What Is YSC?

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Why Can’t I Check My Case Status: YSC, The Potomac Service Center

Many applications that we are filing have a receipt number that begins with the letter string – YSC. Whenever you file an application with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, you are issued a Receipt Notice with a case-specific receipt number.

If you are trying to track your case number if it begins with YSC, you will encounter an error. Just like with asylum applications, YSC is not available for case status tracking. YSC represents the Potomac Service Center, located in Arlington, Virginia. It was actually opened to process the expected avalanche of DACA and DAPA applications from the president’s executive orders, but as those are tied up in legal battles, the Service Center has been handling some family-based applications. There is no case status tracking feature available and no processing times available.

India Files Complaint Over H-1B Visa

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India Files Complaint Against USA:

Complaint Over Special Fees and H-1B Cap

H1b 2016

India is alleging the United States is engaged in unfair trade practices in the World Trade Organization. The suit is on two bases: the H-1B cap of 65,000 and 20,000 and the enhanced fees that Congress recently slapped on large companies with over 50% of their employees on H-1B or L-1 visas. The case is at the World Trade Organization because India is alleging that the United States has violated trade rules with recently implemented special fees and with the 65,000 cap. The World Trade Organization is the forum where unfair trade restrictions are decided as unfair or fair.

The Cap

The H-1B visa’s lifespan has been governed by a cap, which has historically been larger but has settled in at 65,000 for over a decade. A supplementary 20,000 visas were added for US Master’s graduates. The cap is not exactly 65,000. It is even less, when considering special agreements that the US has with Chile and Singapore. The trade agreement stipulates that 1,400 H-1B visas are allocated for Chilean nationals and 5,4000 H-1B visas belong to nationals of Singapore. For beneficiary nationals of other countries, that means the cap is actually 58,200. Additionally, that is only the cap. A cap is a ceiling not a floor. The US is not required to grant 65,000 cap-subject H-1B visas. It can grant fewer than that.

The US has two arguments against the cap and special allocation of visas for Chile and Singapore. The first is the recent creation of the 20,000 visas for US Master’s graduates. The second is cap-exempt visas, which are reserved for academic, research, and sometimes medical purposes.

Enhanced Visa Fees

In December 2015, an Omnibus Bill was passed that contained some financially harsh provisions against large firms that employ H-1B and L-1 visa holders. While much of the focus in the bill’s germination stage focused on Syrian refugees and the Visa Waiver Program, provisions against these large firms snuck in and have been instituted. For firms that have at least 50 employees, of whom 50% are in H-1B or L-1 status, there is an additional $4,000 fee for every H-1B and $4,500 L-1 initial and extension application. The previous fee of $2,000 was sui generis.

H-1B applications can be expensive for employers. A base filing fee of $325 is required for every application. Depending on the circumstances of the application, a Fraud Prevention and Detection fee of $500 is applied. An ACWIA fee of $750 or $1,500 may be required. H-1B extension and change of status applications are taking such an excruciatingly long time to adjudicate that premium processing is being constructively required. Premium processing requires $1,225. These fees accumulate, especially for multiple workers, escalating fees for every application.

The complaint at the World Trade Organization alleges that this enhanced visa fee is an unfair trade restriction. It is expected that the World Trade Organization will take a year to make a decision at least.

Multiple H-1B Petitions

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Multiple H-1B Petitions Are NOT Allowed for Same Beneficiary 

H1b 2016

Much of the US immigration system is a competitive ecosystem. There are a limited number of immigrant visas available each year by category, country, and preference. That is the reason why if you, as a US citizen, sponsor your sister for an immigrant visa, she will not have her Green Card for 15 years. That is why the Employment-Based 2nd preference for India is backed up to 2008, causing Indian nationals to be in H-1B status for 12 years. There are only 10,000 U visas available per fiscal year, causing a backlog of years. Asylum numbers are also limited. The Diversity Visa has a 55,000 per year restriction.

The major restriction in employment-based nonimmigrant visas is the H-1B visa. For some H-1B applicants and petitioners, the lottery system is not a worry. Some H-1B applications are “cap-exempt.” These are reserved mostly for universities. However, the lottery and the cap are a reality for many H-1B applicants and petitioners. Companies provisionally hire employees, on the hope that their petition is selected in the lottery. Last year 233,000 applications were submitted for 85,000 slots.

Given this ultra-competitive ecosystem, employers or employees may look to loopholes to enhance their chances. The Vermont Service Center has emphasized that multiple petitions are prohibited. The law is very clear: “An employer may not file, in the same fiscal year, more than one H-1B petition on behalf of the same alien if the alien is subject to the numerical limitations of section 214(g)(1)(A) . . . [F]iling more than one H-1B petition by an employer on behalf of the same alien in the same fiscal year will result in the denial or revocation of all such petitions.”

This applies to related entities, as well. It cannot be that Parent Company Alpha and Subsidiary Company Beta apply for Beneficiary Omega unless there is a legitimate business need. If this kind of manipulation is detected by USCIS, it reserves the right to revoke a visa, issue a notice of intent to deny, or notice of intent to revoke a petition. USCIS takes this very seriously, as filing multiple petitions for the same beneficiary is an unfair advantage.

The H-1B cap was not always at 65,000 with the 20,000 for the Master’s cap. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the cap was in excess of 100,000.

April 2016 Visa Bulletin

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April 2016 Visa Bulletin Released

It is that time again: The April 2016 Visa Bulletin has been released by the Department of State. You can find all of the final action dates and filing dates posted for Employment- and Family-Based categories.

The expected jump did not come for EB-2 India category. Charlie Oppenheimer had predicted 3 month leaps, but we will keep our eyes peeled for that leap in May.

There was only slight movement in the Family-Based categories.

The reason that there are limits and cutoff dates is because there is a limited allocation of immigrant visas, prescribed by country, category, and preference. Here is the State Department’s explanation of calculations:

  1. Procedures for determining dates. Consular officers are required to report to the Department of State documentarily qualified applicants for numerically limited visas; USCIS reports applicants for adjustment of status. Allocations in the charts below were made, to the extent possible, in chronological order of reported priority dates, for demand received by March 9th. If not all demand could be satisfied, the category or foreign state in which demand was excessive was deemed oversubscribed. The cut-off date for an oversubscribed category is the priority date of the first applicant who could not be reached within the numerical limits. If it becomes necessary during the monthly allocation process to retrogress a cut-off date, supplemental requests for numbers will be honored only if the priority date falls within the new cut-off date announced in this bulletin. If at any time an annual limit were reached, it would be necessary to immediately make the preference category “unavailable”, and no further requests for numbers would be honored.

  2. Section 201 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) sets an annual minimum family-sponsored preference limit of 226,000. The worldwide level for annual employment-based preference immigrants is at least 140,000. Section 202 prescribes that the per-country limit for preference immigrants is set at 7% of the total annual family-sponsored and employment-based preference limits, i.e., 25,620. The dependent area limit is set at 2%, or 7,320.

EAD Cases Transferred

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Employment Authorization Cases Being Moved to Texas

If you have a recent employment authorization case, do not be surprised if USCIS sends you a transfer notice. To spread out the work more evenly, the agency is sending many of its employment authorization applications to the Texas Service Center. When USCIS transfers applications between service centers, it issues a transfer notice. All the notice means is that your case is being transferred. A decision has not been made.

The agency is still trying to ensure that it is making decisions within 90 days. If you move your residence, you are obligated to make USCIS aware of the change. This is important. If you move addresses and USCIS does not know, your card may not arrive to the proper address.