Tuesday, November 26, 2013

USCIS EB I-485 & I-140 Processing Statistics As Of 09/30/13


USCIS EB I-140 Processing Statistics


 TSC NSC National
Pending 6,249 929 7,216
Customer action waiting 1,051 3,198 4,249
Completed 3,216 2,075 5,291
New receipts 2,687 1,783 4,470

The number of completed cases decreased at both NSC and TSC in the last one month. Overall the volume  has decreased across most categories in both service center.

USCIS EB I-485 Processing Statistics



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Sunday, November 24, 2013

USCIS FB I-485 & I-130 Processing Statistics As Of 09/30/13


Please see below latest FB (family based) statistics released by USCIS:

USCIS I-130 - Preference Category Processing Statistics


 CSC VSC National
All Other Pending 4,643 14,626
36,328
Pending but adjudication deferred 336,085 121,299 475,281
Customer action waiting 14,895 4,867 21,471
Completed 21,041 4,108 31,659
New receipts 14,137 11,275 28,300

CSC = California Service Center
VSC = Vermont Service Center 
 
USCIS FB I-485 Processing Statistics



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Wednesday, November 20, 2013

PERM Processing Statitics As Of September 30, 2013




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Monday, November 18, 2013

EB Category To Receive 10,000 Additional Visas From FB Category In Fiscal Year 2014

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.

For fiscal year 2013 (which ended on September 2013), family based categories were allotted a quota of  226,000. However due to lower demand and also delay in moving dates forward, around 10,000 visas were unused in the family based category.

According to law, any unused visas from family category will flow to employment based category. This means EB category will be getting an additional 10,000 visas in fiscal year 2014 (October 2013 to September 2014).

Currently according to demand data, the annual limit is set at 148,000 (instead of usual 140,000). However according to  Annual Numerical Limits for Fiscal Year 2014, the limit is set at 150,000 for EB categories. Since the annual numerical limit document is more recent, we will assume that the spillover is 10,000 (instead of 8,000).



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Friday, November 15, 2013

Visa Bulletin Prediction For Fiscal Year 2014

Charles Oppenheim met with several lawyers from American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) on October 23, 2013. In this meeting he gave his prediction for visa bulletin movement for fiscal year 2014.

Charles Oppenheim explained that the demand for visa numbers is greater because of multiple dependents being added (many primary beneficiaries have married and have children). For example, approximately 45% of the visa numbers are used by the primary beneficiaries with the remaining 55% taken up by derivative beneficiaries (spouses and children).

He also explained that the number of EB3 to EB2 porting cases is very significant and because the mechanics of the EB3 to EB2 porting system does not allow advance notification to the Department of State’s Visa Office. This causes a significant number of EB3 to EB2 porting cases to appear without advance warning to the Visa Office and, as a result, the Visa Office has to hold cutoff dates back to accommodate such porting case.

As an example, Mr. Oppenheim cited that between October 1 and October 22nd his office noted that there were around 820 Indian nationals who ported from EB3 to EB2. In addition to EB3 to EB2 porting cases for Indian nationals, who are the majority of such cases, he sees an increasing number of EB3 to EB2 porting cases from ROW category.

Mr. Oppenheim suggested that the EB1 and EB5 categories are relatively popular this year and expects more numbers to be used in these categories, compared to the past years. He cited EB5 China category where the demand has been growing steadily (approximately 15% over the year before) and that a cutoff date for EB5 China is possible later this fiscal year (possibly around June 2014).

This high demand also means that there will be less spillovers to other categories such as EB2 India and China which would further contribute to the slow forward movement in these categories.

Mr. Oppenheim shared that his goal is to advance the cutoff dates more at the beginning of the fiscal year (October, November and December, and January visa bulletins) and then, as he is able to gauge demand for a particular preference category, adjust accordingly by either slowing down or retrogressing (if demand is high) or advancing even more (is demand turns out to be low). 

Visa Bulletin Predictions – Employment-Based

EB1: This category is expected to remain current throughout the fiscal year.

EB2 ROW: This category is expected to remain current throughout the fiscal year; however, depending on demand he may introduce a cutoff date towards the end of the fiscal year.

EB2 China: This category is expected to continue to move forward by approximately 3-5 weeks per month in each Visa Bulletin.

EB2 India: EB2 India is expected to retrogress significantly by few years and remain at that date until the summer of 2014. The rationale behind this severe retrogression in EB-2 India is that there is simply too much demand in this category and the Visa Office has to stop the rate of new filings until USCIS and DOS are able to approve the pending case.

EB3 ROW, Mexico and China: This category is expected to move forward significantly over the next one or two months to stimulate demand for the next several months.



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Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Annual Numerical Limits FY 2014

Department of State have released the quota for EB and FB category for fiscal year 2014.

Family Category:

Preference     Foreign State     Worldwide
F1                   1,638                   23,400
FX                                              65,950
F2A                 6,151                   21,984
F2B                 1,838                   26,266
F3                   1,638                   23,400
F4                   4,555                   65,000
__________________________________
Total              15,820                226,000

Unused numbers can “fall-down” from F1 to F2A to F2B to F3 to F4.

Unused F4 numbers can “fall-up” to F1. This potential is taken into consideration when setting the monthly/annual targets for number use. Those targets are established based on the historical and current patterns of number use, and are adjusted as necessary.



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Monday, November 11, 2013

January 2014 Visa Bulletin Predictions

For December 2013 Visa Bulletin, please click here: http://blog.mygcvisa.com/2013/11/december-2013-visa-bulletin.html

For January 2014 Visa Bulletin, please click here: http://blog.mygcvisa.com/2013/12/january-2014-visa-bulletin.html

Please see January 2014 Visa Bulletin Predictions below (for both Family Based and Employment Based):

Quick Summary:
  • EB1, EB4, EB 5: Current
  • EB2 Rest Of World: Current
    EB2 China: 5 weeks (still behind EB3 China)
    EB2 India: 0 day. Please see article
  • EB3 (ROW, China, Mexico): 4-6 months. Please see article.
    EB3 India: 0 day
    EB3 Philippines: 4 weeks
  • FB categories: 1-5 weeks. Please see article.
  • F2A: 0 day. It is likely to remain at this date for next few months.

Family Based:

Family-Sponsored All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed CHINA- mainland born INDIA MEXICO PHILIPPINES
F1 15DEC06 15DEC06 15DEC06 01OCT93 01AUG01
F2A 08SEP13 08SEP13 08SEP13 01SEP13 08SEP13
F2B 22MAY06 22MAY06 22MAY06 15APR94 15APR03
F3 22MAR03 22MAR03 22MAR03 08JUN93 01FEB93
F4 15SEP01 15SEP01 15SEP01 08NOV96 22JUN90

Employment Based: 



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Sunday, November 10, 2013

Analysis - December 2013 Visa Bulletin

For December 2013 Visa Bulletin, please click here: http://blog.mygcvisa.com/2013/11/december-2013-visa-bulletin.html

Please see below analysis of December 2013 Visa Bulletin:

EB1: All EB1 categories are current and should continue to remain current for fiscal year Demand is increasing at rate of around 1000-1200 every month.

EB2 ROW: This category continues to remain current. Demand in EB2ROW is very low at an average of around 300 per month. This is good news for EB2 India and China, as they could get a higher spillovers in FY 2014 compared to FY 2013.

EB2 China: As expected, EB2 China also moved forward by 4 weeks. It should continue to move forward around 3 to 5 weeks per month. It will still be behind EB3 China which is ahead by nearly 3 years.

EB2 India: As we had mentioned earlier, there was huge retrogression in EB2 India due to large amount of porting from EB3 India to EB2 India. We will be adding a new blog exclusive to EB2 India movement in fiscal year 2014. Till then, please see this blog post for updates in EB2 (India, ROW and China) category.

Note: The November EB2 India demand data does not have demand break down from year 2005 to 2008. It only says that the demand prior to Jan 2009 is 9,000.



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Saturday, November 9, 2013

USCIS Visa Bulletin Prediction For January 2014 - March 2014

For December 2013 Visa Bulletin, please click here: http://blog.mygcvisa.com/2013/11/december-2013-visa-bulletin.html

Department of State (DOS) added their prediction for visa bulletin in coming months. Please see the link below.

We will be adding a separate blog post for visa bulletin prediction for fiscal year 2014.

FAMILY-sponsored categories (potential monthly movement)

Worldwide dates:
  • F1:  Three to five weeks
  • F2A: No forward movement, the Mexico cut-off date is likely to retrogress at some point
  • F2B: Three to five weeks
  • F3:  Three to five weeks
  • F4:  Two or three weeks

EMPLOYMENT-based categories (potential monthly movement)

Employment First:  Current

Employment Second:
  • Worldwide:  Current
  • China:  Three to five weeks 
  • India:  No forward movement



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Thursday, November 7, 2013

December 2013 Visa Bulletin

For November 2013 Visa Bulletin, please click here: http://blog.mygcvisa.com/2013/10/visa-bulletin-november-2013.html

For analysis of December 2013 Visa Bulletin, please click here: http://blog.mygcvisa.com/2013/11/analysis-december-2013-visa-bulletin.html

December 2013 Visa Bulletin has been released (valid from December 1 to December 31 only). Please see below for more details.

Family Based:

Family-Sponsored All Charge -ability Areas Except Those Listed CHINA- mainland born INDIA MEXICO PHILIPPINES
F1 15NOV06 15NOV06 15NOV06 22SEP93 01JUL01
F2A
08SEP13
08SEP13
08SEP13
01SEP13
08SEP13
F2B 01MAY06 01MAY06 01MAY06 01APR94 22MAR03
F3 08MAR03 08MAR03 08MAR03 01JUN93 22JAN93
F4 08SEP01 08SEP01 08SEP01 22OCT96 01JUN90

Employment Based:



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Monday, November 4, 2013

December 2013 Demand Data

Update: Department of State (DOS) did not publish the December 2013 Demand Data. This is not unusual when there is large (forward or retrogression) movement in dates.

Demand data is used by DOS to calculate the monthly visa bulletin dates. If you are not familiar with demand data, please see this article: What is Demand Data?

There should not be any major changes in the December 2013 Demand Data.

EB2 India: EB2 India is expected to retrogress by more than three years in December VB. The porting from EB3 India is using up all available quota available to EB2 India (which is around 2,802 visas per year). Please see article.

Hopefully DOS decides to break down demand in EB2 categories from 2004 to 2013. Currently it only shows cumulative data prior to 2009.

EB3 ROW: The demand in EB3 ROW and Mexico is much lower. This will likely result in these two categories by move forward by 8-12 months. It should also continue to move forward by few months.



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Friday, November 1, 2013

More Immigration News From USCIS

New USCIS Website: As we had posted earlier on Facebook and Twitter, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced the launch of the agency’s redesigned website available in both English and Spanish. The redesigned website provides customers with a simplified and more user-friendly experience.

“This redesign demonstrates our ongoing commitment to improving the quality of service we provide,” said USCIS Director Alejandro Mayorkas. “Throughout the past year, we have evaluated traffic on the website and listened to valuable feedback from users. Today’s launch is the result of that effort and we are confident the public will find an improved online experience.”

The USCIS website incorporates current best practices while introducing a new content management system that will improve functionality and allow for continued enhancements. Some of the improvements to the new website include better navigation menus, a tools section that helps customers complete common electronic transactions, and a more prominent search bar that produces improved results.

The home page also displays a more prominent rotating banner that highlights timely information and introduces alerts that provide important news and other customer notifications at-a-glance. In response to stakeholder feedback, USCIS has also streamlined the change of address online tool to provide an easier, more efficient process for customers.

The new and improved USCIS website is part of the Department of Homeland Security’s Web strategy to use a common content management system and consolidate the Department’s public websites. The agency plans further enhancements in the coming months.

USCIS first redesigned its website in September 2009, fulfilling the Obama administration’s commitment to offer enhanced navigation tools for the public to access immigration information and review case status.

Link: http://www.uscis.gov

Infosys to pay around $34 Million in fines for visa violations:

Infosys, the giant Indian technology outsourcing company, has agreed to pay $34 million in a civil settlement. After an investigation of more than two years, prosecutors on Wednesday will unveil the settlement as well as its accusations that Infosys “knowingly and unlawfully” brought Indian workers into the United States on business visitor visas since 2008, which avoided the higher costs and delays of a longer-term employment visa the workers should have had.

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/30/us/indian-tech-giant-infosys-said-to-reach-settlement-on-us-visa-fraud-claims.html



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