Processing Queue	Priority Dates
	Month	Year
Final Reviews	November	2008
Audits	October	2007
Standard Appeals	July	2007
Gov't Error Appeals	Current

Source: Department of Labor

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today the manner in which petitioners for religious workers must notify USCIS regarding their employment of nonimmigrant religious workers in R-1 status.  The procedures are necessary to enable petitioners to comply with the notification requirements established by USCIS regulations governing the R-1 nonimmigrant classification. 

The approved petitioning employer must notify USCIS within 14 calendar days when an R-1 alien is working less than the required number of hours or has been released from, or has otherwise terminated, employment before the expiration of a period of authorized stay. 

The petitioner must include the following information in the notification:

• Reason for the notification or a reason for late notification (if applicable);
• USCIS receipt number of the approved R-1 petition;
• Petitioning employer’s information (name, address, telephone number and employer identification number (EIN) (if EIN is available).
• R-1 beneficiary information (full name, date of birth, country of birth, last known physical address and phone number).

Employers should provide notification to USCIS via e-mail at: 
        CSCR-1EarlyTerminationNotif@dhs.gov

Notification to USCIS via e-mail is strongly encouraged; however, paper notification can also be made via mail (before the end of the 14 calendar day reporting window) to:

 U.S. Department of Homeland Security
 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
 California Service Center
 Attn: Div X/BCU ACD
 P.O. Box 30050
 Laguna Niguel, CA 92607-3004

Source: USCIS Update August 10, 2009

USCIS issued instructions on making inquiries with the agency's four Service Centers. Customers, community-based organizations and liaison groups should follow this guidance when inquiring about case related issues. This new process standardizes customer service and streamlines processing of customer inquiries at USCIS Service Centers. The step-by-step instructions are as follows:

Step 1: Contact the National Customer Service Center (NCSC) at 1-800-375-5283. The NCSC can assist customers, community-based organizations and liaison groups with case related inquiries. Before calling the NCSC please have available your receipt number, alien registration number, type of application filed and date filed. During your call we recommend that you take note of the following information:

-The name and/or id number of the NCSC representative

-The date and time of the call

-Any service request referral number, if a service referral on a pending case is taken

Step 2: If more than 30 days have passed since you contacted the NCSC and the issue has not been resolved or explained you can email the proper USCIS Service Center to check the status of your case.

-California Service Center: csc-ncsc-followup@dhs.gov

-Vermont Service Center: vsc.ncscfollowup@dhs.gov

-Nebraska Service Center: ncscfollowup.nsc@dhs.gov

-Texas Service Center: tsc.ncscfollowup@dhs.gov

Please note: Emails should be sent to the Service Center that has jurisdiction over your case. The receipt notice will indicate EAC for the Vermont Service Center, SRC for the Texas Service Center, LIN for the Nebraska Service Center, and WAC for the California Service Center.

When contacting the Service Centers by email you will need to provide the information outlined in Step 1. If the NCSC did not issue a service request after your call, please indicate the reason the NCSC representative did not issue the request.

Step 3: In the event you do not receive a response within 21 days of contacting the appropriate Service Center, you may email the USCIS Headquarters Office of Service Center Operations by email at: SCOPSSCATA@dhs.gov. You will receive a response from this email address within ten days.

Source: USCIS Update

As of August 7, 2009, approximately 44,900 H-1B cap-subject petitions and approximately 20,000 petitions qualifying for the advanced degree cap exemption had been filed. USCIS will continue to accept both cap-subject petitions and advanced degree petitions until a sufficient number of H-1B petitions have been received to reach the statutory limits, taking into account the fact that some of these petitions may be denied, revoked, or withdrawn. Source: USCIS H1B Update

Employment Based Visa Bulletin

Categories	Worldwide	China (mainland)	India	Mexico	Philippines
EB-1: Priority Workers	Current	Current	Current	Current	Current
EB-2: Advanced Degree or Exceptional Ability	Current	08JAN05	08JAN05	Current	Current
EB-3: Skilled Workers	U	U	U	U	U
Unskilled	U	U	U	U	U
EB-4: Special Immigrants	Current	Current	Current	Current	Current
Religious Workers	Current	Current	Current	Current	Current
EB-5: Target Area Investment	Current	Current	Current	Current	Current

 

Family Based Visa Bulletin

Categories	Worldwide	China (mainland)	India	Mexico	Philippines
1st: Unmarried sons and daughters of US Citizens	15MAY03	15MAY03	15MAY03	01JAN91	22SEP93
2A: Spouses and Unmarried Children (under 21) of Permanent Resident	15APR05	15APR05	15APR05	22DEC02	15APR05
2B: Unmarried Children (over 21) of Permanent Resident	01JUL01	01JUL01	01JUL01	15MAY92	01MAY98
3rd: Married Children of US Citizen	15DEC00	15DEC00	15DEC00	01JUL91	22SEP91
4th: Brothers and Sisters of US Citizen	22FEB99	22FEB99	22FEB99	22SEP95	22OCT86

 

Source: US Department of State, September 2009 Visa Bulletin