OUTSIDE THE BOX THINKING, DELIVERING CUTTING EDGE SOLUTIONS!

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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, October 10, 2014. Act now and submit your questions!

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I attended an American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) DC Chapter meeting on Wednesday evening in DC, where U.S. State Department, Charles Oppenheim (the man responsible for creating and publishing the monthly Visa Bulletin) informed the audience of the numbers for the November and December 2014 Visa Bulletins.

Employment Based 2nd Preference:

a. EB2 for Indian Nationals – will retrogress several years either in November 2014 or December 2014 (possibly as early as 2005), with no movement again until roughly May/June of 2015

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On Friday, September 26, 2014, USCIS announced that they have published a web page with free on-demand access to a Form I-9 webinar. On-demand means that this video of the Form I-9 webinar is available at any time on the Internet. This webinar explains how to correctly complete the Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification form. You can choose from any of the (14) individual chapters or you may watch the entire 22 minute video altogether. This is a great training tool to learn how to correctly complete this important form.

Form I-9 Webinar on Demand

Form I-9 is used for verifying the identity and employment authorization of individuals hired for employment in the United States. All U.S. employers must ensure proper completion of Form I-9 for each individual they hire for employment in the United States. This includes citizens and noncitizens.

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Annually, the United States government issues a maximum of 50,000 green cards through a computer-generated random lottery drawing. Applications for the DV-2016 random lottery will be accepted from noon (EDT) Wednesday, October 1, 2014 through noon (EST) Monday, November 3, 2014. Paper entries will not be accepted, eligible participants may access the electronic Diversity Visa entry form (E-DV) to apply during this period. Early entry is recommended and they strongly encourage applicants not to wait until the last week of the registration period to enter!

These green cards are only available to those eligible participants from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. Please check the “INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE 2016 DIVERSITY IMMIGRANT VISA PROGRAM (DV-2016)” for the complete list of countries/areas whose natives are eligible for DV-2016.

Natives of the following countries are not eligible to apply because the countries sent a total of more than 50,000 immigrants to the U.S. in the previous five years: Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (mainland-born), Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam. Also, persons born in Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR, and Taiwan are eligible.

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Processing Time reports for all of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) Service Centers were released on 9/19/14 with processing dates as of 7/31/14.

If you filed a petition with one of the Service Centers, please review the links below to determine the applicable processing time associated with your particular case.

California Service Center (CSC)

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The Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals (BALCA) recently affirmed the decision of a Certifying Officer (CO) to deny labor certification for the position of “Design Engineer-Mechanical.”

After receiving & reviewing an Employer’s Application for Permanent Labor Certification, the CO issued an Audit notification. The Employer responded by sending its recruitment report as well as resumes from U.S. applicants. In response, the CO informed the Employer that they would be required to conduct supervised recruitment. As part of the process, the Employer could only advertise the position in permitted publications and abide by specific advertising conditions. The Employer sent the CO a copy of the proposed job advertisement that was approved by the CO. A few weeks later, the Employer sent copies of the Arkansas State Workforce Agency job order; newspaper ads, on-line job postings from its company web page and a job search website. The CO told the Employer about the resumes that he had received as well.

A few months later, the CO told the Employer that the recruitment time had concluded. In 30 days, the employer was required to submit a comprehensive written report about the recruitment process and the outcomes. In a timely manner, the Employer presented its recruitment results. In the report, the Employer noted it had received resumes from 45 applicants. During the review of the resumes, the Employer cited it considered job applicants based on their education, training, experience as well as trainability. The Employer believed that none of the applicants fulfilled the minimum job requirements and therefore, were not qualified for the position.

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MVP Law Group, P.A. makes available the information and materials in this forum for informational purposes only. The information is general in nature and does not constitute legal advice or any contractual obligations. Further, the use of this site, and the sending or receipt of this information, does not create an attorney-client relationship between us. Therefore, your communication with us through this forum will not be considered as privileged or confidential.

Question #1- H1B Nonimmigrant Visa

I need to extend my H-1B visa. Last year, I worked for another company in my home country for 5 months. Because of the H-1B six-year limit, can I ask the USCIS to recapture my 5 month time spent outside of the U.S. from my H-1B visa time?

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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.

The H-2B cap limit for the second half of FY 2014 (April 1 – September 30) is 33,000. As of the last count (9/12/14); 26,193 beneficiaries have been approved and 229 are pending for a total of 26,422.

The H-2B cap limit for first half of FY 2015 (October 1 – March 31) is 33,000. As of the last count (9/12/14); 5,014 beneficiaries have been approved and 1,322 are pending for a total of 6,336.

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After the release of the “Visa Bulletin for October 2014” by the Department of State (DOS) the American Immigration Lawyers Association’s (AILA) DOS Liaison Committee had a “check-in” with Charles (“Charlie”) Oppenheim, Chief of the Visa Control and Reporting Division, DOS. They communicate with Mr. Oppenheim monthly to obtain his trend analysis and projections of the immigrant preference categories which are detailed in the monthly DOS visa bulletins.

Mr. Oppenheim states that retrogression (moving backwards) of the EB-2 India priority date appears to be imminent, and could happen as early as this November 2014. The October 2014 priority date for EB-2 India is currently at May 1, 2009. He feels given current demand, the priority date will retrogress, possibly to a date in early 2005. If you are an eligible EB-2 India client (eligible = your priority date is current according to the October 2014 visa bulletin) you should file your adjustment of status applications by the end of October. He warns that the window of opportunity may be closing.

The main reason he anticipates this EB-2 India retrogression is the large number of EB-3 to EB-2 upgrades by Indian-born applicants and this will most likely continue to increase the EB-2 India demand in the coming months.

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The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will be holding a stakeholder teleconference on Thursday, October 9, 2014 between 11:00am to 12:30 pm (EST). The subject of the event will be a discussion of H-1B filing tips and eligibility requirements for Religious Workers and will include Q&A sessions.

This teleconference will be broken into two 45-minute sessions. The first session will be from 11:00am – 11:45 am and will cover H-1B filing tips. The second session will be from 11:45 am – 12:30 pm and will cover eligibility requirements for religious workers. For more information on this teleconference please review the Meeting Invitation.

Note: This event was previously scheduled for 9/25/14.

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