Articles Posted in Work Visas

USCIS today announced an updated number of filings for H-1B petitions for the fiscal year 2010 program. USCIS has received approximately 44,000 H-1B petitions counting toward the Congressionally-mandated 65,000 cap. It looks like less than 2000 cases were filed in the past two weeks, so it is very likely that the cap will not be met at least until the end of June.

Anti Immigration and H1B groups, blamed the economic crisis and job losses, on foreign workers coming to steal jobs from US workers. H-1B workers don’t “steal” jobs from U.S. workers. H-1B visas are issued to temporary, “nonimmigrant” workers in “specialty occupations.” As described by the Congressional Research Service, a “specialty occupation” is one “requiring theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialized knowledge in a field of human endeavor including, but not limited to, architecture, engineering, mathematics, physical sciences, social sciences, medicine and health, education, law, accounting, business specialties, theology, and the arts, and requiring the attainment of a bachelor’s degree or its equivalent as a minimum.” H1B workers are a boost to any employer and not a threat. The current crisis is affecting H1B workers as well.

We will keep following the developments in the H1B saga.

According to computerWorld, President Barack Obama has signaled interest in taking up comprehensive immigration reform. And any push for immigration reform is almost certain to include an increase in the H-1B cap. Patrick the reporter outlined 5 reasons why the cap will be increased; Read the excellent article here

The main lesson to be learned from the H1B saga this year, is that the market worked and won. Given the large number of jobs lost in the U.S. economy, employers submitted far less petitions than they did last year. Contrary to what critics of the program maintain, the cost of employing an H-1B worker exceeds that of hiring a U.S. worker given attorneys’ fees and government filing fees.

Congress should stop trying to control the program, and return to a simple market-based system. The plain truth is that the overwhelming majority of U.S. employers comply with the law. Those that abuse the law should be stripped of their ability to petition for H-1B workers. So bottom line is that, if you are in need of good quality workers, you can still hire them on the H1B visa. But you need to hurry.

In the past week or so we have been receiving many requests for evidence on all H1b cases filed on April 1, 2009. The RFEs received by us and practitioners across the country so far appear to only request that the single page of the I-129 Data Collection sheet be sent with the TARP question answered.

Due to the passage of EAWA, USCIS is required to collect TARP (and Section 13 funding) information on each H-1B petitioner. However, by the time the new form became available, we had already completed our packages for the H-1B cap filing period for April 1, 2009. Therefore, USCIS confirmed that the new I-129 form was not mandatory and that only the one page (of the I-129 Data collection sheet requesting the TARP information) was urged to be included.

At the AILA Spring Conference in Washington, D.C., Barbara Velarde, Chief, USCIS Service Center Operations, mentioned that if the TARP information was not included in the filing, the petitions would not be rejected. However, USCIS would need to send an RFE for the TARP information. Unfortunately, this was not clearly explained in the USCIS fact sheet on TARP issued on March 20, 2009. Nevertheless, USCIS is required under the EAWA statute to obtain this information and the easiest way for USCIS to comply is to send an RFE. This is a very annoying and time consuming process for all us dealing with H1B filings, and even more confusing for the clients. We hope that USCIS explain better such crucial changes in future matters.

I can not remember a time in my practice when I got so many inquiries and emails about investing and relocating to the United States. You would think that in these tough economic times, people will stir away from this country. The opposite is true. In these challenging times, many foreign investors are looking at the US as a potential gold mine. Trying to position themselves for the moment the economy takes a different course.

According to Jack Welch, in these recessionary times, a new business doesn’t stand much of a chance unless it provides a demonstrably superior value proposition than the market’s current offerings. Sure, not that long ago, you could still take a competitor’s service or product, tweak it or slap on a new feature or two, and persuade customers to buy it at a premium. But with everyone in hunker-down mode, the days of marginal up-selling are gone, and could be for some time to come.

That said, if you’re an entrepreneur or a foreign investor who has actually come up with a product or service that will significantly improve people’s lives—for significantly less than the going rate—here’s why right now might be the right time to forge ahead.

I made a bet with a few fellow Immigration experts about the timing of the cap being reached. I now admit that I lost. I predicted the cap to be met by the 7th with 85,000 regular H1B’s filed.

Today we got the H1B news, and in line with the current economy.

USCIS has received approximately 42,000 H-1B petitions counting toward the Congressionally-mandated 65,000 cap. The agency continues to accept petitions subject to the general cap. Additionally, the agency has received approximately 20,000 petitions for aliens with advanced degrees;however, they continue to accept advanced degree petitions since experience has shown that not all petitions received are approvable. Congress mandated that the first 20,000 of these types of petitions are exempt from any fiscal year cap on available H-1B visas.

The H1B visa filing status seems to be the main issue for clients and site visitors in the past week. USCIS announced today that the H-1B cap has not been reached and it continues to accept H-1B petitions for both the 65,000 regular cap and the 20,000 higher-degree cap. Should USCIS receive the necessary number of petitions to meet the respective caps, it will issue another update to advise the public that, as of a certain date (the “final receipt date”), the respective FY 2010 H-1B caps have been met. So for now, we can keep filing.

Here is the original notice from USCIS Download file

We are not even one week after H1B filing day and problems are here. AILA Liaison has been advised by USCIS that a small number of petitions submitted for the FY2010 H-1B quota were receipted in error . This means the Immigration already issued receipts, even before any lottery. If this happened to your case, this is a mistake as final count of cases is still going.

Please check your petition to make sure you indicate that it was new employment, a cap submission, and why it is a cap case. See our H1B posting on how to mark a case. This is important to help identify petitions that should be included in the H-1B lottery.

We will keep you posted of any new developments.

It looks like there will be a delay in the launch of the new iCert PERM portal for processing labor certifications (LCs). As planned, the new LCA system will launch on April 15, 2009, when employers and attorneys can set up their iCert accounts and begin submitting the new LCA forms through the iCert portal. A month after its launch of the LCA portal, as of May 15, 2009, LCAs will only be accepted through the iCert system. The existing LCA online system will continue to accept LCA filings through May 14, 2009, at which time it will only be online for case status checks and LCA withdrawals.

Employers and applicants should be aware of the upcoming changes to both the LCA and PERM/LC processes. We will continue to track changes to the DOL’s iCert portal system and will update our readers.

The H1B Frenzy is almost over, see below a sample of what some cases looked like before leaving our office.

It is likely that companies will file fewer H-1B visa applications for Fiscal Year 2010 as a result of the economic recession. However, there will still be demand for the talent and innovation that drives our Nation’s economy. It is unknown how may H-1B professional and specialty occupation visa petitions will be filed tomorrow (when the USCIS begins accepting petitions for FY 2010 tomorrow). It seems almost certain that all 85,000 visas will be utilized before the fiscal year begins on October 1st, 2009.