Please Note: Many of these questions are affected by the 3-19-08 press release regarding the interim final regulation on H-1B visas. Under the interim final regulation, if USCIS receives a sufficient number of petitions to satisfy the cap at any time during the first five business days on which petitions for the upcoming fiscal year may be received, all cap-subject petitions received during the first five business days will be included in the random-selection lottery.Stakeholders should anticipate that there will be sufficient cap-subject H-1B petitions filed for the H-1B cap to be met on April 1, thus triggering the regulation that includes all petitions filed on April 1st though April 7th.

Important H1B Delivery Option: USCIS will only accept delivery from United States Postal Service and Private Couriers that are bonded (eg. DHL, Federal Express, United Parcel Service.)

Questions and Answers #1: H-1B Petition Mailing During Cap Season (Posted 3/27/08) Click Here

Final Receipt Date when Cap will be Used Up.  Under the interim final regulation, if USCIS receives a sufficient number of petitions to satisfy the cap at any time during the first five business days on which petitions for the upcoming fiscal year may be received; all cap-subject petitions received during the first five business days will be included in the random-selection lottery.

Use of Courier Service & Receipt Date.  USCIS will accept applications from couriers from 6am to 5pm each day (April 1 – April 6) and until 7pm on the last day (April 7).  USCIS does not consider the package received or timely filed until it is actually on-site at the Service Center.  Filing the application with the PO Box address via USPS will not guarantee the application will arrive on-site to be receipted into the system. Therefore it is strongly recommended to file H1B visa applications via a courier service such as DHL, FedEx, or UPS. 

Multiple Applications Can Not be Filed by Same Petitioner for Same Employee.  A single petitioner cannot file multiple H1B visa applications for one potential employee.  However, several different petitioners can file H1B visa applications for the same potential employee.

Which immigrant classifications are being added?

IH3, IH4: For children residing habitually in Hague Adoption Convention countries who have been or will be adopted by U.S. citizens who are habitually residents in the United States (IH3, IH4)

SI1, SI2, SI3: For Certain nationals of Afghanistan and Iraq employed by the U.S. Government in Afghanistan or Iraq as translators or interpreters (SI1, SI2, SI3)

SQ1, SQ2, SQ3: For Certain Iraqis employed by or on behalf of the U.S. Government in Iraq (SQ1, SQ2, SQ3).

Which nonimmigrant classifications are being added?

E3/E3D/E3R: For certain nationals of Australia in a specialty occupation (E3), spouses and children accompanying or following to join E3 principal aliens (E3D), E3 principal aliens who are applying for a new visa when there has been uninterrupted continuity of employment (E3R); treaty aliens from

H1B1: Singapore and Chile in a specialty occupation (H1B1);

T1/T5: unmarried siblings under age 18 of an alien under 21 years of age who has qualified for T1 classification as a victim of a ``severe form of trafficking in persons'' (T5)  

U1/U5: unmarried siblings under age 18 of an alien under 21 years of age who has qualified for U1 classification as a victim of certain types of criminal activity helpful in the investigation or prosecution of such activity (U5).

Which immigrant classifications are being removed?

SEH: Certain aliens employed at the United States Mission in Hong Kong (SEH) or members of their immediate families. The authority for special immigrant status for that class applied only to aliens who had filed applications for such status by January 1, 2002.

SM4/SM5: Special immigrants who were recruited outside the United States into the U.S. armed forces and have served or are enlisted in the U.S. armed forces for 12 years and their spouses and children. The deleted symbols pertain to those service members (SM4) and spouses and children (SM5) who became eligible as of the date of enactment (October 1, 1991). Also being deleted is the reference to the date of enactment from the class description for the SM1 classification symbol because the INA provision that was the reason for the additional symbols and the significance of that date was deleted from the INA. As amended, the regulation will provide three SM classification symbols that encompass such service members, spouses, and children without reference to the date they became eligible.

Source: Federal Register: March 20, 2008 (Volume 73, Number 55)

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has revised the filing instructions for the Petition for Alien Relative (Form I-130).   Effective immediately, all petitioners filing stand-alone Form I-130s must file their petitions with the Chicago Lockbox instead of a USCIS Service Center.  As of April 30, 2008, all stand-alone Form I-130s submitted to any location other than the Chicago Lockbox will be rejected.  Petitions filed with the Chicago Lockbox will be routed to, and adjudicated at, the appropriate USCIS Service Center.  This routing will be based on the petitioner’s place of residence in the United States. 

Petitioners who reside in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin or Wyoming must file their stand-alone Form I-130s with the Lockbox using the following address:

USCIS
P.O. Box804625
Chicago, IL   60680-1029

Petitioners who reside in Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, U.S. Virgin Islands, West Virginia or District of Columbia must file their stand-alone Form I-130 with the Lockbox using the following address:

USCIS
P.O. Box804616
Chicago, IL   60680-1029

CHANGES TO THE FY2009 H-1B PROGRAM

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued an interim final rule today that prohibits employers from filing more than one petition for an H-1B visa for a single employee in a fiscal year. The change is intended to promote a fair and systematic process for H-1B petitioners. This rule ensures that companies filing H-1B petitions that are subject to numerical limits will have an equal chance to receive consideration for an H-1B worker.  Click Here for Fact Sheet

USCIS Announces Interim Rule on H-1B Visas Rule Modifies Petition Selection Process and Prohibits Multiple Filings

What are the specific modifications under the new rule?

·         USCIS will now either deny or revoke multiple petitions filed by an employer for the same H-1B worker. 

·         USCIS will not refund filing fees for duplicative or multiple H-1B petitions.

·         In years when USCIS implements the random selection process for petitions, USCIS will include petitions in the random selection process that are filed during the first five business days available for filing H-1B petitions for a given fiscal year, rather than just the first two such days.

·         If a petition incorrectly indicates that it is exempt from any of the H-1B numerical limits, the petition will be denied if no H-1B visa numbers are available and the filing fees will not be returned.

Do the new rules referencing multiple filings on behalf of one worker apply to a parent company and its affiliated entities?

·         The rule does not prevent related employers (such as a parent company and its subsidiary) from filing petitions on behalf of the same alien for different positions, based on legitimate business need.    

Click Here Question and Answers

Interim Rule on Multiple H1B Visas Filed by the Same Employer Prohibited

USCIS announced today that it will now either deny or revoke multiple petitions filed by an employer for the same H-1B worker.   Click Here

On March 14, three bills were introduced into the House of Representatives relating to high-skilled visas.

·         Rep. Smith (R-TX) introduced H.R. 5642 which would increase the numerical limitation with respect to H–1B non-immigrants for fiscal years 2008 and 2009.

·         Rep. Kennedy (D-RI) introduced H.R. 5634 which would exempt from numerical limitations any alien who has received a Ph.D. from an institution of higher education within the 3-year period preceding such alien’s petition for special immigrant status.

·         Rep. Giffords (D-AZ) introduced H.R. 5630 which would modify certain requirements with respect to H–1B non-immigrants.

Source: AILA InfoNet Doc. No. 08031931 (posted Mar. 19, 2008)

On March 11,  I announced to members of the House Appropriations Committee that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) had lowered its original processing projections for naturalization applications. Individuals who filed for citizenship during the summer of 2007 can now anticipate an average processing time of 14-16 months for these applications. That’s a marked improvement from the 16-18 months projection we announced in January.   Press Release 

APRIL 2008 VISA BULLETIN. The April 2008 Visa bulletin shows retrogression in many categories, especially worse for EB-3 India and Mexico Nationals.

Employment Based Visa Bulletin

Family Based Visa Bulletin

On 3/11/08 Department of State released the 2007 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.  Click Here

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the U.S. Department of State (DOS) have been committed to streamlining the process for admitting Iraqi refugees to the U.S. while at the same time ensuring the highest level of security. Starting in May 2007, DHS and DOS have worked cooperatively to administer the overseas component of the U.S. refugee admissions program (USRAP).

USRAP is an inter-agency effort involving a number of governmental and non-governmental partners, both overseas and domestically, whose mission is to resettle refugees in the U.S.  In the last year, the USRAP expanded its capacity dramatically to consider Iraqi refugees for resettlement. 

• Since the program began last spring, a total of 20,412 Iraqi individuals have been referred for resettlement to the USRAP. USCIS has interviewed a total of 11,192 Iraqi refugees, and a total of 3,559 Iraqi refugees have been welcomed to the U.S. thus far.

• In FY 2007, between May and September alone, a total of 11,787 Iraqi individuals were referred for resettlement to the USRAP. USCIS interviewed 4,493 Iraqi refugees, and the U.S. admitted 1,608 Iraqi refugees.

• In FY 2008 so far, a total of 8,625 individuals been referred for resettlement to the USRAP. USCIS has interviewed over 6,700 Iraqi refugees, and the U.S. admitted 1,951 Iraqi refugees.

For complete story, click here

U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Michael Chertoff signed today Visa Waiver Program (VWP) Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) with Estonian Minister of Internal Affairs Juri Pihl in Tallinn, Estonia, and with Latvian Minister of Foreign Affairs Maris Riekstins in Riga, Latvia. The agreements outline security enhancements that put both countries on the path toward visa-free travel to the U.S., and possible designation as VWP members later this year.  (3/12/08) Press Release

Director Gonzalez testifies before the House Committee of Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security regarding fee initiatives, backlogs and application surges, E-verify, Real ID, including:

·         FBI Name Check Improvements.  The Director reconfirms USCIS’s commitment to approving pending adjustment applications for individuals who would be otherwise approvable and no actionable derogatory or adverse information has been returned by the by the FBI within 180 days.  Should the FBI return any actionable adverse information on these applications, USCIS will initiate removal proceedings.

·         Iraqi Refugees.  The Director testifies that USCIS will try to meet the Administration’s goal of admitting 12,000 Iraqi refugees into the US by the end of this fiscal year and therefore is aggressively trying to complete at least 16,000 interviews by early this summer.

Emilio T. González speaks on his commitment to military naturalizations.  Gonzalez states that “In 2007 alone, USCIS naturalized 4,735 military service members, with more than 1,300 taking the Oath of Allegiance at ceremonies overseas, in places like Iraq, Afghanistan and along the Demilitarized Zone in South Korea. Since 2001, USCIS has helped more than 36,900 immigrant soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines become United States citizens. These service members and their families have made extraordinary sacrifices for our nation, and USCIS does everything possible to ensure that qualified immigrants who serve in our military receive U.S. citizenship at the absolute earliest opportunity.” Click Here

The Department is announcing administrative changes in the locations where future applications must be filed under the permanent labor certification program and certain temporary foreign labor certification programs administered by the OFLC. The Atlanta NPC will receive all applications for permanent labor certification under the Program Electronic Review Management (PERM) System, and the Chicago NPC will receive all applications for temporary labor certification under the programs as identified below. Beginning on the effective date of this Notice, the National OFLC will no longer receive any foreign labor certification applications.

For the first 15 calendar days after the effective date of this Notice, applications and attestations filed with the incorrect NPC or OFLC National Office will be forwarded to the correct NPC. However, beginning Monday, June 16, 2008, applications and attestations filed with the incorrect NPC or OFLC National Office will be returned to the filer for proper filing.

This Notice is effective on June 1, 2008. Beginning June 16, 2008, applications and attestations filed non-electronically with the incorrect National Processing Center or the National OFLC will be returned to the filer for proper submission.

Addresses:

Atlanta NPC: U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, Atlanta National Processing Center, Harris Tower, 233 Peachtree Street, NE., Suite 410, Atlanta, Georgia 30303, telephone: (404) 893-0101, facsimile: (404) 893-4642, help desk e-mail: plc.atlanta@dol.gov.

Chicago NPC: U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, Chicago National Processing Center, 844 North Rush Street, 12th Floor, Chicago, Illinois 60611, telephone: (312) 886-8000, facsimile: (312) 353-3352, help desk e-mail: plc.chicago@dol.gov.

Source: Federal Register: March 5, 2008 (Volume 73, Number 44)

Source: Federal Register: March 5, 2008 (Volume 73, Number 44)