Over the past few days we have been asked on numerous occasions - what happens to my OPT when my H-1B is approved? Can I withdraw my H-1B? The answer is 'Yes', but you must act quickly and with the cooperation of the employer sponsoring the H-1B visa. Read the full article for more details.
The May 2008 Visa Bulletin is out. Among the employment-based visa numbers, unfortunately, there was only a slight forward movement for most categories. The most notable movement was for employment-based third preference category (EB-3) for all countries except China, India, Mexico. The priority date for such EB-3 workers moved from July 2005 to March 2006. EB-3 Mexico and EB-3 Philippines moved to July 2002 and March 2006, respectively. EB-2 China and EB-2 India moved slightly forward; unfortunately this movement was very minor, only by a month, to January 2004 for both.
USCIS had released a preliminary count of the H-1B applications filed during the period between April 1 and April 7, 2008. There are 163,000 H-1B petitions and more than 31,200 of those were for the advanced degree category.
The Department of Labor has released the PERM processing statistics for the first two quarters of its Fiscal Year 2008. The report indicates that there were 44,090 PERM applications received, there were 12,600 cases certified and, as of March 23, 2008, there were 28,000 cases pending. Read the full article for details.
As expected, USCIS announced earlier today that it has received enough H-1B petitions to meet the cap for fiscal year 2009. The 20,000 H-1B cap for holders of advanced degrees has also been reached.
We have received many inquiries in connection with the OPT extension to 29 months for holders of STEM degrees (non-STEM degrees also get some relief under the new OPT rule). One of the questions asked most often is, "How do I know if my degree is a STEM degree?" This article provides the answer to this question.
We are happy to report that the OMB review of the proposed OPT extension rule has been complete and that the rule is expected to be published in the Federal Register during the week of April 7, 2008, at which time of publication the rule becomes effective. The new OPT rule brings great relief to many students or OPT holders who are in a difficult position because of the timing of the H-1B filing season and the expiration of their OPT.
For green card holders who plan to be outside of the U.S. for six months or more and less than two years, the re-entry permit procedure now requires biometric processing. There are steps which can be followed to expedite the biometric processing.
In a Memorandum of Understanding, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is one step closer to adding Slovakia, Hungary and Lithuania as Visa Waiver Program (VWP) countries. This comes after DHS signed similar agreements with Estonia and Latvia earlier in March 2008.
The USCIS and the FBI announced yesterday, April 2nd, a joint plan to eliminate the backlog of name checks pending with the FBI. The plan will look at the age of the pending name check and prioritize accordingly.