2005 News :

December 22, 2005 Most Recent Cap Count for H-1B Advance Degree Exemptions. On December 15, the USCIS released the latest numbers in the cap count for H-1B Advance Degree Exemption cases.  These H-1B visas are available to individuals who have received a master’s degree or higher from a US university.   As of December 9, there were 17,436 cases counted against the FY-2006 quota of 20,000 for Advance Degree cases.   These 20,000 H-1B visas are available in addition to the 65,000 “regular” H-1B visas, which require applicants to only have a bachelor’s degree or equivalent.   Once the Advance Degree quota is reached, the only new H-1B visas available before October 1, 2006 will be for individuals working for cap-exempt employers or for individuals who currently have an H-1B visa and are changing employers.   You can follow the final count-down for the Advance Degree cases on the USCIS site at:   http://uscis.gov/graphics/services/tempbenefits/cap.htm   Be careful, however.  The USCIS does not update the site daily, and if things are anything like what happened for the regular H-1B cap count in August, there will be very little advance warning – perhaps even none – that the cap has been reached.   On April 1, 2006 (in just over four months’ time!) the hunting season for the FY-2007 H-1B visas will open.   Considering that the FY-2006 quota was reached at the beginning of August, in just over four months, it’s likely that there will be a huge rush of applications in the spring and that the FY-2007 quota could be reached as early as June or July.    If you’re planning to file an H-1B application – either an Advance Degree case or a regular case – we’d be pleased to discuss your case with you.   Contact us by e-mail at E.Weiner@immigration-aux-usa.com or phone to set up a consultation.  In the US you can reach us at (617) 889-0215.  You can also leave us a message at + 33 (0)6 67 88 73 85 in France .

 

May 12, 2005 USCIS is processing applications for 20,000 additional FY 2005 H-1B visas. After nearly 5 months of rumor-filled waiting, the USCIS has finally issued regulations for the processing of the 20,000 FY 2005 H-1B visas created by the H-1B Visa Reform Act of 2004.  The USCIS finally will start accepting such applications today, Thursday, May 12. In the regulations, as well as in a press release summarizing the regulations, the USCIS explains that these 20,000 visas will only be available for applicants who have received a master’s or higher degree from an American university, putting an end to the rumor that the visas would be available to all eligible applicants.   Applications for one of the 20,000 FY 2005 visas must be sent to a special address at the Vermont Service Center (VSC): USCIS Vermont Service Center , 1A Lemnah Drive , St. Albans , VT 05479 -7001.  This address is to be used for FY 2005 visas only.   If you’ve already filed an application for an FY 2006 H-1B visa, it’s possible to request an “upgrade” for an FY 2005 visa by sending an upgrade request to the special VSC address.  The upgrade request must be sent to the VSC even if you filed your FY 2006 application at a different service center.  The upgrade request must include a letter requesting an upgrade; proof of filing of your FY 2006 application (e.g., a copy of the USCIS approval/receipt notice or copies of the first two pages of Form I-129 if you haven’t received a receipt notice yet); and a new Labor Condition Application (LCA) for the new work period.    When discussing the upgrade procedure, the USCIS press release also lists payment of the $1,000 premium processing fee as a requirement in seeking an upgrade.  In a message to AILA, however, an USCIS official clarified that premium processing is NOT required for an upgrade and remains optional.  Furthermore, the regulations explain that there is no fee to upgrade a previously filed application.  Nonetheless, in many cases, you may chose to pay the premium processing fee in order to have your application processed as quickly as possible.   Finally, if you apply for an FY 2005 visa but don’t receive it, your application will automatically be converted to an FY 2006 visa, with an October 1, 2005 start date, unless you indicate otherwise.   The USCIS May 4 press release is available on the Service’s website at:   http://uscis.gov/graphics/publicaffairs/newsrels/H-1B_050504.pdf   The complete regulations can be accessed at:   http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20051800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2005/pdf/05-8992.pdf   As usual make sure you check with a properly qualified attorney.

 

April 15, 2005 USCIS Now Accepting FY-2006 H-1B Visa Applications.   On April 1 the USCIS started accepting H-1B applications for fiscal year (FY) 2006 with a start date of October 1, 2005 .  For FY-2006 there will be 65,000 H-1B visas available plus, pursuant to the H-1B Visa Reform Act of 2004, an additional 20,000 for individuals with a graduate degree (master’s degree or higher) from an American university.  (For more information on the H-1B Visa Reform Act of 2004, see our news item from December 27, 2004 .) Last year, all FY-2005 H-1B were allocated by October 1 – on the very first day of the new fiscal year! – and although the additional 20,000 visas through the Visa Reform Act surely will help things this year, it’s certain that there still will not be enough FY-2006 visas to satisfy the demand.  If you plan to apply for an H-1B visa, submit your application as soon as possible!  Remember, you can submit your application up to 6 months before you begin work. Finally, to update the situation with the additional 20,000 H-1B visas for FY-2005 created by the Visa Reform Act, the USCIS still has not issued regulations and so it still isn’t possible to submit an application requesting a start date earlier than October 1.  In a meeting earlier this month with members of the New York chapter of AILA (American Immigration Lawyers Association), a top USCIS official indicated the regulations were under final review and, once issued, that they would allow someone who had already submitted an application for a FY-2006 H-1B visa (with an October 1 start date) to request an earlier start date under one of the FY-2005 numbers. Although this announcement is welcome news, it’s sure to create a lot of confusion once the regulations are finally issued.  The best thing to do is to keep in close touch with your attorney and make sure that you understand all of your possible options. If you have questions about your eligibility to apply for an H-1B visa or if you’d like our office to prepare and submit your H-1B application, please contact us by phone at (617) 889-0215 or by e-mail at E.Weiner@immigration-aux-usa.com.

 

March 9, 2005 20,000 Additional H-1B Visas Available to All Applicants.   On March 8 the USCIS issued a press release announcing that the 20,000 additional H-1B visas made available through the H-1B Visa Reform Act of 2004 will be open to all applicants and not simply those with a graduate degree (master’s degree or higher) from an American university.  (For more information on the H-1B Visa Reform Act of 2004, see our news item from December 27, 2004 .) Although the USCIS was supposed to accept such applications as of March 8, it has not yet started to do so.  Before it can even start processing H-1B applications under the Visa Reform Act, the Service must first issue regulations in the Federal Register with instructions on how to file the applications.  The regulations will also indicate the exact date when the USCIS will start processing applications.  The regulations, however, haven’t been published yet, and in its March 8 press release, the Service did not indicate when they will be published, although everyone is anxiously awaiting them. Any application received before the regulations are issued or before the effective start date will be automatically rejected, so don’t bother sending your application now thinking that you’ll get a head start. On the other hand, it is possible to prepare your application now so that everything is ready to be submitted the moment the USCIS gives the green light. If you have questions about your eligibility to apply for an H-1B visa or if you’d like our office to prepare and submit your H-1B application, please contact us by phone at (617) 889-0215 or by e-mail at E.Weiner@immigration-aux-usa.com. To read the March 8 USCIS press release, click here: http://uscis.gov/graphics/publicaffairs/newsrels/H1BVisaReformActGuide3_8_05.pdf

 

February 24, 2005 Simplified H-2B Visa Application Process .   On January 27 the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Labor (DOL) published proposed regulations to simplify the H-2B visa application process.  The H-2B visa is destined for workers in temporary or seasonal nonagricultural positions, and the category covers a wide range of workers, including, for example, those working at a ski resort, circus workers, and minor league baseball players.  An H-2B visa can be granted for a period of up to 1 year with possible extensions up to 3 years. The proposed regulations will greatly simplify the current H-2B application process by doing away with the cumbersome and time-consuming labor certification step.  Employers will still have to undertake recruitment efforts to hire US citizens or other permanent residents, but rather than doing so through the formalized labor certification process, they simply will have to conduct the recruitment on their own, without any government supervision.  A small sub-category of H-2B employers will still have to submit labor certifications; these employers include those in the logging, entertainment, and professional athletics industries. In addition to eliminating the labor certification, the proposed regulations will also require most H-2B employers to file their applications electronically through e-filing.  This new, one-step, Internet-based petition process is aimed at reducing the overall processing times for H-2B visas. All of these changes are laudable, but there remains a slight problem... the law imposes a quota (or “cap”) of 66,000 H-2B visas per fiscal year (FY).  This cap is similar to the one for H-1B visas, and like H-1B visas, the H-2B cap for the past 2 years the cap has been reached well before the end of the fiscal year.  In fact, the H-2B cap for FY 2005 (which runs from October 1, 2004 to September 30, 2005 ) was reached on January 3.  That means there will not be any new H-2B visas available until October 1, 2005 .  The proposed regulations unfortunately do nothing to increase the number of H-2B visas.  In fact, the only way to increase their number is by Congress passing a law, something which it has refused to do for the past 2 years. The DHS and DOL will receive comments on the proposed H-2B regulations through February 28.  After that, if and when the new application process is put in place, let’s just hope that there are some actual visas available. The DHS press release on this subject is available on the USCIS website at: http://uscis.gov/graphics/publicaffairs/newsrels/H2B_Rule_050127.pdf The press release also contains links to the proposed regulations issued in the Federal Register.

February 14, 2005 US VISIT Exit Procedures Arrive at Newark International Airport As of January 19, all foreign visitors leaving the US through Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey now will have their fingerprints and photo taken digitally as the DHS continues to expand its US VISIT program. The DHS first introduced the US VISIT program in January 2004 as part of its effort to implement a comprehensive system to record the arrival and departure of all individuals traveling to and from the US .  For more information on the early stages of the program, see our news item of January 4, 2004 . At its inception in January 2004, the US VISIT program only concerned individuals traveling to the US with a visa by plane.  In the past year, the program has slowly expanded to include individuals traveling to the US under the Visa Waiver Program (i.e., without a visa), individuals traveling to the US by land from Canada and Mexico, and most recently, individuals leaving the US from selected airports. Newark Airport now joins this list of select airports, which also includes Baltimore-Washington International (BWI) Airport, Chicago O’Hare International Airport , Denver International Airport , Dallas/Fort-Worth International Airport.  Travelers leaving the US by boat through the Miami International Cruise Line Terminal also have to undergo the exit procedure. By the end of January, the airports in San Juan ( Puerto Rico ), San Francisco , and Detroit will be added to this list.  Eventually, the exit procedure will be put in place at all airports, although such an expansion of the program won’t occur for quite a while. What can you expect if you’re traveling through Newark or one of the other airports where the exit procedure does exist?  The procedure will be very similar to the procedure you went through on your arrival.  You’ll have 2 fingerprints and a photo taken digitally.  You’ll then receive a printed receipt that verifies that you have checked out. If you have any questions or concerns, speak to your attorney.  You also can find more information on the US VISIT program on the DHS website at: www.dhs.gov/us-visit

 

January 24, 2005 Registration Period for DV-2006 is over The DV-2006 Green Card Lottery came to a close on January 7.  After accepting lottery applications for 2 months, the new and improved Department of State (DOS) lottery registration website lapsed back into its annual hibernation at 12 noon EST (GMT – 5) on that day. Unlike last year, when the DOS website was not able to handle the large number of lottery applicants, this year things went off without a hitch.  Even in the final days of the registration period, the DOS site continued to function normally, and there were no problems in submitting last-minute applications. In the coming months the DOS will randomly select the lottery winners by computer and then notify them by mail between May and July.  But remember that winning the lottery is only the first step in getting a green card.  Winners must then submit their green card applications between October 1 and September 30, 2006 , and all applications must be processed and approved before September 30, 2006 .   For more information on the lottery, see our website at:   http://www.immigration-aux-usa.com/DV-Lottery.html Building upon the large number of applications that our office submitted in previous years, this year we had the pleasure of helping more clients than ever this year with the new edition of the Lottery :DV-2007and look forward to having more winners than ever!