Delays in MA
I am a high tech worker, in SESA - case 200113220. Non-RIR PD 5/29/01. My lawyer had told me to expect to clear SESA by the end of April or in May, but now I see the following under "News" on his web site:
Why is labor certification and RIR taking so long? In December 2000, the LIFE Act restored Section 245(i) of the Immigration & Nationality Act (INA). On April 30, 2001, Section 245(i) expired. Section 245(i) permitted many illegal immigrants who were in the US to file either a Labor Certification application (ETA 750) or a family based immigrant petition (I-130) to "grandfather" them under the expiring 245(i) law. The law provided applicants with essentially a $1,000 "waiver," to eventually waive their "illegalness" and adjust their status to "green card" holders in the future. Because all applications were due on or before 4/30/01, thousands of illegal immigrants filed labor certifications with Mass. DET. flooding their already overworked and limited staff.
It is currently estimated that it may take Mass. DET until the end of this year to complete the processing of all applications filed on or before 4/30/01. Thus, if your labor certification was filed after 4/30/01, you may experience an additional 6-8 month delay in a process that historically was taking 12 months or less to complete.
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Not good! The only good thing is that my job ad will be posted in 6 months or so when the economy has had a chance to recover a little more.