USCIS Conference Highlights

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Highlights from a Recent SCOPS Teleconference

Periodically, Service Center Operations Directorate has a teleconference or meeting with AILA to inquire upon important issues relating to USCIS petitions and applications. Here are some highlights from the teleconference with SCOPS earlier this month.

 

H-1B change of status and extension of status applications continue to take a frustratingly long time and there is little action on USCIS’ behalf to mitigate that problem. Their best advice is to file as early as possible.

If the petitioner files a Power of Attorney and includes it with the petition, the attorney can sign the forms for the petitioner on an employment-based petition.

Green Cards will not contain a hyphen. They will put a space instead, i.e. Smith Diaz instead of Smith-Diaz.

Both the Texas Service Centers and Nebraska Service Centers will follow Matter of H-V-P. This is an important AAO decision for National Interest Waiver cases.

USCIS confirmed that they adjudicate cases FIFO – First in First Out.

USCIS is actively processing U visa cases.

Prevailing Wage Delays

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Prevailing Wage Delays: DOL Says Expect 75 Days Plus for Prevailing Wage Determination

 

Continue to expect delays in receiving Prevailing Wage Requests from the Department of Labor. The Department of Labor held a meeting and addressed the delay in returning Prevailing Wage Determinations. The Prevailing Wage Determination is the important first step for an employer to take in sponsoring for a permanent position. The Department of Labor has a stated goal of 60 days to analyze the Prevailing Wage Request and made a determination. The wage that it determines is necessary for the position is the minimum wage that the position can pay.

The Department has announced that stakeholders should expect determinations to take at least 75 days. The online system is supposed to speed up the process, but the increase in prevailing wage requests versus the stagnation of funding and resources, according to the Department of Labor, has forced the return times to lengthen.

H-1B Adjudication Date

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Date Lottery H-1B Petitions Will Be Adjudicated

H1b 2016

Cap Subject H-1B petitions must be submitted in the first five business days of April. A total of 85,000 cap subject H-1B visas are available: 65,000 in the regular cap and 20,000 for the US Master’s Cap – meaning that the specialty occupation requires a Master’s degree and the beneficiary holds a Master’s degree from a US university. Cap subject H-1B petitions submitted for Fiscal Year 2017 must have a start date of October 1, 2016.

USCIS has announced that it will begin adjudicating petitions on May 16. The lottery process needs to be executed before adjudications take place. Last year, the lottery occurred in the middle of April. Receipt notices were issued for cases that were selected under the cap and then lottery rejection notices came trickling in slowly after that. If the H-1B petition processing begins by May 16, that means a receipt notice should be issued before then to inform the petitioner that the case has been selected under the cap. If premium processing is selected and the $1,225 fee is paid, that means the case will be adjudicated by May 31. USCIS will announce when overseas beneficiaries can begin the consular process, if the underlying H-1B petition is approved by USCIS.

H-4 Travel Reminder

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Important H-4 Visa Travel Reminder from USCIS

H1b 2016

USCIS released an important reminder yesterday: applicants who are attempting to change their status to H-4 (dependent of H-1B) status should not leave the country during the application’s pendency. If they depart the country, the Change of Status application will be denied because the application will be considered to be abandoned. If the applicant files an application for Employment Authorization and departs the United States because the change of status is approved, that will also be considered abandoned with the Change of Status application.

H-4 status is for the dependents of H-1B principals. It is very restricted on work authorization, only permitting it for a subset of H-4 holders. The majority of H-4 visa holders are not allowed to pursue work authorization. An advantage of H-4 status is that it does not count against the time limit spent in H-1B or L-1 status. As many hopeful applicants have employers applying for their H-1B applications, it is important for family members in non H-4 status to be aware of the ramifications of traveling abroad while the H-4 change of status application is pending.

Retaining College Graduates

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The Best and Worst Cities at Retaining College Graduates

 

This is a statistically-based article that methodically and neatly describes the large metros in the United States and their ability to retain college graduates. The flight of college graduates is a concern for many metropolitan cities. A high retention rate of college graduates can be viewed as a reliable indicator of economic viability.

The article misses a critical point: immigration.

At US colleges and universities, large and small, the number of foreign students is high. Foreign students from all over the world, flock to American universities for education and the opportunities that education opens. Well over a million F-1 visa students are in the United States. However, their post-graduate options are limited. Someone who attends undergraduate and graduate school in the same city may have embedded himself into the community. That graduate, however, may not have the ability to stay in the United States. Only 85,000 cap subject H-1B visas are available. The O-1 visa bears a high standard for eligibility. J visa ability is limited. L visas have foreign restrictions that would make them unviable for US college graduates. Not every country allows for E visas (notoriously India) and even then, that is an extraordinary expense and may not comport with what the graduate is pursuing. Immigration visas are generally shut off for recent graduates.

There are millions of foreign graduates and not a commensurate number of visas or options to retain their talents and skills. Graduate retention rates would be higher for many cities if foreign national recent graduates had the ability to stay in the United States and work for employers that want to hire them. For example, 233,000 H-1B cap-subject visas were filed last year for the 85,000 visa spots.

The article did not consider this angle as a reason to why some retention rates are more depressed, but this is certainly a factor. Cities are losing the opportunity to retain their college graduates and the lack of nonimmigrant visa options is a major reason why.