SPONSORED IMMIGRANT’S UNJUST ENRICHMENT: IS THERE A SIXTH WAY TO CUT-OFF A SPONSOR’S OBLIGATION UNDER THE AFFIDAVIT OF SUPPORT (FORM I-864)?

Immigration practitioners are warning companies and employees to avoid immigration-related scams. Types of scams reported recently include:

· Scammers targeting people based on foreign-sounding names or based on information gathered about companies hiring many H-1Bs or filing many Labor Condition Applications (LCAs). The scammers can get a lot of information from various websites, labor condition application listings from the Department of Labor (DOL), LinkedIn, social media, and other sources. Scammers are able to collect information in a variety of ways and use it to convince unwitting victims of their purported authenticity.

· Scammers claiming to be from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). They call and state that the victim’s paperwork has problems and threaten to remove/deport the victim or to send authorities to the person’s home if he or she does not cooperate. They then order the person to go to the nearest convenience store, obtain merchant cards or vouchers for a certain amount of money, and provide the voucher numbers over the phone. Once the scammers obtain the voucher numbers, they disconnect the call and disappear with the victim’s money.

· Scammers claiming to be from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), who state that the victim owes back taxes and ordering them to provide merchant card or voucher numbers, then disappearing with the victim’s money.

· Scammers who use “Caller ID spoofing” to display a telephone number that is not really their own, and that may appear to be from a legitimate government agency.

· Scammers who send e-mails claiming that the recipient is a Diversity Visa lottery winner and must send in a fee. The Department of State (DOS) does not send e-mails to applicants.

· Scammers who claim faster processing times or guarantee visas, work authorizations, or green cards, for a fee.

It should be noted that government agencies never conduct business in this manner. A call demanding money and threatening negative consequences if it’s not coughed-up immediately is a scam, and those receiving such calls should hang up immediately and not provide any information. USCIS notes, “USCIS will not call you to ask for any form of payment over the phone. Don’t give payment over the phone to anyone who claims to be a USCIS official.”

Sometimes scammers target particular social, cultural or religious communities. Those who practice in the immigration law field without a license are committing a crime. There are numerous government agencies that seek to protect the public from scammers and/or notarios. Scams can be reported to the Federal Trade Commission at https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov. See also USCIS’s scam information page at https://www.uscis.gov/avoidscams to learn where to report scams. The USCIS lists common immigration-related scams at https://www.uscis.gov/avoid-scams/common-scams.

For more information about the damage that can be caused to your presently-pending immigration law case by notarios, scammers or by those who purport to be knowledgeable about the immigration laws (when they are NOT), please contact the immigration lawyers and attorneys at the Nachman, Phulwani, Zimovcak (NPZ) Law Group. You can check out our website at WWW.VISASERVE.COM.