Visa Bulletin for April
The Visa Bulletin for April 2008 was released recently.
Visa Bulletin for March
The Visa Bulletin for March 2008 was released today.
Visa Bulletin - January 2008
The Visa Bulletin for January 2008 has been released.
Visa Bulletin - December 2007
The Visa Bulletin December 2007 has been released.
Visa Bulletin - November 2007
The Visa Bulletin November 2007 has been released.
USCIS FAQ on Receipt Delays
From USCIS.gov.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) advises customers that, due to a tremendous increase in the number of applications filed, processing of fee payments and entry of cases into our tracking system is behind schedule. As a result, applicants can expect notices of receipt to be delayed. USCIS is working hard to deal with the increased volume and has published the following frequently asked questions in order to provide additional information to applicants.
What is the cause of the receipt delay?
The receipt delay was caused by a significant workload increase, in part based upon filings by individuals attempting to beat a planned fee increase and a significant influx of applications associated with visa availablility [sic] in the Department of State's July 2007 Visa bulletin. This resulted in an influx of applications and fees that exceeded USCIS' capacity to timely issue receipts and deposit application fees.
H-1B lottery complete - 123,480 petitions included
According to USCIS, the H-1B cap lottery is complete:
The 123,480 cap-subject petitions received on April 2 and 3 were labeled with unique numerical identifiers and selected randomly by computer. The chosen numerical identifiers were then transmitted to the appropriate service center for further processing.
Applicants who submitted properly filed petitions that are accepted for adjudication will receive a receipt notice. All petitions not chosen will be returned with the fee(s) to the petitioner or their authorized representative. The total process is expected to take approximately four weeks.
Read
the USCIS update (.pdf, 30.0K).
Check back soon for more updates or subscribe to our feed.
Related Posts:
H-1B non-US master's lottery being run - April 12, 2007
H-1B cap count update from USCIS - April 10, 2007
H-1B premium processing will resume after random lottery
What about premium processing H-1Bs?
H-1B cap update from USCIS - April 5, 2007
H-1B cap reached on first day
H-1B non-US master's lottery being run today
According to AILA (American Immigration Lawyers Association), the general H-1B lottery is being held today:
USCIS Associate Director for Domestic Operations Michael Aytes informed members attending the AILA Texas Chapter Conference in Las Vegas that the H-1B random number generator is being run today, April 12, 2007. Adjudication of non-U.S. Master's degree cap subject H-1B petitions will not begin prior to April 13, 2007 (AILA InfoNet Doc. No. 07041268).
Check back soon for more updates or subscribe to our feed.
Related Posts:
H-1B cap count update from USCIS - April 10, 2007
H-1B premium processing will resume after random lottery
What about premium processing H-1Bs?
H-1B cap update from USCIS - April 5, 2007
H-1B cap reached on first day
H-1B cap count update from USCIS - April 10, 2007
US-earned master's numbers "remain available":
USCIS received on April 2 and 3 a total of approximately 12,989 cases requesting an exemption from the FY 2008 H-1B cap because they were filed on behalf of aliens holding a master’s degree or higher from a U.S. institution. USCIS can now announce that the cap of 20,000 on these exempt cases remains open and that USCIS will continue to monitor these filings.
Also, USCIS has determined that approximately 119,193 of the H-1B petitions received on April 2 and 3 are subject to the FY 2008 congressionally mandated cap. No indication of how many more are left to be counted.
Read
the USCIS update (.pdf, 23.2K).
Check back soon for more updates or subscribe to our feed.
Related Posts:
H-1B non-US master's lottery being run - April 12, 2007
H-1B premium processing will resume after random lottery
What about premium processing H-1Bs?
H-1B cap update from USCIS - April 5, 2007
H-1B cap reached on first day
H-1B premium processing will resume after random lottery
USCIS imposed conditions, as expected, on the availability of the premium processing service for H-1B petitions subject to the fiscal year 2008 cap:
[T]he 15-day premium processing period for petitions subject to the fiscal year 2008 (FY 2008) congressionally mandated H-1B cap will begin after the computer-generated random lottery has selected the petitions for processing.
Many immigration lawyers (including us) have received email receipts for H-1B petitions filed last week using the premium processing service. But a receipt does not mean the H-1B petition was accepted under the cap. All of the H-1B petitions received by USCIS April 2nd and April 3rd, including premium processing petitions, will be included in the random lottery.
Also, H-1B petitions filed on behalf of applicants with U.S. masters' or higher degrees are subject to a different procedure:
[T]he first 20,000 H-1B petitions filed on behalf of aliens with U.S.-earned masters’ or higher degrees are exempt from any fiscal year cap on available H-1B visas. In the event that USCIS received more than 20,000 petitions that would qualify for this exemption on April 2 and April 3, USCIS must first conduct a computer-generated random lottery to select 20,000 filings for processing. Those filings not selected for processing are subject to the FY 2008 H-1B cap and must be considered in that random selection process as well.
H-1B applicants with master's or higher degrees from U.S. universities get two shots to be included under the fiscal year 2008 (FY 2008) cap.
Read
the USCIS fact sheet (.pdf, 32.8K).
Check back soon for more updates, or subscribe to our feed.
Related Posts:
H-1B non-US master's lottery being run - April 12, 2007
H-1B cap count update from USCIS - April 10, 2007
What about premium processing H-1Bs?
H-1B cap update from USCIS - April 5, 2007
H-1B cap reached on first day
What about premium processing H-1Bs?
Source: AILA InfoNet Doc. No. 07040373 (posted Apr. 4, 2007)
Many AILA [American Immigration Lawyers Association] members report having received receipts on their premium processing H-1B filings, and have raised the question of how USCIS will handle premium processing filings in light of the length of time it is likely to take USCIS to conduct its random selection for the cap cases. It is highly unlikely that the selection will be completed before the 15 days for premium processing has run, and USCIS appears to understand that a premium processing filing cannot receive an advantage over a regular filing by virtue of having been filed premium. It should be noted that getting a receipt does not mean that the case has been accepted for processing. It only means that the case will be in the "lottery".
AILA has raised this with USCIS, which is reviewing the issue.
[UPDATE: April 9, 2007. USCIS made an announcement today.]
Related Posts:
H-1B non-US master's lottery being run - April 12, 2007
H-1B cap count update from USCIS - April 10, 2007
H-1B premium processing will resume after random lottery
H-1B cap update from USCIS - April 5, 2007
H-1B cap reached on first day
H-1B cap update from USCIS - April 5, 2007
The H-1B cap was reached the first day and a lottery will be held to determine which H-1B petitions subject to the cap will be accepted.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) released an "update" today, but the update doesn't provide any new information.
During Monday and Tuesday, USCIS received 133,000 unique pieces of mail containing H-1B petitions. This is lower that the original USCIS estimate of 150,000. USCIS based the initial estimate on amounts from manifests received along with the mail. USCIS reached the updated number following a physical count of the mail. Each piece of mail may contain more than one H-1B petition. It will take USCIS a substantial amount of time to open and sort through that volume of mail.
As of Wednesday, 28,052 of the cases sorted are H-1B petitions subject to FY 2008 congressionally mandated cap. Four thousand, seven hundred three (4,703) cases are exempt from the FY 2008 H-1B cap as employers filed those petitions for aliens holding a master’s degree or higher from a U.S. institution.
View
the USCIS update (.pdf, 27.9K)
Related Posts:
H-1B non-US master's lottery being run - April 12, 2007
H-1B cap count update from USCIS - April 10, 2007
H-1B premium processing will resume after random lottery
What about premium processing H-1Bs?
H-1B cap reached on first day
H-1B cap reached on first day
Approximately 150,000 cap-subject H-1B petitions were received as of late Monday afternoon. This means that even more might make it in to the lottery so long as they were received by Tuesday (see more on lottery).
Regarding H-1B petitions exempt from the cap, the 20,000 H-1B petitions set aside for aliens with US-earned master's or higher degrees, USCIS has not yet counted them but will make a future announcement for these petitions.
Check back regularly for updates.
Related Posts:
H-1B non-US master's lottery being run - April 12, 2007
H-1B cap count update from USCIS - April 10, 2007
H-1B premium processing will resume after random lottery
What about premium processing H-1Bs?
H-1B cap update from USCIS - April 5, 2007
H-1B cap opens today - numbers expected to go quickly
The H-1B cap opens today, April 2, 2007, because April 1st fell on a Sunday. But H-1B petitions received over the weekend will be accepted and grouped together with H-1B petitions received today.
What happens if the H-1B limit for fiscal year 2008 is reached the very first day? A lottery.
If the final receipt date is the same as the first date that petitions may be filed, USCIS will randomly apply all of the numbers among the petitions filed on the final receipt date and the following day. This means that, should the cap be reached on April 2, the first day filings can be received, USCIS will perform a random selection of petitions filed on April 2 and April 3 in accordance with the regulations at 8 C.F.R. 214.2(h)(8)(ii).
Check back soon for updates and more information on the H-1B cap numbers.
Related Posts:
H-1B cap reached on first day
H-1B cap update from USCIS - April 5, 2007
What about premium processing H-1Bs?
H-1B premium processing will resume after random lottery
H-1B cap count update from USCIS - April 10, 2007
H-1B non-US master's lottery being run - April 12, 2007
Connecticut enforces promise made by immigrant sponsors
Anyone familiar with family-based immigration likely knows that a sponsor, usually a family member or relative, must promise to support the intending immigrant financially. But is that promise enforced? As reported Thursday in the Hartford Courant:
Connecticut is the only state in the nation pursuing sponsors for payment of immigrants' benefits covered under Medicaid and the State-Administered General Assistance program.
Read the article, State Suing Immigrants' Sponsors.
Business immigration
Business immigration portal - New Haven, Conn.
Filing I-130 for an Immediate Relative to Immigrate to the United States
"All Petitions Must Now be Filed with USCIS" (from travel.state.gov)
Effective immediately, the immediate relative petition (I-130) must be filed with the USCIS office responsible for the petitioner's place of residence (that is, the place of residence of the American citizen who is filing the petition).
Continue reading "Filing I-130 for an Immediate Relative to Immigrate to the United States" »
Bush calls for H-1B visa increase
President Bush called for comprehensive immigration reform and a temporary worker program in his State of the Union Address earlier this week. But the very next day he also called for an increase in H-1B visas during a visit to DuPont.
"I want you to know I understand that we need to make sure that when a smart person from overseas wants to come and work in DuPont, it's in our interests to allow him or her to do so. We've got to expand what's called H-1B visas," the president said. "It makes no sense to say to a young scientist from India, you can't come to America to help this company develop technologies that help us deal with our problems."
Link: Hispanic Business - Bush Calls for More H-1B Visas.
More information about the speech and H-1B visa program can also be found at InfoWorld, "Bush wants H-1B visa cap hike".
