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Law Offices of Premium Processing is Available for Certain I-140
Petitions USCIS announced that, starting n Who is current in an H-1B nonimmigrant status; n Whose 6th year H-1B limit will end within 60 days; n Who is ineligible to extend the H-1B status under AC21 Section 106(a); and n Who is eligible for H-1B extension only under AC21 Section 104(c). AC 21 Section 106(a) provides that if 365 or more days have passed since the filing of any application for labor certification that is required, or used by the alien to obtain status as an EB immigrant, the alien may be granted an extension beyond the 6-year maximum on or prior to the date the alien reaches the 6-year limit. Such extension may be granted in one-year increments. If your labor certification will be filed for at least 365 days when you reach your 6th year, you can extend your H-1B based on this provision of the immigration law; hence, you will not be eligible to process your I-140 under the premium processing. AC21 Section 104(c) enables H-1B non-immigrants with approved I-140 petitions, who have exhausted the maximum 6-year period of authorized stay for H-1B and who are unable to adjust status because of per-country limits, to be eligible to extend their H-1B for 3 years, and may extend another 3 years if necessary. A computer USCIS announcement regarding I-140 premium processing can be found on: http://www.aila.org/content/default.aspx?docid=25645. USCIS Has Run FY 2009 H-1B Lottery U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
(USCIS) conducted the computer-generated random selection processes on H-1B
petitions for Fiscal Year 2009 on USCIS conducted 2 random selections, first on petitions qualifying for the 20,000 U.S. Master’s or higher degree exemption; and second on the remaining advance degree petitions together with the general H-1B pool of petitions, for 65,000 cap. USICS received approximately 163,000 H1B petitions on the five days of the eligible filing days, among which about 32,000 are filed for U.S. Master or higher degree holders. The elected cases will receive a case
receipt by USCIS has retained some cases on a waiting list. If the approved H1B cases are less than the annual quota permits, USCIS will adjudicate the cases on the wait list. USCIS will issue a letter to the petitioners on the wait list of this situation. DHS Will Extend 17 More Months of OPT for Certain
F-1 Students On The 29-month OPT applies to the following F-1 students:
The STEM list includes Actuarial Science, Computer Science, Engineering, Engineering Technology, Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Mathematics and Statistics, Military Technologies, Physical Sciences, Science Technologies, and Medical Science. A complete list of the STEM degrees can be found on this site: http://www.ice.gov/sevis/stemlist.htm. To be eligible for the 29 months of OPT, the H-1B applicant’s educational program code designated by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES CIP code) must be on the list. Students who wish to extend OPT should contact their schools’ Designated Student Officer (DSO) to obtain a recommendation. After the DSO verifies a students’ eligibility, the DSO will enter a recommendation into the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), which is a web-based database. Once the DSO recommends a student for the extension, the student must submit a Form I-765 with the filing fee. Students, who have a pending request for extension of OPT, may have up to 180 days of work authorization while the I-765 is pending. The new rule also solved the status gap problem experienced by many F-1 students. Under the new rule, all F-1 students, whose status and work authorization expire before he or she can commence employment under the new H-1B classification, will automatically have their status and work authorization extended until the H-1B status begins. The complete rule of OPT extension can be found on DHS website: http://www.dhs.gov/xnews/releases/pr_1207334008610.shtm USCIS and FBI Released Joint Plan
to Eliminate Backlog of FBI Name Checks On
USCIS has also requested that the FBI prioritize resolution of
approximately 29,800 pending name checks from naturalization applicants
submitted to the FBI before May 2006 where the naturalization applicant was
already interviewed. The USCIS will
continue to initiate FBI name checks when I-485 Adjustment of Status
applications are received. However, if an application is otherwise approvable
and the FBI name check request has been pending for more than 180 days, the
USCIS shall approve the I-485 and issue a permanent resident card. Applications
approved pursuant to this memorandum shall be held at the USCIS. If actionable
information is received from the FBI after the application is approved, USCIS
will determine if revocation or removal proceeding are appropriate. There is no
change in the requirement that FBI name check results be issued prior to the approval
of an N-400 Naturalization application. Latest Visa Bulletin The State Department has released its latest visa bulletin. If an LC beneficiary does not have an immigrant visa number, he/she is not eligible to file an I-485. For pipeline cases, if the applicant of a pending I-485 does not have an immigrant visa number, due to the retrogression, the USCIS will hold it in abeyance until a visa number becomes available. When the I-485 is pending, the applicant will be eligible to apply for an EAD and advance parole, regardless of the availability of a visa number. How the Visa Cut Off Dates Are
Determined? -- An Explanation from Department
of State EMPLOYMENT PREFERENCE VISA AVAILABILITY The backlog reduction efforts of both Citizenship and Immigration Services and the Department of Labor continue to result in very heavy demand for Employment-based numbers. The amount of cases currently being processed is sufficient to use all available numbers in many categories. The level of demand in the Employment categories is expected to be far in excess of the annual limits and, once established, cut-off date movements are likely to be slow. WHAT CAUSES THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CUT-OFF DATES? The Visa Office divides the annual preference and foreign state limitations specified in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) into twelve monthly allotments. The totals of documentarily qualified applicants that have been reported to VO are compared each month with the numbers available for the next regular allotment and numbers are allocated to reported applicants in order of their priority dates, the oldest dates first.
WILL THERE BE CUT-OFF DATES FOR ANY ADDITIONAL FOREIGN STATES IN THE FIRST AND SECOND PREFERENCE CATEGORIES? It may be necessary to establish a
cut-off date for the “All Chargeability Areas” Second preference category at
some point during the second half of the fiscal year. It is too early to
estimate whether future demand will warrant such action. As of October 1st,
cut-off dates for the First and Second preferences for WHY ARE THERE CUT-OFF DATES THIS YEAR AS OPPOSED TO PREVIOUS YEARS, WHEN THE CATEGORIES WERE CURRENT? While the Employment categories had been “Current” for almost four years, several important factors affected the decision to implement cut-offs for FY-2006.
The reasons the Employment categories had become current were:
In FY-2006, we are faced with continuing heavy demand due to the DHS and DOL backlog reduction efforts, along with an Employment limit which is approximately 40% lower than that of FY-2005. The lower annual Employment limit is a result of the virtual elimination of the “pool” of recaptured AC21 numbers, returning us to the pre-July 2001 situation. How to Determine Whether You Have a
Visa Number Available American immigration law assigns a quota to each immigrant category, such as EB2 (i.e. employment-based, 2nd preference), or EB3 (i.e. employment-based, 3rd preference). Under each category, the quota is further divided by country of origins. EB2, generally means that the job requirements stated in the labor certification is a master’s degree, or a 4-year bachelor’s degree followed by at least 5 years of progressive experience. If the job requirement is lower than these, it normally would be EB3. If the quota is more than the demand for the immigrant visa (or green card), the visa-cut-off date will show “C” on the Visa Bulletin, indicating “current.” If a quota is overcharged, that means, the demand of the immigrant visa is higher than the available quota, you will see a visa-cut-off date shown on the Visa Bulletin. The Visa Bulletin is released monthly, by the Department of State. When your labor certification is approved, you refer to the Visa Bulletin. If the visa category of the country where you, or your spouse, was born is “current,” you have a visa number available and can file an I-140 and I-485 application. If the visa bulletin shows a date under your visa category for you or your spouse’ country, you will need to compare two dates to determine if you have a visa number. One date is the visa-cut-off date, which is the date shown on the visa bulletin. The other date is your priority date, which is the date your labor certification was filed. If your priority date is prior to the visa-cut-off date, you have a visa number available and you can file I-140 and I-485 petitions. However, if the visa-cut-off date is prior to your priority date, you do not have a visa number available. You can file your I-140, but you must wait on queue to file I-485, according to your priority date. While you are waiting for a visa number, you refer to the Visa Bulletin every month. If the visa-cut-off date occurs after your priority date, you may file your I-485.
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