Mantena v. Johnson

809 F.3d 721, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 22843, 2015 WL 9487867
Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit·Decided December 30, 2015·No. 14-2476·Published·Cited by 103 cases

Opinion

GUIDO CALABRESI, Circuit Judge:

Much of our Court’s recent docket hás been consumed with poor, often pro se, immigrants who lack, but hope to obtain, legal status. The current case addresses a differently situated immigrant with parallel aspirations. Ganga Mantena, a relatively affluent and skilled computer programmer, legally arrived in the United States on an Hl-B visa and pursued employment-based status adjustment to permanent residency, colloquially known as a “green card.” Mantena’s pursuit occurred with benefit of counsel and, by the time of this appeal, of knowledgeable amici curiae as well.

Shortly after her arrival, Mantena’s original petitioning employer filed an alien labor certification for Mantena with the Department of Labor, followed by an I-140 “Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker” with the United States Citizenship and [724] Immigration Service (USCIS), in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). Pursuant to the INA, Mantena then filed for adjustment of status to obtain a green card. Mantena subsequently took advantage of recent federal legislation intended to increase the job flexibility of workers, the so-called “portability” provisions of the American Competitiveness in the 21st Century Act of 2000, 8 U.S.C. § 1154(j) and 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(5)(A)(iv). These provisions allow an individual to change jobs or employers while preserving the validity of not only the individual’s application for adjustment of status but also the underlying immigrant visa petition and alien labor certification filed by the earlier employer.

Understandably, Mantena remained sanguine about her adjustment process. It turned out, however, that there were serious problems in the visa petition; filed by the employer for whom she no longer worked, that underlay the green card application. This employer pleaded guilty to mail fraud in connection with an immigration petition filed on behalf of a different employee. USCIS subsequently decided to initiate the revocation of all petitions filed by the employer, asserting that all such petitions might be fraudulent. But neither Mantena nor -her new employer was informed of any of this.

By the time Mantena heard of her original employer’s immigrant pétition revocation, her green card application had been automatically denied. Indeed, it was this denial that purportedly gave her notice of the 1-140 revocation. Multiple appeals and legal challenges later, her case is now before us. .

Mantena’s case illustrates the importance of notifying affected parties of material changes in their proceedings and statuses and of giving them an opportunity to respond. This is true for any legal proceeding, but is a particular and continuing concern for immigrants throughout the multistep administrative process. The questions before us are, however, whether such notification is required by law and, if it is, where jurisdiction lies and who has standing to enforce that requirement.

The district court dismissed Mantena’s statutory and regulatory notice claims on jurisdictional grounds. It dismissed her constitutional due process claim for failure to identify a protected interest. We disagree with respect to jurisdiction over these claims and we envision no problems regarding Mantena’s standing to bring her claims. We also conclude that timely notice, the lack of which occurred because of unintended cracks between new congressional legislation and old regulations, is required by the amended statutory scheme. Accordingly, we decline to address the constitutional claim. We remand for supplemental briefing to establish more precisely which parties, in addition to the original petitioner of the immigrant visa, are entitled to notice pertaining to a visa petition’s revocation.

BACKGROUND

Statutory Scheme

The INA allows for a certain number of immigrants to receive permanent residency through employer sponsorship. For an employer-sponsored immigrant who is already in the United States, there is a three-part process for receiving permanent residency. First, the Department of Labor (DOL) must issue an alien labor certification to the immigrant’s employer. (This certification states that the labor market can absorb the immigrant without affecting other workers’ wages. See 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(5)(A)®.) Second, USCIS must approve the employer’s immigrant [725] visa petition (Form 1-140). See 8 U.S.C. § 1154(a)(1)(F); 8 C.F.R. § 204.5(a). Third, the immigrant must obtain approval of her own 1-485 application for adjustment of status. 8 U.S.C. § 1255(a); 8 C.F.R. § 204.5(n)(l).

This final step cannot take place until a permanent residency visa is available for the immigrant. 8 U.S.C. § 1255(a)(3). Because there are limits on the number of such visas in each category and from each country, immigrants must often wait many years for a permanent residency visa, especially if they are from a country, like India, that sends a large number of immigrants to the United States. See U.S. Dep’t of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs, Visa Bulletin, Dec. 2015. The immigrant’s place in line is set by the date that her alien labor certification was granted: her “priority date.” 8 U.S.C. § 1153(e)(1). If her 1-485 is approved, the alien becomes a lawful permanent resident and obtains a green card. As noted above, both a valid alien labor certification and a granted I-140 petition are prerequisites for an 1-485 application to be granted.

Originally, the alien labor certification and 1-140 petition were only valid while the applicant worked for the employer that had petitioned for and obtained both forms. The American Competitiveness in the 21st Century Act of 2000 (AC-21), Pub.L. 106-313, 114 Stat. 1251, however, created more flexibility for prospective immigrants. It included, among other provisions, “portability” provisions that state that if an individual’s application for adjustment of status has remained unadjudi-cated for 180 days, the immigrant visa petition on her behalf will remain valid if she changes jobs or employers, so long as the job is in the same or a similar occupational classification as her original job. 8 U.S.C. § 1154(j); AC-21 § 106(c)(1). The alien labor certification similarly remains valid for such an individual. 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(5)(A)(iv); AC-21 § 106(c)(2).

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Mantena v. Johnson, 809 F.3d 721, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 22843, 2015 WL 9487867 (2d Cir. 2015).

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