The USCIS has updated it count for available H-1B cap numbers. As of November 26, 2010, approximately 50,400 out of 65,000 H-1B cap-subject petitions had been received by USCIS and they had received 18,400 out of 20,000 petitions for applicants with advance degrees.
Usually, at this time of the year, the use of H-1B numbers starts to increase. Accordingly, companies should move forward quickly with new H-1B visa applications.
On August 13, 2010 President Obama signed into law a provision that significantly raises the filing fees for H-1B and L-1 petitions for certain employers. Under the new law, employers with 50 or more employees and more than 50% of their workforce in H or L status will have to pay an additional $2000 and $2250 per H-1B and L-1 petition, respectively.
Additionally, USCIS is putting the burden on the employer to prove that it is not required to pay the new fees. Specifically, petitioning employers are required to submit the new fee or evidence of why they are not subject. The USCIS reports it will issue a Request for Additional Evidence if documentation submitted with the petition is insufficient to prove that the employer is exempt from the fee.
Under the law, USCIS has 90 days to process applications for employment authorization documents (EAD). USCIS policy requires that applications to renew these documents be filed no more than 120 days prior to their expiration. Unfortunately, USCIS is now sometimes pushing up against the 90-day deadline with a result that some applicants are not receiving a new EAD before their prior one expires. Individuals working on an EAD must have a valid EAD in hand in order to be authorized for employment in the United States. Therefore, when adjudication of the EAD is delayed, individuals risk losing their eligibility for employment. Once the EAD application has been pending for 75 days, individuals are allowed to call the USCIS Customer Service number at 1-800-375-5283 to make an inquiry. If the EAD is not adjudicated within 7 days after the individual contacts USCIS Customer Service, the individual’s attorney may pursue the matter through an AILA liaison request.
USCIS has reported that as of August 6, 2010 it has issued receipts for 28,500 H-1B cap-subject petitions, leaving 36,500 available H-1Bs in the general or “bachelor’s cap” allotment. Additionally, USCIS has issued 11,900 H-1B receipts for those with advanced degrees, leaving 8,100 H1Bs available in the “master’s cap” allotment. In the event that the master’s cap allotment is used up before the general cap allotment, those with advanced degrees will then be counted as part of the general cap allotment
In an effort “to make our national laws actually work” the Obama administration will deport a record number of undocumented immigrants this fiscal year. ICE expects to deport about 400,000 individuals this year, which is 10% more than the Bush administration total for 2008. Obama’s government is also auditing hundreds of businesses that have been routinely hiring undocumented workers. The pace of these audits has roughly quadrupled since Bush’s last year in office.
The director of ICE, John Morton, says that the expected 400,000 deportees is the maximum number that the overburdened processing, detention, and immigration court system can handle. President Obama is walking a political tightrope: he is criticized by those who say he is weak on border security as well as by those who say he isn’t keeping his campaign promise to assist the more than 11 million illegal residents.
The ICE Student Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) releases information on a quarterly basis regarding foreign students and exchange visitors in the United States. SEVIS recently released its report for the quarter ending June 30, 2010. The report indicates that China (118,506) is the country with the highest number of active students, followed by South Korea (101,428), and India (130,057). 30% of all approved schools are located in five States (California, New York, Florida, Texas and Pennsylvania). The City University of New York hosts the largest number of active students (10,787) followed by the University of Southern California, Purdue University, University of Illinois, and Columbia University.
Business continues to be the most popular major for international students. Bachelor’s candidates comprise the highest number of students (212,516) followed by Master’s candidates (184,292) and doctoral students (112,842).
As of June 30, 2010, SEVIS maintained records for 1,084,122 active non-immigrant students and the total number of records for all F-1, M-1, and J-1 visa holders has risen to approximately 7.6 million.
It is Stern and Curray’s philosophy that foreign students continue to play a vital role in our educational system. In order to continue this positive trend, USCIS must enact reforms to make it easier for foreign students to attend school in the U.S. and to obtain work after graduation.
The U.S. Department of State visa bulletin for August shows that the visa backlog is moving forward. The employment based second preference (EB-2) for China has moved forward four months, while for India it has moved forward five months. The current EB-2 priority date for August for both countries is March 1, 2006. There was similar movement in the EB-3 category as well, with the largest jump being in the “all other countries” which moved forward almost a year to June 1, 2004. Priority dates in many of the family preferences also moved forward by a few months. For the full visa bulletin please visit: http://travel.state.gov/visa/bulletin/bulletin_1360.html
USCIS reports that as of July 2, there are still plenty of H-1Bs available for fiscal year 2011. Specifically, there are more than 40,000 H-1Bs remaining in the “regular” pool available to those who qualify for an H-1B but do not have an advanced degree from a U.S. institution. For those who have completed a master’s degree or higher a U.S. institution, there are just under 10,000 H-1Bs still available.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) National Children’s Art Project is currently underway and the agency is requesting that children between the ages of 5 to 12 years old draw pictures to answer the question, “People have come from all over the world to become Americans. Why does that make us great?” Submission forms are available at www.uscis.gov/childrensartproject and must be turned in by August 16, 2010. Participants’ art will be displayed in offices across the country and participants will be recognized during the 2010 celebration of the “September 11 National Day of Service and Remembrance.”
The posted processing times on the USCIS website for H-1B petitions seem to be extremely inaccurate. While the processing times show that USCIS is taking 2 months to adjudicate H-1B petitions, it is currently taking longer than that. As of June 18, 2010 our office had received adjudications in approximately 3% of our H-1B cases filed in April. We will continue to update this blog as we see additional adjudications and if we receive better information regarding processing times.