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.

Philippine Government Requests TPS

The Philippines has formally requested Washington for additional immigration relief measures to allow eligible Filipinos to stay and work in the United States so they could support the country’s long-term post-typhoon recovery efforts, the Department of Foreign Affairs announced Monday, 16 December.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert F. Del Rosario said the request to designate the Philippines under Temporary Protected Status (TPS) was officially conveyed on Friday, 13 December, by Ambassador Jose L. Cuisia, Jr. to the Department of Homeland Security through a note verbale to the Department of State.

Gay Marriage Immigration Green Card

Gay Americans with immigrant spouses — who are now no longer barred by the federal Defense of Marriage Act from applying for marriage-based green cards.

The Supreme Court held that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional, President Obama directed federal departments to ensure the decision and its implication for federal benefits for same-sex legally married couples are implemented swiftly and smoothly.

December 2013 Visa Bulletin

December 2013 Visa Bulletin has been released (valid from December 1 to December 31 only). Please see below for more details.

Family Based:

Family-Sponsored	All Charge -ability Areas Except Those Listed	CHINA- mainland born	INDIA	MEXICO	PHILIPPINES
F1	15NOV06	15NOV06	15NOV06	22SEP93	01JUL01
F2A	08SEP13	08SEP13	08SEP13	01SEP13	08SEP13
F2B	01MAY06	01MAY06	01MAY06	01APR94	22MAR03
F3	08MAR03	08MAR03	08MAR03	01JUN93	22JAN93
F4	08SEP01	08SEP01	08SEP01	22OCT96	01JUN90

Employment Based:

Employment- Based	All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed	CHINA- mainland born	INDIA	MEXICO	PHILIPPINES
1st	C	C	C	C	C
2nd	C	08NOV08	15NOV04	C	C
3rd	01OCT11	01OCT11	01SEP03	01OCT11	08JAN07
Other Workers	01OCT11	01OCT11	01SEP03	01OCT11	08JAN07
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

H-4 Visa: H1B Spouse Dependent

H-4 visa holders are permitted to study at any U.S. university. They are not required to obtain F-1 student visas before beginning a study program. However, H-4 visa holders are NOT permitted to work in the United States. There are no exceptions to this rule.

If an H-4 visa holder begins working, that person is violating the conditions of his or her status and may lose status and be subject to other serious penalties.

H-4 visa holders are also entitled to travel in and out of the United States. There is no requirement that the H-1B worker accompany them.       

However, in other business and skilled foreign worker non-immigrant visa legislation such as L-1 multinational corporate executives, managers, and specialized knowledge workers, J-1 foreign exchange visitors, etc, the law has accommodate this issue to relieve the primary foreign workers from such family issues and spouses' career issues.

Somehow, however, the law has failed to extend the identical consideration in the case of H-1B highly skilled foreign workers visa for unknown reasons.

Importantly, any time spent in H-4 status does NOT count towards the six-year maximum period of time that workers are allowed to be in H-1B status. 

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

Diversity Visa Lottery Registration Ends November 2

Each year, 50,000 lucky persons obtain lawful permanent residence in the U.S. through the Diversity Visa (DV) lottery.

To apply, you must have either:

EB PERM categories Update

USCIS recently updated PERM statistics. The statistics will show demand in various EB categories is currently 4% higher than last year.

In the past months around 28,000 PERM applications (out of 54,000 received) have been approved. 83% of total approved applications are filed by H1B visa holders. 

Government shutdown ended on October 17

As many of you know government shutdown ended on October 17. All government agencies are now currently open and functioning as usual (though there could be a delay due to backlog).

Many agencies including USCIS has provided relief to applicants who may have been affected by the government shutdown.

E-2 Treaty Investors Visa

The E-2 nonimmigrant classification allows a national of a treaty country (a country with which the United States maintains a treaty of commerce and navigation) to be admitted to the United States when investing a substantial amount of capital in a U.S. business. 

Certain employees and dependent family members of such a person or of a qualifying organization may also be eligible for this classification.

General Qualifications of a Treaty Investor:

To qualify for E-2 classification, the treaty investor must:

The L-1 intracompany transferee visa program

The L-1 visa program facilitates the temporary transfer of foreign nationals with management, professional, and specialist skills to the United States.

For purposes of section 101(a)(15)(L), an alien is considered to be serving in a capacity involving specialized knowledge with respect to a company if the alien has a special knowledge of the company product and its application in international markets or has an advanced level of knowledge of processes and procedures of the company.

Although the above definition is vague, there is more practical idea after the Puleo & Successive CIS memoranda:

Visa bulletin November 2013

November 2013 Visa bulletin has been released (valid from November 1 to November 30 only). Please see below for more details. 

Family Based:

Family-Sponsored	All Charge -ability Areas Except Those Listed	CHINA- mainland born	INDIA	MEXICO	PHILIPPINES
F1	22OCT06	22OCT06	22OCT06	22SEP93	01JUL01
F2A	08SEP13	08SEP13	08SEP13	01SEP13	08SEP13
F2B	22MAR06	22MAR06	22MAR06	01APR94	01MAR03
F3	08FEB03	08FEB03	08FEB03	01JUN93	08JAN93
F4	22AUG01	22AUG01	22AUG01	22OCT96	22APR90

Employment Based:

Employment-Based Quota Limit Reached for FY 2013

The State Department has confirmed to AILA liaison that employment annual limits have been reached, as is often the case at the end of a fiscal year.

USCIS will continue to process pending adjustment cases, and is able to submit visa number requests for all cases which are being finalized. The State Department will place requests in a “pending Demand” file.

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Processing Recent Statistics

On June 15, 2012, President Obama signed a memo calling for deferred action for certain undocumented young people who came to the U.S. as children and have pursued education or military service here.  Applications under the program which is called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (“DACA”) begin on August 15, 2012.

When DACA went into effect last August it offered them a temporary reprieve from deportation, authorization to work and the ability to get a temporary social security card and drivers license.

2015 DV Lottery Opens on October 1, 2013

While Congress has been discussing changes to immigration policy through new immigration bills, President Obama has not yet signed any immigration bill into law.

Just last year, at least 8 million foreigners submitted a green card application through the green card lottery. Only 55,000 green card applications were able to obtain a green card for themselves, their spouses, and their children.

F2A is no longer current

As our firm predicted, F2A, the family based category for green cards was no longer current in October.

The F2A refers to the minor unmarried children and spouses of green card holders which was current from August 1 through September 30, 2013, but it will retrogress for October and probably for much longer after that.

Green Card Spouse and Children: F2A remains current

Green card holder’s spouse and children under 21 years old which called F2A category starting from August 1 remain current. Current means there is currently no line in this category and the green card holders can apply their spouse and children under 21 for green card.

However, it is likely to remain current only until November. This is because once enough applications have been accepted, then it is very likely to retrogress which means the line will come back as before. And once the line come back, the expectation for F2A is continuing to move forward slowly. How far it retrogress depends on how many applications are filed in the next few months. Therefore, there will be no surprise even if the line comes back in October.

Green Card Lottery likely going to be cancelled

Green Card Lottery could be cancelled if the Congress passes the current immigration reform plan. 

The lottery program also known as the diversity visa starts in 1995 from the Immigration Act of 1990. It is relatively small, granting about 50,000 visas compared to other new green cards issued each year. The lottery plans to diversify the immigrant population in the United States. The lucky winners need to pass a background check, but need only a high school degree or equivalency to qualify.  Under the proposed immigration reform program, the diversity visa might be eliminated. 

H1B Selection Rate

USCIS announced that they have received about 124,000 H-1B petitions from April 1 to 5. Using a denial rate of 15%, this means that USCIS should select about 100,000 H-1B petitions in the lottery so the overall selection rate is about 80%.

2014 H-1B Cap Reached

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that it has received a sufficient number of H-1B petitions to reach the statutory cap for fiscal year (FY) 2014. 

USCIS has also received more than 20,000 H-1B petitions filed on behalf of persons exempt from the cap under the advanced degree exemption.

H1B Update

As you are aware, there are a limited number of H-1B visas available each year: 20,000 under the master's degree cap and 65,000 under the regular cap. In the past few years, the quota has been reached months after April 1st, the first day H-1B petitions are accepted for the upcoming fiscal year. Last year the quota was reached on June 11, 2012. This year there is a chance the quota is reached in the first week. 

Under current regulations, the USCIS must accept H1B cap-subject cases during the first five business days in April. If the cap is reached or exceeded in the first five days, no more cases can be filed toward the cap until the next fiscal year.