President Obama announced a new series of executive actions related to Immigration on November 20, 2014. The first part of these executive actions, (Expanded) Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) will be available beginning February 18, 2015. The USCIS will begin accepting applications on 2/18/2015 and not any time before. Below is a summary of USCIS’s guidelines for the new program.
(Expanded) Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program
Who
The Fiscal Year 2016 H-1B season is quickly approaching and has been projected to be another short season. The H1B CAP for FY2015 was reached on April 7, 2014.
Each Fiscal Year (FY), which starts on October 1, 65,000 H-1B visas become available for what is referred to as the “General Cap,” and 20,000 H-1B visas become available for what is referred to as the “Master’s Cap.” Those individuals holding a U.S. Master’s degree or higher may fall within the Master’s Cap; all others fall within the General Cap. The FY H-1B filing season opens six months before each FY, i.e., during the first week in April.
The FY 2016 H-1B Cap season will open on April 1, 2015 with employment beginning October 1, 2015.
The Department of State has released its latest Visa Bulletin.
Click here to view the March 2015 Visa Bulletin
As projected by the U.S. Department of State, the March 2015 Visa Bulletin shows the EB2 date for nationals from India moved from 9/1/05 to 1/1/07; the EB3 date for nationals from India made a small movement from 12/22/03 to 1/1/04; the EB2 for Chinese Nationals moved from 3/15/10 to 9/1/10; the EB3 for Chinese Nationals moved from 9/1/11 to 10/22/11; and EB3 for WW moved from 1/1/14 to 6/1/14; and the F2A category moved from 5/8/13 to 6/22/13, except Mexico which moved from 4/22/13 to 5/22/13. The F2A category is reserved exclusively for Spouses and unmarried children (under the age of 21) of green card holders (LPRs).
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Question #1 – H1B Nonimmigrant Work Visa
If I applied for H-1B under last year’s Cap but did not get selected, can I re-apply this year?
The H-2B non-agricultural temporary worker program allows U.S. employers to bring foreign nationals to the United States to fill temporary non-agricultural jobs. There is a cap limit of 33,000 for the first half of the fiscal year and 33,000 for the second half for a total of 66,000 per year. If the cap is not reached during the first half of the fiscal year, the extra numbers are then made available for the second half.
The H-2B cap limit for first half of FY 2015 (October 1 – March 31) is 33,000. As of the last count (1/26/15) this first half cap count has been reached. Please read USCIS update below!
The H-2B cap limit for second half of FY 2015 (April 1 – September 30) is 33,000. As of the last count (1/23/15); 2,156 beneficiaries have been approved and 4,862 are pending for a total of 7,018.
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) has provided FY2015 statistics (first quarter) in the form of program factsheets for each of the major immigration programs. These updated FY2015 statistics (first quarter) cover October 2014 through December 2014.
The link to each program factsheet is listed below:
• Permanent Labor Certification Program – Select Statistics, FY 2015 (first quarter)
We wanted to find a new way to engage our reader base. Every other Friday, we will post the ten (10) best/most frequently asked questions received during the week from our h1bvisalawyerblog, Facebook, and Twitter readers. We will answer those questions and provide the Q&A on our H-1B Visa Lawyer Blog.
If you have a burning question, are seeking assistance with a difficult immigration related case, wish to discuss your views on Comprehensive Immigration Reform, DREAMers, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, priority dates, the monthly visa bulletin, adjustment applications, etc., please contact us by submitting your question/comment/viewpoint in our comment box provided on our H-1B Visa Lawyer Blog.
Our next “Q & A Forum” will take place this Friday, February 6, 2015. Act now and submit your questions!
President Obama announced a new series of executive actions related to Immigration on November 20, 2014. The first part of these executive actions, (Expanded) Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) will be available beginning February 18, 2015. The USCIS will begin accepting applications on 2/18/2015 and not any time before. Below is a summary of USCIS’s guidelines for the new program.
(Expanded) Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program
Who
Immigration Policy Center Releases Updated State-by-State Fact Sheets (2014)
The Immigration Policy Center (IPC) has released all fifty states, the District of Columbia and the United States (Overall), for a total of fifty-two updated fact sheets with accompanying info graphics and other details. These fact sheets highlight the demographic and economic impact of Immigrants, Asians and Latinos in each state. The Immigration Policy Center (IPC) is the research and policy division of the American Immigration Council (AIC).
As Washington D.C. continues the discussion of Comprehensive Immigration Reform, we thought that it would be a good time to provide some statistics on the Immigrant population in the United States as provided by this IPC research. This is the last week of this group of blog posts. This week we will highlight the last two: the District of Columbia and the United States (Overall).
The USCIS statistics on DACA Initial cases for the fourth quarter of FY2014, from 7/1/14 to 9/30/14 show a total of 26,995 DACA requests accepted for processing, (N/A) biometric services appointments scheduled, 29,120 requests approved, and 8,630 requests have been denied.
The USCIS statistics on DACA Renewal cases for the fourth quarter of FY2014, from 7/1/14 to 9/30/14 show a total of 105,470 DACA requests accepted for processing, (N/A) biometric services appointments scheduled, 22,393 requests approved, and D* requests have been denied.
This DACA Report includes data for FY2012, FY2013 and FY2014. The USCIS statistics on DACA cases from 8/12/12 to 9/30/14 show a cumulative total of 818,050 DACA requests accepted for processing, 778,738 biometric services appointments scheduled, 632,855 requests approved, and 32,400 requests have been denied.
H1B Visa Lawyer Blog