The May 2010 Visa Bulletin was just released by the State Department. The eighth visa bulletin for the fiscal year 2010 brings gradual forward across most employment-based categories except EB-2 India (no change this month, for the second month in a row). A notable movement can be seen in the EB-3 India category where the [...]
The H-1B season is well underway. Yesterday we reported on the Vermont Service Center's H-1B FY2011 numbers as of April 5. Today, USCIS released the first "official" FY2011 information on the numbers of cap-subject H-1Bs filed since April 1 for both the Vermont and California Service Centers. As of April 8, 2010, USCIS has received [...]
The Vermont Service Center (VSC) of USCIS has released the first "semi-official" Fiscal Year 2011 H-1B numbers. As of close of business on Monday, April 5th, VSC has received a total of 9,525 cap-subject H-1B petitions. Of those, 6,791 were "regular H-1B cap" and 2,734 were "master's cap" petitions. Note that this information is for [...]
Generally, the U.S. Department of State likes to process visas at the consulate located at the applicant's home country. Howevre, U.S. consulates in Mexico and Canada have the practice of allowing third-country nationals (TCN) to apply for a U.S. visa stamp in addition to their home country. However, recent AILA interactions with the Department of [...]
In a decision dated as of March 26, 2010, the Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) has spelled out what we think is an an important policy change affecting employment-based permanent residency applicants who are beneficiaries of a labor certification either as a substitute or as the initial beneficiary of a subsequently-substituted labor certification. Brief Background on [...]
As many of our clients and readers know, the H-1B program allows stay in the U.S. on H or L status of up to six years. Time spent abroad during this period may be "recaptured" and added towards the six years of H-1B time. However, many foreign nationals who are not eligible to extend their [...]
We have written extensively over the past two months on the January 8, 2010 Neufeld Memorandum (the "Neufeld Memo") changing the H-1B adjudication standards for H-1B employers engaged in 3rd party placement or employee-owners. We have also written about AILA's efforts to rescind the Neufeld Memo. In a letter dated March 19, 2010 addressed to [...]
USCIS published a notice in the Federal Register with proposed changes to Form I-129 which is used for H-1B, L-1, TN, among other visa type filings. Please see the DRAFT proposed Form I-129 (and draft instructions). The proposed changes are significant and are likely to impact most, if not all, employers who file Form I-129. [...]
The Texas Service Center (TSC), in a meeting with AILA, has provided some helpful updates regarding processing of petitions filed with TSC. Processing Times TSC has confirmed that the pending application reports posted on the USCIS status check website are generally correct. I-485s filed prior to March 26, 2009 that are still pending should be [...]
The April 2010 Visa Bulletin was just released by the State Department. The seventh visa bulletin for the fiscal year 2010 brings gradual forward movement. There is some gradual forward movement across most employment-based categories except EB-2 India and EB-3 Mexico which did not change this month. A notable movement is in EB-3 India category [...]