May Visa Bulletin

USCIS CONTINUES TO ACCEPT FY2011 H-1BS

As of April 9th, 2010, the USCIS had received only 13,500 H-1B petitions counting toward the 65,000 general cap; and only 5,600 petitions for individuals with advanced degrees. These numbers leave more than 50,000 slots still open for new H-1B cases.

 
The USCIS also clarified that for cases that were filed premium processed during the initial five day window of April 1-7, the 15 day premium processing period began on April 7th; for cases filed after the 7th, the premium processing period began on the date the petition was physically received at the correct Service Center. The USCIS Announcement can be accessed HERE.

DHS RELEASES LPR STATS FOR 2009

The Department of Homeland Security has released their Annual Flow Report for April 2010. In this report they have released the statistics for Legal Permanent Residency issued for the year of 2009. In 2009, the report details, a total of 1,130,818 persons became US LPRs. Fifty nine percent of the new LPRs already lived in the US when they were issued lawful permanent residence. Nearly 2/3s were granted LPR status based on family relationships with a US citizen or Legal Permanent Resident of the US. LPRs primarily came from Mexico (15 percent), China (6 percent), and the Philippines (5 percent).  Click HERE for link.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE REDUCES VISA TIME FOR MEXICAN CITIZENS

The DOS has quietly changed the policy on visa issuance for certain work visas. Starting February 22, 2010, any Mexican citizen applying for an H-1B, H-2B, E-1, E-2, TN and L-1 work visa will be issued a visa for one year only. This is a reversion back to the pre-2008 policy in the case of TN visas.

The DOS has said the policy was changed to confirm to the Reciprocity Agreement that the agency has with Mexico. For years, Mexico’s work visas for US citizens were only given validity for one year. When Mexico recently decided to raise its visa fees for US citizens, the DOS decided to remove the multi-year open from US visas issued to Mexican citizens. This change in policy applies to both Mexican seeking to come to the US and Mexicans already in the US seeking work visas renewals on or after February 22, 2010.
Click HERE for link.

POLICY REPORTS ON H-1B VISAS

The National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP) has issued two reports dealing with H-1Bs. One report, "H-1B Visas by the Numbers: 2010 and Beyond”, shows new H-1B visa holders represented only 0.06 percent of the U.S. civilian labor force in 2009. The report also cites USCIS data that in FY 2009 less than 6 percent of new H-1B visas went to Indian technology companies and the number of new H-1B visas utilized by Indian technology firms fell by 70 percent between FY 2006 and FY 2009. In FY 2009, 27,288 different employers hired at least one individual on a new H-1B petition, according to USCIS.

In the second report, "Take a Memo: USCIS Adds Costs, Uncertainty and Questionable Legality in Redefining the Employer-Employee Relationship", Sherry Neal and Michael Hammond point out some problems with the January 2010 Neufeld memo, including the inconsistencies with other provisions of immigration law and other federal laws. The report notes, "the memorandum should be withdrawn and changes to the H-1B laws should be left to Congress, or at the very least, any new rules should be issued pursuant to the Administrative Procedures Act." The studies can be found on the NFAP website. Click HERE for link.
 

GREECE ADDED TO THE LIST OF COUNTRIES ELIGIBLE UNDER THE VISA WAIVER PROGRAM
On March 4th, the country of Greece was added to the list of countries eligible for the visa waiver program. Greek citizens can now apply for admission at the port of entry to the US for a period of no more than 90 days for business or pleasure without first obtaining a nonimmigrant visa, provided they are otherwise admissible. This rule became effective on April 5th, 2010. Click HERE for full article.

INSZOOM FEATURED ON SILICON INDIA COVER
One of the leading immigration software providers, INSZoom has been featured on the cover of India’s largest professional network magazine, Silicon India. Having experienced an enormous amount of success in the last decade the company is looking to expand its services both domestically and abroad. The INSZoom system allows both companies and employees to check the status of their pending cases through any internet site. HLG has had the honor of using this system since 2001 and have worked closely with its founder, Umesh Vaidyamath, to build in upgrades and improvements to the system to best serve our clients’ needs. Click HERE for full article.

Did You Know?
In this new section, each month HLG will be sharing a basic rules and regulations that both employers who hire nonimmigrant workers and employees who are on nonimmigrant visas should know.

 

Did you know that:

• You can extend your H-1B visa beyond the maximum 6 year period if you have a green card case that is pending for a certain period of time:
  -Can extend in a 1 year increment if your green card case has been pending for at least 365 days before you reach your six year limit; or
  -Can extend in a 3 year increment if your labor certification and I-140 are approved by the time you reach your 6 year limit and your priority date is not current.