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(November 16, 2015)

handle is hein.crs/crsmthaafue0001 and id is 1 raw text is: CRS Reports & Analysis Legal Sidebar Federal Court Weighs in on VisaGate 2015: Part 1, the Visa Bulletin and Recent Revisions to It 11/16/2015 A federal district court in Washington State recently weighed in on the permissibility of certain changes made by the Department of State (DOS) to the October 2015 Visa Bulletin in an incident widely known as VisaGate 2015. The upshot of the court's decision is that the federal government is not required-at least not at present-to abide by the initial -tr i of the Visa Bulletin released by DOS on September 9, 2015. This version would have permitted more temporary alien guest workers (i.e., aliens with nonimmigrant visas) to file applications for adjustment to lawful permanent resident (LPR) status than are permitted to do so under the rispd c er B etin, released on September 25, 2015. Aliens who would have been eligible to file for adjustment (and thus receive certain immigration benefits) under the initial version, but are not eligible under the revised version, sued alleging that the supersession and replacement of the initial version runs afoul of the U.S. Constitution and federal statutes. This two-part Sidebar explains the complex factual and legal issues implicated in VisaGate 2015. In particular, Part 1 explains what the Visa Bulletin is and the revisions made to the October 2015 Bulletin. Pmq 2 discusses the legal challenge to DOS's reliance on the revised-rather than the initial-version of the October Bulletin, as well as certain questions remaining after the district court decision. The Visa Bulletin in General The Lisa Bulletin is a monthly publication of the DOS that identifies when immigrant visas are available to aliens seeking either adjustment of status, in the case of aliens present within the United States, or admission to the United States as an LPR, in the case of aliens outside the United States. (It does not address the availability of nonimmigrant visas.) Aliens generally become eligible for immigrant visas based on p filed by qualifying family members or prospective employers. However, they may have to nLLU months or years after a petition is filed for a visa to become available because the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) limits (with some exceptions) both the total numbr of sandthe mber of vi ised to aliens frm mindividual countries. The Bulletin has historically established the date on which visas are seen to be available to individual aliens kasIn the date on which the visa petition for the alien was filed or, in the case of certain employment-based visas, the date on which a labor cgrtifi ion was filed. For example, if a monthly Visa Bulletin were to show a date of January 1, 2007, for a particular category of aliens, that would mean that aliens whose petitions or labor certifications had been filed before January 1, 2007, could begin the process of becoming LPRs, while those whose petitions or labor certifications were filed on or after that date could not. Aliens do not become LPRs as soon as the Visa Bulletin reflects the filing date of the alien's visa petition or labor certification (commonly known as the alien's priority date). Rather, once the alien's priority date is reached, the alien may take certain steps that lead to an alien becoming a LPR. In the case of aliens already present in the United States (e.g., aliens present on nonimmigrant visas), this means filing a Frm 1-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status. However, the mere opportunity tofile a Form 1-485 is significant because aliens who have applied for adjustment from a nonimmigrant status to LPR status are eligible for certain immigration benefits, including employment authorization documents (EADs) that are nt ti s fc m 1over. her immigraion benefits also

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