The New Dual Chart System: October 2015 Visa Bulletin

For the past several decades, the State Department’s monthly published Visa Bulletin has announced “cut off” dates to determine where immigrant visa applicants were in the various quota queues applicable to family, employment-based and Diversity-based immigrant visa categories. On September 9, 2015, the US Department of State announced a new system for determining eligibility to file for permanent residency.

As of October 1st, in an effort to maximize immigrant visa usage in a fiscal year, the Department of State has established a system where there are two different dates to track. “Application Final Action Dates” (AFADs) are essentially the cut off dates that have always appeared in the Visa Bulletin. “Dates for Filing Applications” (DFAs) are the dates applicants proceeding with consular processing of green cards should be notified to begin gathering documents for submission to the National Visa Center.

The new system applies to the family and employment-based green card categories. The Diversity Visa cut off system is not changed and one chart remains applicable in that category.

The DFAs are anywhere from several months to several years later than the AFADs. Here are the differences on the October Bulletin.

USICS is Not Accepting Applications for the New DACA, old DACA from 2012 still in Effect

Implementation of the new DACA and DAPA programs has been temporarily suspended. On February 17, a federal court judge decided the President’s programs were illegal. However, the existing DACA process and renewals of DACA are not affected by the recent court action.

On November 20, 2014, President Obama announced that he will be taking executive action on immigration due to inaction by congress. Two areas where individuals will see relief are an expansion of the current Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and a new policy of Deferred Action for parents of children who are U.S. Citizens (USC) or Lawful Permanent Residents (LPR). 

Expansion of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA):

Individuals meeting the following criteria will be considered for deferred action if they:

December 2014 Visa Bulletin

December 2014 Visa Bulletin has been released (valid from December 1 to December 31 only). Please see below for more details. 

Family Based:

Family-Sponsored	All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed	CHINA-mainland born	INDIA	MEXICO	PHILIPPINES
F1	22JUN07	22JUN07	22JUN07	15AUG94	15DEC04
F2A	22MAR13	22MAR13	22MAR13	01JAN13	22MAR13
F2B	22FEB08	22FEB08	22FEB08	01OCT94	15JAN04
F3	15DEC03	15DEC03	15DEC03	15NOV93	22JUN93
F4	22FEB02	22FEB02	22FEB02	01MAR97	01JUN91

Employment Based:

Employment- Based	All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed	CHINA - mainland born	INDIA	MEXICO	PHILIPPINES
1st	C	C	C	C	C
2nd	C	01JAN10	15FEB05	C	C
3rd	01NOV12	01JUN10	01DEC03	01NOV12	01NOV12
Other Workers	01NOV12	22JUL05	01DEC03	01NOV12	01NOV12
4th	C	C	C	C	C
Certain Religious Workers	C	C	C	C	C
5th Targeted Employment Areas/ Regional Centers and Pilot Programs	C	C	C	C	C

My Law, LLC                                            
Immigration & Tax Law Firm

www.mylawllc.com

Phone: (630) 903-9625

1230 E. Diehl Rd. Suite 106

Naperville, IL 60563

E-mail: attorney@mylawllc.com

Facebook Page:

https://www.facebook.com/Immigration.MyLawLLC

November 2014 Visa Bulletin

November 2014 Visa Bulletin has been released (valid from November 1 to November 30 only). Please see below for more details. 


Family Based:

Immigration benefits for same-sex married couples

Green cards, visas, and other immigration benefits have been a reality for same-sex marriage couples since the Supreme Court’s landmark gay rights decision in United States v. Windsor, which invalidated DOMA (the Defense of Marriage Act”). 

Today, thankfully, legal discrimination against LGBT immigrants is no more. Now, same-sex married couples are afforded precisely the same rights and benefits under U.S. immigration laws as are opposite-sex married couples.

With the ruling of DOMA as unconstitutional, bi-national same-sex couples can finally seek immigration benefits based on their marriage. Thus, U.S. citizens and green card holders can now petition for immigration benefits for their same-sex spouses.

Diversity Immigrant (DV-2016) Visa Program Announced

The Congressionally mandated Diversity Immigrant Visa Program is administered annually by the Department of State. Section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) provides for a class of “diversity immigrants,” from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the United States. For fiscal year 2016, 50,000 diversity visas (DVs) will be available.

Applicants who are selected in the lottery (“selectees”) must meet simple, but strict, eligibility requirements in order to qualify for a diversity visa. Selectees are chosen through a randomized computer drawing. Diversity visas are distributed among six geographic regions and no single country may receive more than seven percent of the available DVs in any one year.

For DV-2016, natives of the following countries are not eligible to apply, because more than 50,000 natives of these countries immigrated to the United States in the previous five years:

Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (mainland-born), Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam.

Persons born in Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR, and Taiwan are eligible.

There are no changes in eligibility this year. 

Entry period:

October 2014 Visa Bulletin

October 2014 Visa Bulletin has been released (valid from October 1 to October 31 only). Please see below for more details. 

Family Based:

Family-Sponsored	All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed	CHINA-mainland born	INDIA	MEXICO	PHILIPPINES
F1	22MAY07	22MAY07	22MAY07	22JUN94	01SEP04
F2A	01FEB13	01FEB13	01FEB13	22JUL12	01FEB13
F2B	01NOV07	01NOV07	01NOV07	01AUG94	15DEC03
F3	01DEC03	01DEC03	01DEC03	22OCT93	01JUN93
F4	22JAN02	22JAN02	22JAN02	01FEB97	08APR91

Employment Based:

Employment- Based	All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed	CHINA - mainland born	INDIA	MEXICO	PHILIPPINES
1st	C	C	C	C	C
2nd	C	15NOV09	01MAY09	C	C
3rd	01OCT11	01APR09	15NOV03	01OCT11	01OCT11
Other Workers	01OCT11	22JUL05	15NOV03	01OCT11	01OCT11
4th	C	C	C	C	C
Certain Religious Workers	C	C	C	C	C
5th Targeted Employment Areas/ Regional Centers and Pilot Programs	C	C	C	C	C

My Law, LLC                                            
Immigration & Tax Law Firm

www.mylawllc.com

Phone: (630) 903-9625

1230 E. Diehl Rd. Suite 106

Naperville, IL 60563

E-mail: attorney@mylawllc.com

Facebook Page:

https://www.facebook.com/Immigration.MyLawLLC

Not Picked in H1B 2015 Lottery – Options?

Depending on your situation, you might be wondering what are the options.  Some of you might be Students on F1 Visa, some of you might be spouses on H4 visa, Some of you might be applying from your Home country, Some of you might be in L1 Visa applying.

F1 Student in USA – OPT ending in 2014 – Second Masters ? PhD ? STEM ?

§  If your degree falls under STEM category, you should talk to your employer, DSO and apply for 17 month OPT extension.  The big catch for this is that your employer has to be e-Verified. Most of the good employers are e-Verified, if not you will not be eligible for this offer.  This buys you another 17 month time and you can apply for H1B Visa 2016 quota.

§  You can consider applying to jobs in research institutes, Universities, Community colleges, and non-profit organizations…As these institutions do NOT fall under annual H1B Cap, it is a great option. This can be a little bit of work, but you will still be able to work in USA, if you find one.

§  You may consider PhD or Second Masters to keep yourself in status. You will Not get OPT for second master degree as it is of same level.