nonimmigrant visas

July 26, 2013

USCIS Annual Reports to Congress on H-1B Petitions & Characteristics

The American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act of 1998 (ACWIA) requires the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to report annually on the characteristics of H-1B petitioners. They have released two reports which are listed below.

The first report released by USCIS is “Report on H-1B Petitions for Fiscal Year 2012 Annual Report to Congress\October 1, 2011–September 30, 2012″. This report details H-1B filing fees for FY2012, including the number of petitions filed and the number of ACWIA and Fraud Prevention and Detection Fees paid.

The second report released by USCIS is “Characteristics of H1B Specialty Occupation Workers for Fiscal Year 2012 Annual Report to Congress\October 1, 2011–September 30, 2012″. This report details the characteristics of H-1B filings for FY2012, with biographical information on the beneficiaries and statistics on the occupations and industries of approved petitions.

July 25, 2013

OFLC’s Updated Factsheets, Third Quarter FY2013

by Kellie N. Lego

The U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) has released updated factsheets containing Third Quarter FY2013 selected program statistics. These factsheets contain vision representations of the data by using graphs and tables, which makes them much easier to read and understand. I have provided the links to the five updated factsheets below for your review.

Permanent Labor Certification Program

Prevailing Wage Determination Program

July 24, 2013

Updated Service Center Processing Times

by Kellie N. Lego

Processing Time reports for all of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) Service Centers were released on 7/19/13 with processing dates as of 5/31/13.

If you filed a petition with one of the Service Centers, please review the links below to determine the applicable processing time associated with your particular case.

California Service Center

July 12, 2013

Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) Processing Times – 7/2/13

by Kellie N. Lego

Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) Processing Times were released with processing dates as of July 2, 2013.

If you filed an appeal, please review the link below to determine the applicable processing time associated with your particular case.

Administrative Appeals Office

July 10, 2013

H-2B Cap Count UPDATE – 7/8/13

by Kellie N. Lego

The H-2B non-agricultural temporary worker program allows U.S. employers to bring foreign nationals to the United States to fill temporary non-agricultural jobs.

The H-2B cap limit for the second half of FY 2013 (April 1 – September 30) is 33,000. As of the last count (7/5/13); 25,064 beneficiaries have been approved and 1,760 are pending for a total of 26,824.

The H-2B cap limit for first half of FY 2014 (October 1 – March 31) is 33,000. As of the last count (7/5/2013); 0 beneficiaries have been approved and 371 are pending for a total of 371.

June 10, 2013

H-2B Cap Count UPDATE – 6/3/13

by Kellie N. Lego

The H-2B non-agricultural temporary worker program allows U.S. employers to bring foreign nationals to the United States to fill temporary non-agricultural jobs.

The H-2B cap limit for first half of FY 2013 (October 1 – March 31) is 33,000. As of the last count (3/31/2013); *43,089 beneficiaries have been approved and 174 are still pending for a total of *43,263.

The H-2B cap limit for the second half of FY 2013 (April 1 – September 30) is 33,000. As of the last count (5/31/13); 22,393 beneficiaries have been approved and 2,314 are pending for a total of 24,707.

May 29, 2013

H-2B Cap Count UPDATE – 5/28/13

by Kellie N. Lego

The H-2B non-agricultural temporary worker program allows U.S. employers to bring foreign nationals to the United States to fill temporary non-agricultural jobs.

The H-2B cap limit for first half of FY 2013 (October 1 – March 31) is 33,000. As of the last count (3/31/2013); *43,089 beneficiaries have been approved and 174 are still pending for a total of *43,263.

The H-2B cap limit for the second half of FY 2013 (April 1 – September 30) is 33,000. As of the last count (5/24/2013); 21,406 beneficiaries have been approved and 2,281 are pending for a total of 23,687.

May 28, 2013

Updated Service Center Processing Times

by Kellie N. Lego

Processing Time reports for all of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) Service Centers were released on 5/21/13 with processing dates as of 3/31/13.

If you filed a petition with one of the Service Centers, please review the links below to determine the applicable processing time associated with your particular case.

California Service Center

April 24, 2013

H-2B Cap Count UPDATE – 4/23/13

by Kellie N. Lego

The H-2B non-agricultural temporary worker program allows U.S. employers to bring foreign nationals to the United States to fill temporary non-agricultural jobs.

The H-2B cap limit for first half of FY 2013 (October 1 – March 31) is 33,000. As of the last count (3/15/2013); *43,089 beneficiaries have been approved and 174 are still pending for a total of *43,263.

The H-2B cap limit for the second half of FY 2013 (April 1 – September 30) is 33,000. As of the last count (4/19/2013); 14,713 beneficiaries have been approved and 6,867 are pending for a total of 21,580.

April 18, 2013

Update on FY2014 H-1B Cap Cases

by Kellie N. Lego

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has started the data entry of H-1B petitions selected during the April 7th random lottery. On April 12, 2013, Donald Neufeld, USCIS Associate Director of the Service Center Operations told the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) that data entry for premium processing will be completed first, and then non-premium H-1B petition data entry will be started. All data entry should be completed sometime in May. Receipt notices for premium processing cases should be sent out first, then non-premium receipt notices and then finally the rejection notices for petitions not selected in the random lottery.

Remember, non-premium processing cases can only be converted to premium processing after a receipt notice has been issued.

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