Posts Tagged ‘Petitions’

H-1B Visa Cap Update

  FY 2013 H-1B Cap Count - as released by USCIS
Cap Type 
Cap Amount 
Cap Eligible Petitions  
Date of Last Count
H-1B Regular Cap 
65,000 
36,700
05/11/2012
H-1B Master’s Degree Exemption 
20,000
14,800
05/11/2012


H1B Visa Cap Update

  FY 2013 H-1B Cap Count - as released by USCIS
Cap Type 
Cap Amount 
Cap Eligible Petitions  
Date of Last Count
H-1B Regular Cap 
65,000 
29,200
04/27/2012
H-1B Master’s Degree Exemption 
20,000
12,300
04/27/2012


EB-5 Investor Visa: Sources of Capital

The U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act sets aside 7.1% worldwide visa numbers to qualified immigrants seeking to enter the U.S. for the purpose of engaging in a new commercial enterprise. The applicant must either have invested or is in the process of actively investing capital not less than U.S. $1,000,000 in the enterprise. This is commonly known as the EB-5 investor visa. Other categories of immigrant visa are usually oversubscribed for countries such as China and India. For instances, many family-based petitions, including those filed by U.S. citizens, are currently backlogged. The EB-2 and EB-3 employment visa categories are similarly oversubscribed.

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US immigration adds more countries to list of eligible applicants for H-2A and H-2B visas

US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced last week that there have been five more countries added to the list of eligible nationals who can participate in the H-2A and H-2B programs in 2012. This brings the lists total to 58 countries. The list of Countries will be reviewed again one year from the date of publication.

The H-2A and H-2B programs allow US employers to bring foreign workers to the US in order to fill temporary agricultural jobs and temporary non-agricultural jobs.

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Only 7,400 H-1B Visa Numbers Available for FY2012

As of November 2, 2011, the USCIS announced that approximately 50,800 H-1B cap-subject petitions have been received. There are about 58,200 total regular cap visa numbers available after certain set aside usage, leaving only 7,400 visa numbers still up for grabs.  


VAWA self-petitions can be filed by the victim between the ages of 21 and 25

The USCIS has issued a policy memo dated September 6, 2011, to allow victims of abuse to file their self green card petitions even though they are over the age of 21 if it is filed before the age of 25.  The Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act of 2005 (VAWA 2005) amended section 204(a)(1)(D) of the Immigration and Nationality Act to allow continued eligibility for certain individuals to file a VAWA self-petition after the age of 21, if the abuse was at least one central reason for the filing delay. 


Revocation of VAWA-Based Self-Petitions

On December 15, 2010, the USCIS issued a policy memorandum on revocation of
VAWA-Based Self-Petitions (Forms I-360).  The policy memo provides policy
guidelines which the Vermont Service Center and the field offices must follow in
revoking a VAWA self petition.

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) was a law passed by U.S. Congress in 1994 to allocate resources to investigate and prosecute cases of violence against women.  In the immigration context, victims of violence may also file self-petitions to obtain legal status.  In 1997, to ensure uniform and
expeditious treatment of all self-petitions filed by battered spouses and children, the former INS implemented a centralized filing procedure by having all VAWA self-petitions adjudicated at the VSC.  The reason was that the VSC adjudications officers  assigned to review VAWA petitions had received
specialized domestic violence training and have developed expertise in adjudicating these petitions.

After a self-petition is approved, the USCIS has the authority to revoke the petition based on reliable new evidence.  Again to ensure that petitions were revoked in a consistent and efficient manner, the former INS issued a policy memo in 2002 to designate the VSC as the sole office that had the authority to
issue notices of intent to revoke Form I-130.  This policy has not been consistently followed by the local offices.  Consequently, a new memo was issued by the USCIS in December to address this issue again.  In order to revoke a self-petition filed by abused spouses, children and parents of U.S.

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February 2011 Visa Bulletin – Family remains retrogressed; Employment sees slight advancements

The February 2011 Visa Bulletin was released recently by the State Department.  In general, there is not much positive movements in the cut off dates for both family and employment petitions.  On the family side, the retrogression that started in January continues to be a problem. As discussed previously, the rapid forward advancements in family cut off dates during the past two years have caused a huge increase in  demand for family immigrant visa numbers.  As a result, the U.S.

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