Visa Lawyer Blog

The U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) recently published a notice of an update for procedures for State Workforce Agencies (“SWA”) and ETA National Processing Centers to process H-2B labor certification applications in non-agricultural occupations. The H-2B nonimmigrant classification allows temporary non-agricultural workers to come to the U.S. to meet seasonal, intermittent or peak-load needs of an employer where there are no U.S. workers who are able, willing and qualified to accept the temporary position(s).

The H-2B nonimmigrant visa classification may work as an alternative for the H- 1B. The earliest that H2B Labor Certifications can be filed for October 2007 starting date is June 1, 2007, employers must file early, please call or email me if you need more info..

You can read the update here

Clients are calling my office in the past week or so, reporting receipt of H1B receipts. A few days later same clients report getting same receipts for the same case. Other clients report receipts issued on the 5th or 6th of April, what is going on here?
The USCIS announced on April 16, 2007, that some of the regular H1B cases subject to the cap will be issued two receipt notices. The reason for this is that the USCIS issued receipts for some (but not all) cap-subject cases filed on April 2nd and 3rd. They changed the procedure before they issued receipts for all cases. Under the new procedure, the USCIS stopped issuing preliminary receipt notices once they realized that the H1B cap had been met on the first day these cases were accepted. The USCIS conducted a random, computer-generated lottery on April 12, 2007 to select the H1B cases that would receive the limited cap numbers.

We are in the process of receiveing receipts for cases that were selected, I assume that if no receipts are received by our office, by early next week clients should assume that the cases were not selected.

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Are you stressed enough with the H1B craziness, well here is another update.

I just learned today that 20,000 H1B numbers reserved for person’s with advanced degrees may be gone by the end of this week, more or less by Thursday afternoon. As you know the 65,000 general cap was reached on April 2, 2007.

There is currently legislation pending in Congress that may help increase the cap and provide relief for the thousands of workers ready to come and work in the US. Many readers ask us what they can do to help. Click here to find out

So what is the update with the H1B Lottery? We have received advance notice from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) that on April 12, 2007 it conducted the computer-generated random selection process to determine which H-1B petitions, subject to the congressionally mandated H-1B cap for the 2008 fiscal year (FY 2008), would continue to final processing.

The agency has confirmed that it received a total of 123,480 cap-subject petitions on April 2 and 3. These petitions were labeled with unique numerical identifiers, and a sufficient number of petitions to reach the annual H-1B cap was then selected randomly by computer. The chosen numerical identifiers were then transmitted to the appropriate Service Center for further processing.

Within the next four weeks, a receipt notice will be generated for each petition that was selected by lottery for adjudication. Those that were not chosen will be sent back to the petitioner or authorized representative along with the fee(s).

For cases that were initially filed with requests for premium processing, the 15-day premium processing period begins on April 12, which is the date petitions were chosen through the random selection process.

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When the Senate returned from the spring recess on April 10, 2007, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) welcomed his colleagues back with remarks that highlighted the pressing need for comprehensive immigration reform. Unfortunately, and despite commitment from leaders in both parties to make immigration a priority, the Senate has yet to introduce a comprehensive immigration reform bill.

Time is growing short – urge your senators to put aside partisan politics and move forward with much-needed policy reform now!
Here is what you can do to help:

Use this email service to write your senators : Click Here

Find your Senator’s Phone numbers here – Click this link

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These are hectic days for immigration lawyers and clients alike. I get call all day long from worried clients wanting to know the status of their H1B visa petition. It is hard to beleive that the fate of one’s future in America will be decided by a lottery drawing.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced an updated number of

filings today as the counting of H-1B petitions received on April 2 and 3 continues. On April 3, USCIS announced that it had received enough petitions to meet the congressionally mandated cap for fiscal year 2008 (FY 2008) and that it would conduct a computer-generated random selection of cap-subject petitions filed on Monday (April 2) and Tuesday (April 3) to determine which cases would be accepted for processing.

“This is unbelievable, this is not happening”

says Jacob Sapochnick, an immigration attorney based in San Diego, California. Thousands of employers, visa applicants and their family members couldn’t agree more. Attorney Sapochnick was describing the federal government’s Scary-tight restrictions on visas released each year to highly skilled foreign workers needed by technology firms.

This year, as in the past, 65,000 of these H-1B visas are available. On April 2, the first day on which applications were accepted for 2007, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services received more than 180,000 petitions from companies needing them to hire scientists, engineers, architects, computer programmers, researchers and other highly trained employees. It’s clear that a lot of skilled workers wishing to live and work here are out of luck and employers are in big trouble.

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