USCIS Publishes New Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services sent this bulletin at 11/02/2012 10:20 AM EDT
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services sent this bulletin at 11/02/2012 10:20 AM EDT
On Thursday, August 30, 2012, Roberta Freedman, AILA Students & Scholars Committee member, and Mike Nowlan, Chair of the AILA Business Committee, discussed the Visa Bulletin, visa demand in the employment preference categories, and predictions for FY2012 and FY2013 with Charlie Oppenheim of the Department of State’s Visa Office. These are only discussions of what could happen and are not assurances or guarantees by the Visa Office, as changes in visa usage result in changes in the Visa Bulletin.
On Tuesday, June 19, 2012, Roberta Freedman, AILA Students & Scholars Committee member, discussed the Visa Bulletin, visa demand in the employment preference categories, and predictions for FY2012 and beyond with Charlie Oppenheim of the Visa Office (AILA INfonet Doc No. 12012349 posted 6/28/2012). Here are notes from that discussion:
The Department of State’s July Visa Bulletin, provides no surprises. As predicted, there is a slowdown as the government approaches these last three months of its fiscal year. Due to heavy demand against the annual 140,000 quota, priority dates in the EB-2 category, which were previously “current,” have now retrogressed to January 1, 2009. EB-2 priority dates for Chinese and Indian nationals have already been unavailable. There is only nominal movement in the EB-3 category. The State Department warned that later this summer, if heavy demand continues, it may become necessary to make all EB-2 visa numbers unavailable prior to September 30, 2012, the end of the fiscal year. EB2
Workers other than India and China, with a Priority date after January 1, 2009 should file their adjustment applications by the end of the month
AILA has confirmed with the State Department that the annual limit in the EB-2 category for China-mainland born and India has been reached. The State Department notified USCIS on April 11, 2012, that no further visas for those categories would be authorized. This is the “additional corrective action” that was forecast as a possibility in Section D of the May 2012 Visa Bulletin (AILA Doc. No. 12040652). USCIS will continue to accept adjustment applications based upon cut-off dates published in the April and May Visa Bulletins. However, requests from USCIS service centers and field offices for visas in the EB-2 category aliens chargeable to China-mainland born or India will be retained by DOS for authorization in FY2013, beginning on October 1, 2012.
USCIS has partnered with business experts to improve the way it approaches the employment-based and high-skilled visa categories used by immigrant entrepreneurs. USCIS Director Alejandro Mayorkas kicked-off this innovative program, called the Entrepreneurs in Residence (EIR) initiative in February. The EIR initiative consists of a tactical team comprised of outside experts working alongside USCIS employees. For 90 days this collaborative team, comprised of both USCIS employees and entrepreneurs from the private sector, will identify opportunities where USCIS can streamline pathways for foreign entrepreneurs. We welcome this significant effort to streamline visas for employment-based and high-skilled visa categories. You can read more on this initiative at http://blog.uscis.gov/
Charlie Oppenheim, Chief, Immigrant Visa Control & Reporting in the State Department, has provided AILA with further information on priority date movement in the EB-2 category for China-mainland born and India for the remainder of FY2012. When the May Visa Bulletin is published, the China and India EB-2 cut-off will retrogress to August 15, 2007.
Great News. EB2 for India and China moves ahead to May 2010.
In the January visa bulletin, wait times for EB-2 (employment based) visas for India and China move forward by (by nine and a half months) and there is a continued forward movement in the FB1 (family based) categories.
In a move that would benefit highly skilled workers from countries like India and China seeking to stay in the US, the House of Representatives has voted to end per-country caps on employment based green cards.
The bill (HR 3012) passed by the the House of Representatives by both Democrat and Republicans, completely eliminates the per-country caps for employment-based visas and raises the per-country cap from seven per cent to 15 per cent for family-based visas.
The current Immigration and Nationality Act generally provides that the total number of employment-based immigrant visas made available to natives of any single foreign country in a year cannot exceed seven per cent of the total number of such visas made available in that year. This would make visas immediately available to countries with a high number of skilled immigrant applicants such as China and India thereby effectively removing the decade-long visa back-log for theseworkers. This bill will also increase the number of family based visas granted each year thereby assisting countries with a high number of family based immigrant applicants such as Mexico and Philippines.
