Immigration News from the Law Office of Jocelyne J. Kim Lew, APC

On January 9, 2012, the U.S. State Department released the February 2012 Visa Bulletin which shows continued availability and movement forward for employment based visa categories.  First Preference Employment for all countries and Second Preference Employment for the world except China and India visa numbers remain current.  India and China Second Preference Employment cut off dates have progressed by one year from the cut off date of January 1, 2009 to January 1, 2010.  This significant jump is likely due to the fact that the State Department is still unaware of the adjustment cases filed since the fall of 2011 in that USCIS has not yet adjudicated these employment based adjustment cases filed during the past four months.

Third Preference Employment for the World, the Philippines and Mexico moves forward by three weeks from  February 1, 2006 to February 22, 2006.  China also moves six  weeks  from  October 15, 2004 to December 1, 2004.  Third Preference India moves again only one week from August 8, 2002 to August 15, 2002.

On December 9, 2011, the U.S. State Department released the January 2012 Visa Bulletin which shows continued availability and movement forward for employment based visa categories.  First Preference Employment for all countries and Second Preference Employment for the world except China and India visa numbers remain current.  India and China Second Preference Employment cut off dates have progressed significantly from the cut off date of March 15, 2008 to January 1, 2009- a nine and a half month jump.

Third Preference Employment for the World, the Philippines and Mexico moves forward by two weeks from  January 15, 2006 to February 1, 2006.  China also moves five  weeks  from  September 8, 2004 to October 15, 2004.  Third Preference India moves only one week from August 1, 2002 to August 8, 2002.

The H-1B cap was reached on November 22, 2011.  Thus any H-1B visa petition subject to the cap and received by USCIS on or after November 23, 2011 will be  rejected .  The next opportunity to file H-1B cap subject petitions will be on 04-01-2012 with an effective date of 10-01-2012.

In the interim, non cap cases such as H-1B visa extensions and/or H-1B visa transfers will continue to be accepted by USCIS.

On 11-15-2011, USCIS released new H-1B cap data: as of the last count on 11-14-2011, USCIS had received 56,300 H-1B cap petitions against the 65,000 H-1B cap.  However, USCIS must set aside 6,800 visas for the H-1B1 program under the terms of the legislation implementing the U.S.-Chile and U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreements.  Thus only 58,200 H-1B cap numbers are available although this number should be increased by the unused H-1B1 Chilean/Singaporean not allocated in the previous fiscal year.  Unfortunately, USCIS has not released data as to the number of unused H-1B1 numbers, so it is unclear how many H-1B cap petitions USCIS will accept.  This being said, the H-1B cap will be reached in November.

On November 10, 2011, the U.S. State Department released the December 2011 Visa Bulletin which shows continued availability and some movement forward for employment based visa categories.  First Preference Employment for all countries and Second Preference Employment for the world except China and India visa numbers are current.  India and China Second Preference Employment cut off dates have now progressed from the cut off date of November 1, 2007 to March 15, 2008 - a four and a half month jump.

Third Preference Employment for the World, the Philippines and Mexico moves forward by three weeks from  December 22, 2005 to January 15, 2006.  China also moves two weeks  from  August 22, 2004 to September 8, 2004.  Third Preference India moves only ten days from July 22, 2002 to August 1, 2002.

Between October 28, 2011 and November 2, 2011,  USCIS received approximately 1,600 petitions which were counted against the 65,000 regular cap; the total number of H-1B cap filings as of  November 2, 2011 was 50,800.  If fewer than 2,000 petitions are filed each week,  the H-1B cap may not be reached until early January 2012.

Now that the H-1B Master’s cap has been reached, all  new H-1B cases (cap) will now be counted against the regular cap numbers.  Between October 21, 2011 and October 28, 2011,  USCIS received approximately 3,000 petitions which were counted against the 65,000 regular cap; the total number of H-1B cap filings as of  October 28, 2011 was 49,200.  If approximately 3,000 petitions are filed each week,  the H-1B cap may be reached before the middle of December 2011.

The H-1B Master’s cap has been reached based on information provided by USCIS dated October 21, 2011.  H-1B Master’s or higher cap cases will now be counted against the regular cap numbers.  Between October 15, 2011 and October 21, 2011,  USCIS received approximately 2,900 petitions which were counted against the 65,000 regular cap; the total number of H-1B cap filings as of  October 21, 2011 was 46,200.  Now that all H-1B cap cases will be counted against the regular cap - it may be expected that in excess of 3,00 petitions may be filed each week.  If this number remains constant, the H-1B cap may be reached before the end of this calendar year.

The H-1B Master’s cap may be reached within the week.  As of October 14, 2011, approximately 19,600 petitions had been filed against the 20,000 Master’s or higher cap, about 500 petitions in one week.   Between October 7, 2011 and October 14, 2011,  USCIS received approximately 2,300 petitions against the 65,000 regular cap; the total number of H-1B cap filings as of  October 14, 2011 was 43,300.  The number of H-1B cap filings continues at about the same pace.

As of October 7, 2011,  the H-1B Master’s cap has almost been reached.  As of that date, 19,100 petitions have now been filed against the 20,000 Master’s or higher cap, an increase of 1,400 petitions in two weeks.  Thus this cap may be reached before the end of October 2011.  Between September 23, 2011 and October 7, 2011,  USCIS received approximately 4,700 petitions against the 65,000 regular cap; the total number of H-1B cap filings as of  October 7, 2011 was 41,000.  During these two weeks, the number of H-1B cap filings has increased.