Overview of AILA Annual Conference : 2002
Posted Jun 21, 2002

Several attorneys from The Law Office of Sheela Murthy returned from the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) Annual Conference, held in San Francisco, CA, June 12-16, 2002. We plan to update our readers with information garnered from the conference on specific topics. These will be included in future articles in the MurthyBulletin and posted on MurthyDotCom. While the conference was very informative, there were no major revelations.

We had hoped that the INS would release information on the American Competitiveness in the 21st Century Act (AC21) of October 2000. The INS did not release the long-awaited AC21 regulations and reaffirmed several interpretations of various issues arising under AC21 that have been discussed in MurthyBulletin articles and posted on MurthyDotCom over the last year and a half.

Contrary to rumor, the INS did not issue an AC21 I-485 interpretation, requiring employment with the labor certification sponsor for the first 180 days after the adjustment of status is filed. While this is a possible interpretation of the law that may be adopted by INS in the future, it is not the case presently. We continue to see I-485 approvals that do not meet this criterion. So that should be the silver lining of the black cloud for many of those who have lost jobs or been laid off within fewer than 180 days after filing their I-485 adjustment of status applications.

The general mood with the INS at this year's Annual AILA Conference was greatly affected by the tragic events of September 11th. The focus was on INS enforcement issues and stricter scrutiny at all levels. Creation of the Department of Homeland Security (see our article, President Proposes Department of Homeland Security for details) and proposed registration of foreign nationals (see our article, Department of Justice Proposes Alien Registration for details) were topics of discussion. These issues were both covered in our June 14, 2002 MurthyBulletin. We take this opportunity to remind our readers of the need to provide the INS with updated address information using Form AR-11 within ten days of moving (see our May 24, 2002 article, Promptly Notify INS of Change of Address). The INS has plans to strictly enforce this requirement. As one speaker suggested, however, if all foreign nationals start to comply with the requirement, and they do so via registered mail (as needed to prove mailing), the INS may be bombarded with enough mail to prompt their rethinking the matter!

We look forward to sharing more detailed updates with our MurthyBulletin and MurthyDotCom readers over the next few weeks.