Visa Bulletin – March 2024

March Visa Bulletin for the FY 2024 was released few days. Here are key insights and updates to it with some predictions.

How to use Demand Data to calculate EB3 to EB2 Porting?

As per visa allocation each year under each category, USCIS/DOL should use 233 visas every month for EB2-India. Normally this should reduce demand by 233 every month. Since we are not seeing any reduction in demand data, it suggests that there are many individuals who are upgrading their case from EB3 to EB2. So what is the rate at which EB3 to EB2 porting is happening? Simple Calculations that could be used to estimate this is ...

EB3 to EB2 Porting with same employer: Not a good idea

These days it is been topic of the town for Indian nationals to port their priority date from EB3 to EB2 category. So far this totally makes sense. This could tremendously reduce the wait time for an individual to receive a green card. But an individual and his employer should be very careful while taking this step if they are planning to port the case with a same (current) employer. There are rumors that many employers are upgrading their employees’ petition from EB3 to EB2 category just to retain their employees.

I-485 Case Tracker for PDs 'Current'

We have released new I-485 case tracker for cases that are 'Current' today. Please use this tracker to enter details of your application and case status. Please fill in as much details as possible and edit the tracker as and when you will get more information on your application status. Use this tracker to see if PDs that has recently became current are getting approved

January 2012 I-485 Pending Inventory - EB Category Visa Use

USCIS released I-485 pending inventory upto 12 January 2012. Please note this inventory is only for Service Centers and Field Offices, and does not contain consular processing cases. Dependents are included. Here is a summary of the I-485 inventory when compared to October 2011 Inventory. This inventory is used to estimate the visa use during Q1 of FY 2012 and Projected Demand for FY 2012.Please note that one fallacy to using inventory to estimate demand is that it will not consider cases approved in less than 90 days.

EB Category Roll-Over and PWMB Demand: I-485 Receipt Data

We analyzed I-485 Approvals and Receipts for FY 2011 to estimate carry-over demand from FY 2011 in EB category. We also used this data in conjunction with USCIS I-485 Performance data and I-485 representative filings from June to September 2011 at trackitt to estimate People Who Missed the Boat (PWMB) demand for EB2-IC upto September 2011 that may start consuming visa numbers from FY 2012 annual allocation and/or spillover.

Prediction for EB2 Category for FY 2012

Here is the Prediction for EB2 Category cutoff date retrogression for Fiscal Year 2012. Basis for this prediction is simple calculations (see below) which is done based on available data i.e. PERM data published by DOL, I-485 Inventory data, latest trend on Trackitt for EB1 & EB2 cases and other published data by USCIS. Demand data for each dependent category is predicted and explained in calculations below. This data is further used to calculate spillover that would be available for EB2 category. Retrogression is estimated based on visa allotment available each year for each country and total spillover that is expected in FY 2012. In each case, Optimistic, Realistic and Worst-Case scenario is estimated.

Green Card Calculator - Employment Based

As per recent demand data released until September 01, 2011 on EB I-485 inventory, here is the 'Green Card' calculator for Employment- Based category that tells an individual how many I-485 applicants are there before them in the queue under their filed preference category. Beyond this, calculations are extended to predict how many years will it take an individual to receive a green card. In addition, you can put an assumption for a spillover that your category and country would receive every year and see how this changes the scenario.

What to do once Priority Date (PD) becomes current?

A very commonly asked question by fellow petitioners is the step by step process that they should follow after an individual’s Priority date will become current. Please read this article to check on next steps and required I-485 documents.

I-485 Primary & Secondary Evidence - Country Specific

Commonly asked question is what to do when primary evidence of birth, marriage, divorce etc is not available. Here is the country specific I-485 Required documents for (AOS) or (CP). Immigration officers or Adjudicators are asked to refer to the list below before making any decision on RFE or NOID in case primary evidence is not submitted or established. Please select your country from the drop-down list to see specific secondary evidence and documents.

EB2-India & China I-140 Demand (Yearly) based on DHS Released Report

DHS on 29th December 2011 released a Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman's recommendation to improve the quality in Extraordinary Ability and Other Employment based petition adjudication document. We used this data to deduce I-140 demand for EB2-India and China.

EB2-IC Movements FY 2012 - Mr. Oppenheim's thinking?

We looked into if there is any analytical correlation between movements that Mr. Oppenheim did last year for Family Based Category (F2A) and current movement that we saw with EB2-India and China for Employment Based Category. Is there any correlation or equation or factor that can determine how Mr. Oppenheim would think in absence of demand or visible demand in case number of filings that he is receiving or available adjudicated case cases are less? That is when we started digging into this.

AC21 Portability - FAQs and Sample Letters to USCIS

Some people suggests that sending letter to USCIS on job change after invoking AC-21 portability is not required. But this is a gray area, and no one knows it better if USCIS should be informed when individual would invoke an AC-21 portability to change job once applicant's I-485 is pending for more than 180 days with USCIS.

Understanding Section 245(k) to use it for Derivative applicants after Primary’s I-485 approval

Common question asked by many primary I-485 applicants who had previously filed I-485 Adjustment of Status (AOS) application, which is still pending with USCIS, is about adding their spouses or children (derivatives) to their pending I-485 application. At this point there is always a concern among the petitioner that their case will be approved before their derivatives application

July 2012 Visa Bulletin Predictions - EB Category

Here is the prediction for July 2012 Visa Bulletin. We should see following movements in each category as long as USCIS/DOL would use visa numbers as per statutory allocations.

EB2 India & China - What to expect in FY 2012?

Cut-Off Dates has reached PD 15th April 2007 for EB2-India and China for FY 2011 in September bulletin, now what can we expect for FY 2012?. We have some analysis to estimate movement in FY 2012. This is very rudimentary as of now and can change as FY 2012 will progress.

EB3 ROW-Mexico-Philippines - What to expect in FY 2012?

For FY 2012, EB3-ROW-M-P is expected to move together similar to the movement that was seen for FY 2011. Based on available I-485 inventory, last released demand data, and hidden demand (or Consular Processing demand) that was observed in FY 2011, total EB3-M-P demand until ....

How to know if old I-140 has been revoked by previous employer?

If an individual filing a green card under employment-based category has changed job and now planning to port priority date from previous filed Labor certification, he/she will at least need an approved I-140 from previous employer to recapture priority dates. This I-140 should not be revoked and still active.

Understanding Visa Bulletin Cut-Off Date Determination

The State Department (DOS) is responsible for the allocation of numerically limited immigrant visa numbers under the authority granted by section 203 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). These visa numbers are allocated based on congressionally mandated preferences that assign an overall total, limits for each category and per country limits within each category. Here is a quick Memo on the steps involved.

'Hard' vs 'Soft' LUD - How to use it to track your case status with USCIS?

If you heard people talking about keeping track of 'Soft' and 'Hard' LUDs on forums and other websites, and wondered what it is, now you can understand what is LUDs and how you can use them to track any activity on your petition that is pending with USCIS.

How to Obtain an Emergency Advance Parole (AP) Document?

If your current status is Adjustment of Status (AOS) Pending and you are currently working on EAD, it is very important that you renew your Advance Parole (AP) document in timely manner, well in advance. If an individual leaves a country under AOS pending status with their AP application pending or AP document due expire when they are traveling outside of country, they will abandon their status in United Status. Subsequently their I-485 application will be denied.

People Who Missed the Boat (PWMB) during July 2007

Question was asked in the comment section that how would applications with Priority date before July 2007 who could not file in July 2007 would affect EB2-IC movement for FY 2011. These people are commonly referred as "People Who Missed the Boat (PWMB)" by some people. We earlier thought that these numbers will small percentage of the whole group. But careful analysis of PERM data suggests that these numbers are significant when you will include primary + dependents (assuming a family would consume 2.5 visas) applications.

EB3 to EB2 Porting Calculations - Part III

We have a poll on EB3 to EB2 Porting which is up since last week of February 2011, and till-date we have received '445' votes. Results has been consistent through out the poll for the last two months. It suggests that the general trend or distribution of individuals with different PD that are porting has not changed from day to day regardless of number of votes received.We are convinced that this will be a general trend for rest of the current year regardless of porting numbers. Calculations are further extended to extrapolate real world numbers.

H1B FY 2012 CAP Count & Predictions

As per recent release by USCIS, regular cap has utilized till date 11,200 visas and Masters quota has utilized 7,900 visas as of 13th May 2011. It is interesting to see that H1B visa under Master Cap has utilized more than 35% of the quota. As of now number of petitions increased from last week is 1,600. Based on past months trend, regular cap can reach by 27th January 2012 and Masters Cap by 30 September 2011.

H1B FY 2012 : List of Disqualified Employers

H1B FY 2012 season will be here soon. It is advisable that the prospective aspirants for H1B FY 2012 should be aware of the debarred or disqualified employer for this season. Please make sure you do not become a bait to any of these employers for your H1B filing. These employers are willful violator employer and are black-listed.

PERM Processing Time Starts to Slump

DOL recently released current PERM processing times. It looks like fire-sale is almost over and PERM processing time will again start creeping towards 1-2 months wait or more in coming months. 5 days approval will be a history. Temporary Government shutdown is still not in effect and this will delay the processing time further when some decision about it will be made during April 8, 2011. The Senate votes to fund the federal government through April 8. But the stalemate over 2011 spending remains, and no one wants to pass another short-term stopgap. Is the stage now set for a government shutdown next month is yet to be known.

Document on Tax Exemption for OPT Students and Students on F1B visa

Document or proof stating that OPT students are not required to pay Social Security Taxes and Medicare tax. You can share this with your employer

What is H1B 'CAP Exempt' visa?

Most of the international students after graduation would focus their attention to find a job in corporate world. But it is always difficult to find an employer who will be ready to sponsor your H1B visa. If you are lucky, you may find an employer who is willing to sponsor your work visa, but could not do it because quota is not available at that time or if quota is open, is worried that he may have to wait until start of fiscal year in October before you could begin working for him. What are other options in such case? Well in this case, you can opt for working for organizations that are exempted from H1B visa regular cap quota.

Showing posts with label visa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label visa. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Senator Grassley's letter to Director of USCIS to ensure accountability in H-1B visa program

Posted On Wednesday, September 30, 2009 by Rav 0 comments

WASHINGTON – One year after an internal assessment showed extensive fraud and abuse in the H-1B visa program, Senator Chuck Grassley today is asking U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to hold employers accountable by requesting evidence from petitioners that H-1B visa holders actually have a job waiting for them in the United States.


In his letter to the director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Alejandro Mayorkas, Grassley cited an Iowa company that was recently indicted for not having jobs available for the H-1B workers they petitioned for, and placing them in non-pay status upon arrival in the United States. Grassley also noted that the business allegedly submitted Labor Condition Applications with the U.S. Department of Labor that stated prevailing wage data for a location in Iowa rather than the higher prevailing wage for the location outside Iowa where the worker would actually be employed.


“The United States is in need of an immigration overhaul. Porous borders, shoddy workplace enforcement, and fraud-heavy guest worker programs all contribute to our illegal immigration problems. We don’t need a long, arduous legislative process to get at some of the problems. The agency can take immediate steps to eliminate fraud in the H-1B program, including cracking down on body shops that do not comply with the intent of the law. Employers need to be held accountable so that foreign workers are not flooding the market, depressing wages, and taking jobs from qualified Americans,” Grassley said. “Asking the right questions and requesting the necessary documents will go a long way in getting out the fraud in the H-1B program.”


Grassley also asked for an update on the steps being taken U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to alleviate other problems found in the 2008 benefits fraud and compliance assessment. The internal report found that more than 20 percent of petitions reviewed were based on fraud. Grassley has proposed several legislative changes to the program, but says this is something that can be done administratively to get at the fraud perpetrated by employers.


Here is a copy of the text of the letter to Mayorkas.


September 29, 2009


The Honorable Alejandro Mayorkas
Director
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
Department of Homeland Security
Washington, D.C.


Dear Director Mayorkas:


It’s been one year since U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) released its benefits fraud and compliance assessment of the H-1B Non-immigrant Visa Program. This report evaluated the integrity of the H-1B visa program by reviewing a sample of petitions and by taking a comprehensive look at all aspects of the petition process. Unfortunately, the assessment showed that 20.7% of visa cases reviewed were identified as having outright fraud or other program violations associated with them.


Upon release of the benefits fraud assessment, I wrote to Acting Director Jonathan Scharfen to ask what steps USCIS had taken or would take to restore integrity in the program. Acting Director Scharfen reported to me that the agency had issued internal field guidance informing adjudicators of the findings and instructing them to make changes to how they adjudicate H-1B petitions.


While I appreciate the steps taken to alert USCIS Service Center adjudicators about the report and fraud indicators to be watchful for, I am surprised that no guidance has been provided to adjudicators, or to the public, about additional evidence to be gathered from petitioners. Adjudicators were told to “seek to resolve any and all issues through a Request for Evidence” but the guidance did not specify the evidence that should be requested of applicants. One of the changes that USCIS was considering, per Acting Director Scharfen, was clarifying what documentation must be submitted when the alien will be assigned by the H-1B petitioner to a third-party worksite.


We have seen substantial fraud and program violations by employers who bring in H-1B visa holders and then outsource them to other worksites. Such was the case with the indictment of Vision Systems Group, Inc. earlier this year in my home state. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement alleges that the company did not have jobs available for the H-1B workers they petitioned for, and placed them in non-pay status upon arrival in the United States. Additionally, Vision Systems allegedly submitted Labor Condition Applications (LCAs) with the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) that stated prevailing wage data for a location in Iowa rather than the higher prevailing wage for the location outside Iowa where the worker would actually be employed.


I seek your commitment to tackle this problem immediately. Simply put, adjudicators should be asking companies up front for evidence that H-1B visa holders actually have a job awaiting them in the U.S., i.e. that workers are not coming in only to be “benched” by employers and that the job the workers are filling is the same job and in the same location as the lob/location described in the LCA approved by DOL. I strongly encourage USCIS to request from petitioners that have stated they will be assigning H-1B workers to third-party worksites copies of relevant portions of any and all contracts or agreements between the petitioning company and the third-party worksites that prove the foreign workers will actually have work upon arrival and that the work will in fact be performed at the places described in the approved LCA and in the itinerary submitted with the petition. This evidentiary requirement should be instituted immediately so that USCIS can ensure that H-1B workers are filling true vacancies rather than taking jobs from qualified Americans.


Acting Director Scharfen also noted that the agency was considering other anti-fraud initiatives, including: changing the I-29 petition form; clarifying when a petitioner must file an amended H-1B petition based on a material change in employment; modifying the H-1B evidentiary requirements; prohibiting a petitioner from passing any fee associated with an H-1B petition to the beneficiary; and prohibiting subsequent filings by those who previously were found to have committed fraud in an attempt gain an immigration benefit. I would like an update on these efforts that were being considered by USCIS, including detailed explanations as to why any of them have been shelved or not implemented in the last year.


Acting Director Scharfen also reported that USCIS would “soon begin using independent, open source data available through commercial sources to obtain information regarding the petitioner that would be relevant to the adjudication of the petition.” Has any action on this “independent documentation” effort taken place? Do you, as the new Director, believe that such an initiative is worthwhile, efficient, and necessary?


In addition to the above-mentioned issues, I would like to know what other steps you are taking to alleviate the problems found in the 2008 benefits fraud assessment, including the following:


• Employees are working at locations not identified in the petition and/or Labor Condition Application (LCA);
• Actual job duties differing from those described in the LCA and petition;
• Failure to pay prevailing wage or required the beneficiary to pay some or all of the American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act of 1998 fees;
• Use of fraudulent or forged documents or signatures; and
• Aliens misrepresenting they were maintaining status when returning to the U.S. even though they previously had failed to maintain H-1B status.



Fraud in the H-1B visa program only hurts companies that play by the rules and truly need highly skilled workers. For this reason, it’s vitally important that your agency take all steps necessary to eliminate abuse and take action against those who do not comply with the law.


When we met prior to your confirmation hearing, you committed to rooting out fraud and abuse in all visa programs, but specifically the H-1B visa program. Upon being confirmed, you also answered several questions for the record, including ones that I submitted about the H-1B visa program. You said, “I believe the existence of fraud in the H-1B visa program needs to be addressed forcefully.” Your statement complements that made by Secretary Napolitano herself in her testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee last May: “From an enforcement standpoint, my priority is to make sure that there’s not fraud occurring within the H-1B program at all.” You also said you would promptly conduct a thorough review of USCIS programs to identify areas in need of improvement and in need of increased focus, and that you would develop a close working relationship with ICE to ensure that fraud and abuse are addressed through criminal prosecution.


I look forward to hearing about the thorough review that you promised to undertake as soon as you were confirmed. I appreciate your consideration of the issues I have raised, and await your speedy response to this letter.


Sincerely,




Charles E. Grassley
United States Senator


Wednesday, June 24, 2009

H1B FY 2010 : Applicants are receiving I-797 approval valid for less than 3 years

Posted On Wednesday, June 24, 2009 by Rav 0 comments

There are few reports that applicants who applied for H1B FY 2010 are receiving I-797 Approval with visa validity less than 3 years. This is especially true for the cases filed by staffing and consulting companies.

This is particularly seen with cases, if an applicant has received a request for evidence (RFE) requesting a client letter and project details. Successively, if petitioner fails to submit a project detail stating that beneficiary's services will be needed for next 3 years, individual is more prone to get approval with visa valid for number of years as stated in the clients letter.

In order to avoid such cases, please make sure that your client letter states that services is required for next 3 years. Even if an individual receives an approval with visa valid for less than 3 years, he can extend his visa for the period of next project in the same way as done with regular H1B extension. But this will add to bearing cost of H1B visa for an employer.



Monday, April 6, 2009

Denied Entry to H1B holders at Port of Entry (POE) - A Rumor

Posted On Monday, April 06, 2009 by Rav 6 comments

There is some concern among H1B holders these days about denied entry to US by Immigration Officer (IO) at Port of Entry (POE) after return from home country or abroad. Though, this may be true in particular cases as with every denied cases with USCIS, but if individual is working for a legitimate company with a valid job offer or employment , and have required paper work to show that he/she is currently employed in good standing with the company, then one should not worry. These reportings are definitely a rumor and have no published news to support them.

Recently two weeks back, I went to Canada for a conference and had no issues getting back to USA. Since I had heard of these rumors, I made sure to carry my latest pay stubs and employment verification letter from my employer. Coming back was as easy as getting out of USA.

Only thing that gets me worried every time I come back to USA is how much acquaintant an Immigration Officer (IO) at POE is of current rules and regulations? During my trip to Canada, I had I-797 from my current employer and valid H1B visa stamp from my past employer. When I handed over my visa and I-797 paperwork, Immigration Officer at Port of Entry was surprised to see two different employer's name on two furnished documents. IO just kept checking each of them for few minutes as if to understand that re-entry to USA with two different documents endorsing two different employer's name is an officially recognized rule. I did not bother to say anything until asked for. After ten minutes, paperwork was handed back to me and formalities for immigration clearance commenced. In the meantime, I made sure to eyeball his name tag for future reference incase things go wrong.

This is not the first time that I experienced this. Similar issue was experienced few years back when I was returning on my F1 visa with I-20 for transferred university. I had to convey it to IO that one need not re-stamp the F1 visa after university transfer, as long as my F1 visa is valid. My suggestion to everyone entering back to US at their respective POE is that they should make a note of Immigration officer’s name and badge number for future reference.