H-1B Predictions: Will there be a lottery again?

On Tuesday, April 1, 2014, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will begin accepting H1B cap-subject case filings for fiscal year 2015 (FY15).

April 1st may seem a long time from today, but employers and potential H1B workers would be wise to begin the process of preparing their petitions as early as possible. This advance prep work is beneficial both in identifying potential problems while enough time remains to resolve them, and in revealing other possible benefits that may be pursued. 

Work Authorization Under H-1B Portability

E-Verify no longer verify work authorization for an employee who is working for an employer under H-1B portability where the employee previously held H-1B status but has since held an intervening status.

Unlawful Presence

The three- and ten-year bars to admissibility of section 212(a)(9)(B)(i) of the Act and the permanent bar to admissibility of section 212(a)(9)(C)(i)(I) of the Act were added by the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996.

Child Status Protection Act (CSPA)

The CSPA was signed on August 6, 2002, and provides continuing eligibility for immigration benefits to the principal and/or derivative beneficiaries of certain petitions when the beneficiary has “aged out” by turning 21.

Provisional Waivers

Certain spouses, children, and parents of U.S. citizens (immediate relatives) who are in the United States are not eligible to apply for lawful permanent resident (LPR) status while in the United States.

Instead, these immediate relatives must travel abroad to obtain an immigrant visa from the Department of State (DOS) to return to the United States to request admission as an LPR, and, in many cases, also must request from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) a waiver of inadmissibility as a result of their unlawful presence in the United States.

DACA Cases at the Nebraska Service Center

If you have a long-pending DACA case, check to see whether it may fall into one of the below categories. While not always true, these factors may lead to longer processing times. These findings are preliminary, and may not reflect USCIS policy decisions or adjudication trends.

Many of the DACA long-pending cases involved one or more of the following circumstances:

The 2013 China EB-2/EB-3

Beginning with the June 2013 Visa Bulletin, the third preference employment-based immigrant visa category (EB-3) for individuals born in the People’s Republic of China (China) has a more recent cut-off date than the second preference employment-based category (EB-2).

U Visa

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has approved the statutory maximum 10,000 petitions for U-1 nonimmigrant status (U visas) for fiscal year 2014. This marks the fifth straight year that USCIS has reached the statutory maximum since it began issuing U visas in 2008.

Each year, 10,000 U visas are available for victims of certain qualifying crimes who have suffered substantial mental or physical abuse and are willing to help law enforcement authorities investigate or prosecute those crimes. A U visa petition requires certification of assistance from law enforcement.