharing with the DHS.

    Immigration lawyers say that the greater scrutiny of visa applications have slowed down the process and have set the bar higher for long standing categories of visas.


by: Enterline and Partners Consulting