USCIS Reaches FY 2015 H-1B Cap

USCIS: 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) 2015.  USCIS has also received more than the limit of 20,000 H-1B petitions filed under the U. S. advanced degree exemption.   

Before running a random selection process, USCIS will complete initial intake for all filings received during the filing period which ended today. Due to the high number of petitions, USCIS is not yet able to announce the date on which it will conduct the random selection process.

A computer-generated process will randomly select the number of petitions needed to meet the caps of 65,000 visas for the general category and 20,000 under the advanced degree exemption. USCIS will reject and return filing fees for all cap-subject petitions that are not selected, unless found to be a duplicate filing. 

The agency will conduct the selection process for the advanced degree exemption first. All advanced degree petitions not selected will become part of the random selection process for the 65,000 limit.

USCIS will continue to accept and process petitions that are otherwise exempt from the cap. Petitions filed on behalf of current H-1B workers who have been counted previously against the cap will not be counted towards the congressionally mandated FY 2015 H-1B cap. USCIS will continue to accept and process petitions filed to:

• Extend the amount of time a current H-1B worker may remain in the United States;
• Change the terms of employment for current H-1B workers;
• Allow current H-1B workers to change employers; and
• Allow current H-1B workers to work concurrently in a second H-1B position.

U.S. businesses use the H-1B program to employ foreign workers in occupations that require highly specialized knowledge in fields such as science, engineering and computer programming.

By USCIS, 7. April 2014.

SEE ALSO: 
Immigration lottery limits U.S. employers.
The H-1B programs impact on wages jobs and the economy.
Tech flips the script on immigration foes.
How immigration reform - or lack thereof - is hurting our economic competitiveness.
 

Congratulations - Same-Sex U.S. citizen partner obtained green card.

Illustration Photo.

Last summer, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down DOMA (the Defense of Marriage Act).

Among its other benefits, this decision paved the way for foreign nationals married to same-sex U.S. citizen partners to obtain green cards. 

I am happy to say that since the demise of DOMA I have represented several same-sex married couples who have successfully completed the U.S. green card process, including most recently a green card issued yesterday;  great evidence of increasing equality and fairness in our country in general and our immigration system in particular.

See Marriage Equality for additional information and resources about same-sex marriage issues.

Timothy R. Bakken

USCIS to Accept H-1B Petitions for Fiscal Year 2015 Beginning April 1, 2014

BAKKEN LAW: Today the USCIS issued a press release projecting it will receive enough H-1B petitions to reach both the “normal” H-1B annual cap and the U.S. Master’s Degree annual cap by April 7, 2014. 

The first date USCIS will accept H-1B petitions for both caps is Tuesday, April 1, 2014 and USCIS states that it is “prepared” to use a random lottery to select H-1B petitions for adjudication, though it does not exactly state the parameters of a random lottery; in past years, the USCIS has considered petitions filed in the first 5 days of the annual cap filing period as timely filed for purposes of inclusion in the random lottery. In addition, USCIS is temporarily delaying the premium processing rules due to an expected high number of H-1B petitions being filed with a request for premium processing.  Specifically, USCIS will begin premium processing of cap-subject H-1B petitions “no later than April 28, 2014”.  

Stay tuned for more details!

Timothy R. Bakken

Bakken Law thoughts about recent deportation study

Following on my posting of this study yesterday, a careful review of the results indicates that a large majority (67%) of deportations in 2013 were of people with no criminal convictions or misdemeanor convictions. 

Those who say President Obama has not been tough on immigration enforcement should look at the ICE statistics which show his administration has deported far more people than prior administrations. 

This study shows that the current strict enforcement policies affect huge numbers of individuals with no criminal convictions or minor criminal records, notwithstanding existing immigration laws that include provisions allowing many such people to obtain lawful permanent resident status based on long-term residency in the U.S., strong ties and benefits to the U.S., and close U.S. citizen relatives (children, spouses, parents) who will suffer extreme hardship if the non-U.S. citizen relative is deported.

Timothy R. Bakken

SEE ALSO:
Obama calls for review of deportations.
Immigration puzzle of the week: Do we deport people for being mentally ill?
Prosecutorial discretion on the rise in immigration courts.
Locked away in immigration jails.

Congratulations!

I would like to share another happy result for one of our clients.   This gentleman, a talented Industrial Engineer from the Philippines, had been waiting over 7 years for his green card – believe it or not, this is a normal waiting time simply because of his Filipino nationality. 

I am very happy for this client and his family, all of whom are hard-working and productive members of American society.  But, the long wait they had to endure exposes one of the problems with our current employment-based immigration rules, which delay the immigration process for educated professionals based solely on country of nationality.  (Nationals of India, China, and Mexico in this employment-based category for professionals with Bachelor’s Degrees must also wait years and years to complete the green card process.)

Timothy R. Bakken

Congratulations!

Another remarkable musician granted permanent resident status.  Congratulations to Bakken Law client, Nicolo Spera, whose green card application as an “extraordinary ability” Classical Guitarist was approved by the USCIS this week!  

Dr. Spera is an Instructor in the Music Department at the University of Colorado at Boulder – see his bio and samples of his music here. 

Timothy R. Bakken