New USCIS Director - Leon Rodriguez

Secretary of Homeland Security, Jeh Johnson announced that the US Senate has confirmed Leon Rodriguez as the new Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

Leon Rodriguez was the Director of the Office for Civil Rights for the US Department of Health and Human Services prior to his appointment.

Director Rodriguez will be replacing Alejandro Mayorkas who served as the Director of USCIS from August 2009 to December 2013.  Alejandro Mayorkas is currently the DHS Deputy Secretary.

PERM Processing Statistics As Of May 2014

H-2B Nonimmigrants

The H-2B Program

The H-2B non-agricultural temporary worker program allows U.S. employers to bring foreign nationals to the United States to fill temporary non-agricultural jobs.

What is the H-2B Cap? 

There is a statutory numerical limit, or "cap," on the total number aliens who may be issued a visa or otherwise provided H-2B status (including through a change of status) during a fiscal year.

Currently, the H-2B cap set by Congress is 66,000 per fiscal year, with 33,000 to be allocated for employment beginning in the 1st half of the fiscal year (October 1 - March 31) and 33,000 to be allocated for employment beginning in the 2nd half of the fiscal year (April 1 - September 30).

Any unused numbers from the first half of the fiscal year will be made available for use by employers seeking to hire H-2B workers during the second half of the fiscal year.  There is no "carry over" of unused H-2B numbers from one fiscal year to the next.

Process for DACA Renewal

Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson announced the process for individuals to renew enrollment in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has submitted to the Federal Register an updated form to allow individuals previously enrolled in DACA, to renew their deferral for a period of two years. At the direction of the Secretary, effective immediately, USCIS will begin accepting renewal requests. USCIS will also continue to accept requests for DACA from individuals who have not previously sought to access the program.  As of April 2014, more than 560,000 individuals have received DACA.

“Despite the acrimony and partisanship that now exists in Washington, almost all of us agree that a child who crossed our border illegally with a parent, or in search of a parent or a better life, was not making an adult choice to break our laws, and should be treated differently than adult law-breakers,” said Secretary Johnson. “By the renewal of DACA, we act in accord with our values and the code of this great Nation. But, the larger task of comprehensive immigration reform still lies ahead.”

The first DACA approvals will begin to expire in September 2014. To avoid a lapse in the period of deferral and employment authorization, individuals must file renewal requests before the expiration of their current period of DACA. USCIS encourages requestors to submit their renewal request approximately 120 days (four months) before their current period of deferred action expires.

August 2014 Visa Bulletin Predictions

For July 2014 Visa Bulletin, please click here: http://blog.mygcvisa.com/2014/06/july-2014-visa-bulletin.html

For August 2014 Visa Bulletin, please click here: http://blog.mygcvisa.com/2014/07/august-2014-visa-bulletin.html

Please see August 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: 4-8 weeks.
  EB2 India: 3-6 months. Please see article 1. Also see article 2.
• EB3 (ROW, China, Mexico): 0 day. Please see article. Please see update below.
  EB3 India: 2-4 weeks.
  EB3 Philippines: 3 to 5 months. Please see article.
• EB5 China: Possible retrogression in August or September visa bulletin.
• FB categories: 1 to 26 weeks. Please see article.
• F2A: 0 day. Please see article.

Please Note: These numbers include the 10,000 additional unused visas from FB category to EB category.

Family Based:

Family-Sponsored	All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed	CHINA- mainland born	INDIA	MEXICO	PHILIPPINES
F1	01MAY07	01MAY07	01MAY07	01MAR94	15JUL03
F2A	01MAY12	01MAY12	01MAY12	15MAR11	01MAY12
F2B	08JUN07	08JUN07	08JUN07	22FEB94	15SEP03
F3	15NOV03	15NOV03	15NOV03	22AUG93	08APR93
F4	08JAN02	08JAN02	08JAN02	22DEC96	01FEB91

Employment Based:

July 2014 Visa Bulletin Analysis

For July 2014 Visa Bulletin, please click here: http://blog.mygcvisa.com/2014/06/july-2014-visa-bulletin.html

Please see below analysis of July 2014 Visa Bulletin:

EB1: All EB1 categories are current and should continue to remain current for fiscal year. Demand continues to be around 1000-1200 every month (per the latest pending inventory).

EB2 ROW: This category continues to remain current. Demand in EB2ROW continues to be very low at an average of around 300 per month. This is good news for EB2 India which received a very high spillover.

EB2 China: EB2 China also moved forward by 5 weeks. It should continue to move forward around 3 to 5 weeks per month. It is finally ahead of EB3 China which is now behind by around 2 years.

EB2 India: The biggest jump was in EB2 India category which moved forward by around four years.  We have added a blog post exclusive to EB2 India movement in fiscal year 2014. Based on those estimates, EB2 India should continue to move forward till around February 2009, unless applicants porting from EB3 India to EB2 India increases dramatically (which is possible, since they have been waiting in EB3 India category for more than a decade)

If the porting rate from EB3 India increases at very high rate, DOS may decide to retrogress EB2 India category in the September 2014 visa bulletin, so that allotted visas do no exceed available quota. Also please see this blog post for updates in EB2 (India, ROW and China) category.

July 2014 Visa Bulletin

For June 2014 Visa Bulletin, please click here: http://blog.mygcvisa.com/2014/05/june-2014-visa-bulletin.html

July 2014 Visa Bulletin has been released (valid from July 1 to July 31 only). Please see below for more details.

Family Based:

Family-Sponsored	All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed	CHINA-mainland born	INDIA	MEXICO	PHILIPPINES
F1	01APR07	01APR07	01APR07	01FEB94	01JAN03
F2A	01MAY12	01MAY12	01MAY12	15MAR11	01MAY12
F2B	01MAY07	01MAY07	01MAY07	22NOV93	15AUG03
F3	15OCT03	15OCT03	15OCT03	08AUG93	22MAR93
F4	22DEC01	22DEC01	22DEC01	15DEC96	01JAN91

Employment Based:

USCIS Started Issuing Lots of RFE For I-485 Applicants

USCIS has started issuing hundreds or thousands of RFE on pending I-485 applications. However this time, the RFE is lot more accurate and does not ask for work authorization of dependents.

Majority of these RFE are for EB2 India applicants and from Texas Service Center. The latest RFE is asking for following document(s):

1. Proof of continuous employment authorization in the U.S. from the date the I-485 application was filed to the date of the RFE.
(2) Latest employment verification letter from the original sponsoring employer or, in cases of AC21 porting to a new employer, from the new employer.
(3) Updated I-693 medical exam form.

1. Continuous Employment: 

USCIS wants proof that applicant who submitted I-485 application either has EAD or valid H1 approval notice. You can send either of these documents (as applicable) to show continuous employment.

2. Employment Verification Letter:

This letter should be in original company letterhead, with current date. It should clearly specify the salary, title and description of employment, minimum education/training required, and date when the employment started (or will begin).