OUTSIDE THE BOX THINKING, DELIVERING CUTTING EDGE SOLUTIONS!

Thousands of uniquely talented foreign students enroll in colleges and universities in the United States on a yearly basis. Some find sponsoring employment and are able to petition for a H-1B nonimmigrant visa; however, there remains a large majority that are left with no available options to remain in this country once their education is completed.

It would seem counterintuitive to educate the foreign-born and then send them home. Furthermore, U.S. companies are finding it increasingly difficult to procure visas to transfer existing foreign employees to the U.S. to continue work on products, services and projects. Current immigration policies are not working well for U.S. businesses.

Still in Committee

MVP Law Group, P.A. makes available the information and materials in this forum for informational purposes only. The information is general in nature and does not constitute legal advice or any contractual obligations. Further, the use of this site, and the sending or receipt of this information, does not create an attorney-client relationship between us. Therefore, your communication with us through this forum will not be considered as privileged or confidential.

Question #1 – H-1B Nonimmigrant Visa

I am an employer. When should we begin to prepare our H-1B CAP subject cases? Once prepared, can we submit them prior to April to ensure our petitions are accepted?

Starting Friday, Feb. 1, those who receive an immigrant visa package from a U.S. consulate or embassy abroad will be required to pay a new $165 immigrant fee.

We are aware of the effect that any new fee has on the communities we serve. However, the fee is necessary to cover the costs of producing and delivering permanent resident cards.

Important Points to Remember

Eight high ranking U.S. Senators, four Democrats and four Republicans have developed and agreed on a framework for Immigration Reform. This newly released outline is entitled, “Bipartisan Framework for Comprehensive Immigration Reform“. The first sentence of the framework is “We recognize that our immigration system is broken.” This sentence tells all about the need for comprehensive immigration reform in this country.

This framework is built on four main points which they call the “four basic legislative pillars” to achieve the goal of immigration reform. We have listed these “pillars” below. Each pillar is then taken individually and explained in more detail as part of the framework. We have also included links to the complete transcript of this document and to some Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) from Senator John McCain’s web site.

We at MVP Law Group feel that this is a real start! Just having a bipartisan agreement between the Senators is a great achievement but to have a framework for immigration reform shows that there could be actual movement in this important area.

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 (1/18/2013); 26,831 beneficiaries have been approved and 3,914 are still pending for a total of 30,745.

The H-2B cap limit for the second half of FY 2013 (April 1 – September 30) is 33,000. As of the last count (1/18/2013); 924 beneficiaries have been approved and 2,401 are pending for a total of 3,325.

We wanted to find a new way to engage our reader base. Every other Friday, we will post the ten (10) best/most frequently asked questions received during the week from our h1bvisalawyerblog, Facebook, and Twitter readers. We will answer those questions and provide the Q&A on our H-1B Visa Lawyer Blog.

If you have a burning question, are seeking assistance with a difficult immigration related case, wish to discuss your views on Comprehensive Immigration Reform, DREAMers, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, priority dates, the monthly visa bulletin, adjustment applications, etc., please contact us by submitting your question/comment/viewpoint in our comment box provided on our H-1B Visa Lawyer Blog.

Our next “Q & A Forum” will take place this Friday, February 1, 2013. Act now and submit your questions!

As we posted on 1/17/13, “USCIS Begins Transition to Online Centralized Policy Manual“, the USCIS has started the transition to a centralized online policy manual. The first phase of the policy manual covers Citizenship and Naturalization. They have been offering webinars on the subject during the month of January. There is still one webinar left for this month, Wednesday, January 30 (1 – 2 p.m.). For complete information and how to sign-up please view the USCIS Outreach web page on the subject. If interested I would hurry; they have been filling up fast.

Related PDF files:

Meeting Invite

The USCIS has updated their Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) on their web site. The new FAQs cover a wide range of DACA subjects including “Lawful Status” and “Travel Outside of the U.S.” and are marked, “NEW”. These new questions and answers have been added to the already existing list and add to the knowledge base for this subject.

For more information please read the USCIS FAQs updated January 18, 2013 on DACA.

These USCIS statistics on DACA cases from 8/15/12 to 1/17/13 show a total of 394,533 DACA requests accepted for processing, 371,103 biometric services appointments scheduled, and 154,404 requests approved. The data also show the number of accepted requests from the top countries of origin and states of residence.

View the (.PDF) USCIS Report, “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Process (January, 2013)

For further information regarding Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, please visit www.uscis.gov/childhoodarrivals.

Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano announced the posting of a final rule that reduces the time U.S. citizens are separated from their immediate relatives, who are in the process of obtaining visas to become lawful permanent residents of the United States under certain circumstances. The final rule establishes a process that allows certain individuals to apply for a provisional unlawful presence waiver before they depart the United States to attend immigrant visa interviews in their countries of origin. The process will be effective on March 4, 2013.

“This final rule facilitates the legal immigration process and reduces the amount of time that U.S. citizens are separated from their immediate relatives who are in the process of obtaining an immigrant visa,” said Secretary Napolitano.

For more information please read the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Alert on the subject.

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