OUTSIDE THE BOX THINKING, DELIVERING CUTTING EDGE SOLUTIONS!

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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) have announced that they reached the statutory H-1B cap of 65,000 for fiscal year (FY) 2015 within the first week of the filing period. USCIS has also received more than 20,000 H-1B petitions filed on behalf of persons exempt from the cap under the advanced degree exemption.

USCIS stated that they must first finish the initial intake before conducting the random selection process. The date of the selection process has not been set due to the high number of petitions received! USCIS will reject and return filing fees for all cap-subject petitions that are not selected.

USCIS will conduct the advanced degree exemption random selection process first. Any advanced degree petitions not selected will then become part of the random selection process for the 65,000 limit.

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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, April 11, 2014. Act now and submit your questions!

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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on Friday, March 25th that it will begin accepting H-1B petitions subject to the Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 cap on Tuesday, April 1, 2014. Cases will be considered accepted on the date that USCIS receives a properly filed petition for which the correct fee has been submitted; not the date that the petition is postmarked.

The cap (the numerical limitation on H-1B petitions) for FY 2014 is 65,000. In addition, the first 20,000 H-1B petitions filed on behalf of individuals with U.S. master’s degree or higher are exempt from the fiscal year cap of 65,000.

USCIS stated that it is possible that the H-1B cap will be met in the first 5 business days! Also be advised that premium processing for cap-subject H-1B petitions will begin by April 28, 2014. See the USCIS’s Premium Processing section for more details.

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Filing an H-1B petition requesting premium processing will not increase the chances of obtaining an H-1B under the quota. If you request premium processing and the case is accepted for processing, the 15 day premium processing window will start no later than April 28, 2014, according to the USCIS news alert issued 3/25/2014. Please note that one seeming benefit of filing a cap subject H-1B petition with a request for premium processing is that a receipt notice may be issued faster than if filed under regular processing. Therefore, the petitioner and beneficiary may confirm sooner that the petition has been chosen in the lottery.

Source of Information:

USCIS.gov (3/25/14) News Release:

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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 first half of FY 2014 (October 1 – March 31) is 33,000. As of March 14, 2014, the cap for the 1st half of FY 2014 was reached.

The H-2B cap limit for second half of FY 2014 (April 1 – September 30) is 33,000. As of the last count (3/28/14); 13,741 beneficiaries have been approved and 5,108 are pending for a total of 18,849.

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The USCIS statistics on DACA cases for the first quarter of FY2014, from 10/1/13 to 12/31/13 show a total of 30,673 DACA requests accepted for processing, 28,679 biometric services appointments scheduled, 47,655 requests approved, and 4,777 requests have been denied.

This DACA Report includes data for FY2012, FY2013 and FY2014 (YTD). The USCIS statistics on DACA cases from 8/12/12 to 12/31/13 show a cumulative total of 610,694 DACA requests accepted for processing, 597,747 biometric services appointments scheduled, 521,815 requests approved, and 15,968 requests have been denied.

The cumulative data also shows the number of accepted and approved requests from the top countries of origin and the top states of residence. Mexico was the top county of origin with 467,982 received to date and 403,302 approved. California was the top state of residence with 174,241 received to date and 153,571 approved.

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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 “Accountant. Level I.”

After receiving & reviewing an Employer’s Application for Permanent Labor Certification, the CO issued an Audit notification. The Employer responded by sending certain information that the CO requested. In response, the CO informed the Employer that they would need to conduct supervised recruitment. As part of the process, the Employer had to submit a copy of the proposed job advertisement. A week later, the CO approved the advertisement and mailed further recruitment instructions. Over a month later, the Employer sent copies of the Georgia State Workforce Agency’s job order and an in-house job posting, along with copies of its advertisements.

A few months later, the CO told the Employer the recruitment time had concluded. In 30 days, the Employer needed to submit a comprehensive written report about the recruitment process and the results. In a timely manner, the Employer compiled with the request. In the report, the Employer noted it had rejected all US applicants, a few of which because the Employer was unable to communicate with them concerning the advertised 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 – Family Based Green Card

Can same-sex marriages, like opposite-sex marriages, reduce the residence period required for naturalization?

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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 “Assistant Sports Editor, Al Dia.”

After receiving & reviewing an Employer’s Application for Permanent Labor Certification, the CO issued an Audit notification. He asked the employer to provide documentation of their recruitment process. The Employer submitted copies of print and online job ads. However, the response did not contain any printouts from the employer’s own website.

The CO denied the application declaring that the Employer failed to deliver sufficient documentation to show the Employer used its own website to advertise the job. The Employer did not provide pages from their website that contained the dates the ads were posted online. In addition, the CO believed the Employer unlawfully rejected some US Applicants.

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Processing Time reports for all of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) Service Centers were released on 3/18/14 with processing dates as of 1/31/14.

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

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