Pending AOS Cases and Priority Dates

A very common question I am asked by clients who have pending Adjustment of Status cases is, “why is my case still pending if the USCIS processing times show it is working on cases filed after mine?”  The answer, in most cases, is that the client doesn’t have a priority date which is current and [...]

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H-1B Round-up, Part 2: Culture of “No” & “Nevermind”

While the economy is largely to blame (or be congratulated) for the fact that there are still just under 20,000 H-1Bs for Fiscal Year 2011 remaining,  there is another reason why we are not seeing H-1Bs flying off the shelves these days.  It seems that the number of H-1B petitions being withdrawn by employers or [...]

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A Leap Forward for EB3 in October

The Department of State just released the October 2009 Visa Bulletin.  The freeze on Employment-based Preference 3 is over (for now).  The priority date is June 1, 2002 (worldwide), February 22, 2002 (China), April 15, 2001 (India).  We hope to see more movement in the upcoming months as USCIS and the Consulates reduce the backlog [...]

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H-1B Round-up, Part I: USCIS Targeting H-1B Employers

In an effort to reduce fraud in the H-1B visa program, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has expanded its H-1B site visit and enforcement program. Approximately 25,000 new site visits of H-1B employers are in the works. USCIS is targeting these enforcement efforts at all H-1B employers, and not just those perceived to be [...]

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Small Step for DOL and iCERT

AILA InfoNet Doc. No. 09090866 (posted Sep. 8, 2009): AILA Liaison has learned that the Labor Department has enhanced the iCERT system to include FEIN verifications that have been completed in the PERM system. According to the DOL, all prior FEIN verifications completed during the PERM employer existence verification process are now incorporated into the [...]

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