Green Card & Visa News » Priority Workers

October 2011 Visa Bulletin: Advancements in Employment 2nd India/China, Family 1st and 2nd

Tushar Mathur — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 17:08:00 +0000

Following
the disappointment September bulletin, October kicks off the new fiscal year
with some good news. First, Eb-2 India
and China
advance nicely to July 15, 2007. On the
family side, after having been unchanged for a few months, Family 1^st
finally advances for all countries – China, India, and Other Countries all move
forward by six weeks; Mexico moves forward
by one week; Philippines advances two months.
Family 2A moves forward five weeks to January 8, 2009 for China, India,
Philippines,
and Other Countries. The Family 2B
categories also see anywhere from two to five weeks of advancement.

Family	Other Countries	CHINA- mainland born	INDIA	MEXICO	PHILIPPINES
F1	15JUN04	15JUN04	15JUN04	22MAR93	08JAN97
F2A	08JAN09	08JAN09	08JAN09	15OCT08	08JAN09
F2B	15JUL03	15JUL03	15JUL03	22NOV92	01MAY01
F3	08SEP01	08SEP01	08SEP01	01DEC92	08JUN92
F4	15MAY00	15MAY00	15MAY00	08APR96	01AUG88

1st: Unmarried Sons and Daughters of Citizens (about 23,000 per year).

2A:
The 2 “A” preference is for Spouses and Children (under 21 &
unmarried) of LPR’s.

2B:
The 2 “B” Preference is for Unmarried Sons and Daughters (21 or
older) of LPR’s.

3rd: Married Sons and Daughters of Citizens.(about 23,000
per year)

4th: Brothers and Sisters of Adult Citizens.(about 65,000 per year)

Employment	Other Countries	CHINA- mainland born	INDIA	MEXICO	PHILIPPINES
EB1	C	C	C	C	C
EB2	C	15JUL07	15JUL07	C	C
EB3	08DEC05	08AUG04	15JUL02	08DEC05	08DEC05
Other Workers	15SEP05	22APR03	08JUN02	15SEP05	15SEP05
EB4	C	C	C	C	C
Religious Workers	C	C	C	C	C
EB5	C	C	C	C	C

1st: Priority Workers (Extraordinary ability aliens, multinational companies
executives/managers, outstanding prof./researchers)

2nd: Members of the Professions Holding Advanced Degrees or Persons of
Exceptional Ability.

3rd: Skilled Workers, Professionals, and Other Workers (Unskilled.)

4th: “Special Immigrants” (Religious & others)

5th: Employment Creation (Investors)

September Visa Bulletin: F2A Advances; EB-2 India, China Stagnant

Tushar Mathur — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 01:44:00 +0000

The September 2011 Visa Bulletin has been released by the State Department. On the employment side, there is not much movement. As the FY2011 is coming to an end, many employment visa beneficiaries were hoping that there would be some nice movements in EB-2 and EB-3 preference categories. However, for September, both Eb-2 China and Eb-2 India remain unchanged at 15 April 2007, although EB-3 and Other Workers have some small movements.

Things are mixed on the family side. F1 is unchanged again for China, India and the Other Countries but advances more than six months and one week respectively for Philippines and Mexico. There are some significant movements in F2A (lawful residents’ spouses and children). F2A has advanced more than four months for China, India, Philippines and the Other Countries to 1 December 2008. F2A Mexico also moves forward to 22 September 2008.

Family	Other Countries	CHINA- mainland born	INDIA	MEXICO	PHILIPPINES
F1	01MAY04	01MAY04	01MAY04	15MAR93	01NOV96
F2A	01DEC08	01DEC08	01DEC08	22SEP08	01DEC08
F2B	01JUL03	01JUL03	01JUL03	01NOV92	22MAR01
F3	22AUG01	22AUG01	22AUG01	22NOV92	15MAY92
F4	15APR00	15APR00	15APR00	22MAR96	08JUL88

1st: Unmarried Sons and Daughters of Citizens (about 23,000 per year).

2A: The 2 “A” preference is for Spouses and Children (under 21 & unmarried) of LPR’s.

2B: The 2 “B” Preference is for Unmarried Sons and Daughters (21 or older) of LPR’s.

3rd: Married Sons and Daughters of Citizens.(about 23,000 per year)

4th: Brothers and Sisters of Adult Citizens.(about 65,000 per year)

Employment	Other Countries	CHINA- mainland born	INDIA	MEXICO	PHILIPPINES
EB1	C	C	C	C	C
EB2	C	15APR07	15APR07	C	C
EB3	22NOV05	15JUL04	08JUL02	22NOV05	22NOV05
Other Workers	01AUG05	22APR03	01JUN02	01AUG05	01AUG05
EB4	C	C	C	C	C
Religious Workers	C	C	C	C	C
EB5	C	C	C	C	C

1st: Priority Workers (Extraordinary ability aliens, multinational companies executives/managers, outstanding prof./researchers)

2nd: Members of the Professions Holding Advanced Degrees or Persons of Exceptional Ability.

3rd: Skilled Workers, Professionals, and Other Workers (Unskilled.)

4th: “Special Immigrants” (Religious & others)

5th: Employment Creation (Investors)

Seattle Immigration Lawyer | Employment-Based Visa Preferences

Tushar Mathur — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 02:15:00 +0000

Returning to my series on obtaining a green card based on a job offer, when deciding whether to apply for an immigrant visa you must determine which employment-based preference category you fall into.

The first three employment-based immigrant visa preferences are as follows:

First Preference (EB-1): Persons of extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business or athletics; outstanding professors or researchers; and multinational executives and managers. (No Labor Cert. required.)

First Preference is known as the category for “priority” workers. Needless to say, the vast majority of immigrants do not meet the criteria. However, if you think you might qualify under this preference you should consult an experienced immigration attorney to make sure you meet the criteria and assist you with the visa petition—each subcategory within First Preference has its own specific requirements.

As of this month, the priority date for First Preference is current no matter where you are from, meaning there are currently enough visa numbers under this preference to meet the applicant demand. This is typical for the First Preference, though it’s not unusual for there to be a backlog for immigrants from China, India, Mexico or the Philippines, even under this preference.

Second Preference (EB-2): Professionals holding advanced degrees or persons with exceptional ability in the arts, sciences, or business. (Labor Cert. required, unless you obtain a national interest waiver. A national interest waiver may be given when the immigrant’s presence in the U.S. would benefit the U.S. in the future. The positive impact that you will have to show must be national in scope. This is a hard waiver to obtain and you should definitely consult with an experienced immigration attorney to assist you.)

The Second Preference also has specific requirements for its subcategories. In general, the Second Preference is for those who are immigrating to the U.S. in order to work full-time in their field and who have an offer for permanent employment from a U.S. employer.

Now, the exceptional ability subcategory of the Second Preference is a little easier to qualify for than the subcategory of the same name for First Preference. Here, if you can demonstrate national acclaim over a period of time that’s enough.

As of this month, the priority date for Second Preference is current (unless you are from China or India), meaning there are currently enough visa numbers under this preference to meet the applicant demand.

Third Preference (EB-3): Professionals, skilled workers, and other workers (also called “unskilled workers). (Labor Cert. required.) Most immigrants will fit into one of these subcategories, which I will discuss in my next post, along with the Fourth and Fifth Preference categories.

The Green Card Process – Pavement to be an NRI

Tushar Mathur — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 13:59:07 +0000

Every Indian desires to stay abroad, work there and to spend rest of his life proudly as an NRI. To implement this desire into reality is not a one go process; it takes its own time and rigorous formalities to get a Permanent Residential Card from US government also known as Green Card.

A Green card permits an alien to reside and take employment in USA. It is an Identification card, serves as a proof that card holder is a Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR) and has been legally granted immigration benefits.

Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) is an agency formerly responsible to issue Green cards. It mainly focused on protecting and enforcing the laws of naturalization, the process by which a foreign-born person becomes a citizen.

During a re-organization process, INS was absorbed into and replaced by the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (BCIS) which was further renamed as US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which still retains the responsibility for issuing green cards.

To apply a Green Card one must have a Visa that can be an Immigrant for permanent stay or Non Immigrant for temporary stay. Non Immigrant visa can be a Business Visa, Student Visa, Exchange Visa or can be a Tourist Visa as well.

The duration of the stay depends entirely on the purpose of visit. A business visa also known as B1/B2 Visa is allotted to those who are visiting US for Business Purpose, to attend short term training for short span of time, to visit to his relatives or for any medical treatment

There is another category of Business visa called as EB1/EB2 Visa allotted to priority workers including outstanding professors, researchers, International managers and executives. An EB1 petition does not require a Labor Certification.

To process it forward, an individual or employer must file a Form I-140 (a Petition for Alien Worker) with the USCIS Regional Service Center that has jurisdiction over the place where the individual will work.

Once the I-140 immigrant visa petition is approved, the alien and his/her spouse and children under 21 years of age may apply for their immigrant visas either through adjustment of status in the United States or through consular processing which an applicant can take at US consulate overseas.

Other type of Visa includes Students Visa which is allotted to students going US for studies. This visa is valid only for the span of course duration or 5 years whichever less is. Apart from these Visas there are some other categories like Tourist Visa, Transit Visa that are allotted as per the duration of stay.

There is a separate category of Visa also known as Exchange Visa or F-1 visa which is much highlighted these days for the exchange programs run by colleges and schools wherein students from foreign countries visit US to interact with their students and to understand their education pattern.

Apart from the above process one can also get a Green Card through a Green card Lottery organised by state department that provides Green Card to 50,000 winners randomly selected from all the qualified entries.

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