USCIS announced last week changes to the H-2A program which changes would streamline the hiring process for temporary and seasonal agricultural workers. The final rule is intended to facilitate the H-2A process for employers by removing certain limitations and to encourage lawful employment. About the H-2A Program The H-2A visa allows a foreign national entry into the [...]
The January 2009 Visa Bulletin is out. As expected and unfortunately, the forward movement in the employment-based category is very small. EB-2 India has moved a month forward from June 2001 to July 2001. EB-2 China has moved from June 2004 to July 2003. EB-3 India has moved by only 15 days - from October 1, 2001 [...]
A new Department of Defense pilot program will allow non-U.S. citizens to enlist in the U.S. army and be able to obtain expedited U.S. citizenship. The program will temporarily permit enlistment into military service of certain legal aliens (who have lived in the United States for at least two years) and who hold skills that are [...]
A reminder for those who are eligible for the DV 2010 (aka “green card”) lottery who have not yet submitted their entry - the deadline for submission is December 1, 2008 at 12:00 noon EST. For more information see our previous entry on DV 2010 or visit the DV 2010 website.
USCIS released an update, dated November 24, 2008, of the number of H-2B petitions received and counted towards the H-2B cap. As of November 21, 2008, 10,265 petitions have been counted towards the 33,000 cap for the second half of Fiscal Year 2009.
The Nebraska Service Center (NSC) announced updated I-765 expedite policy pursuant to which NSC will accept requests to expedite processing of Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, if the application has been pending for 75 days or more. NSC had previously announced that it would accept an expedite request for an I-765 that was pending [...]
Some US Consulates abroad are requiring the use of the DS-160 form. For Non-Immigrant Visas, the Consulates in Nuevo Laredo, Monterrey, Montreal, and Vancouver require the DS-160 online form. As of November 24, 2008, the U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong will require the use of the DS-160 form for petition based applicants (H, [...]
We have been receiving many inquiries about the status of the H-1B processing. It is our practice to post updates as soon as we receive them. The latest update is dated November 19, 2008. According to the California Service Center (CSC), as of November 19, 2008, there were 10 premium processing and 151 non-premium processing cases [...]
The USCIS has released a chart describing its progress towards meeting the fiscal year (FY) 2008 and FY 2009 processing time goals. Attached is a PDF of the chart with a couple of annotations highlighting some important lines that are generally of high interest to our clients and readers. What may be of the greatest interest [...]
The U.S. Department of State reported yesterday that it has issued a record high number of F, J and M visas for the fiscal year 2008 - 710,631 in total. This represents a 9.1 percent increase in comparison to fiscal year 2007 and a 26 percent increase in comparison to fiscal year 2001. Among some of [...]