Friday, March 15, 2013

Immigration Update This Week (3/10 - 3/15)

CIR Bill: It looks like the Gang of 8 would not be able to complete the bill writing by end of March. The Senator will leave Washington for Easter break and return back on April 2 till April 13. They will leave again on break and return back on Apr 30. Hopefully the CIR bill will be written and agreed by "Gang of 8" by then.

Impact Of Sequester cuts: Parts of the DHS that are affected by the sequestion are immigration law enforcement directorates, according to the DHS Secretary's report to the Congress. USCIS will not be affected because the funds for USCIS operation are coming from immigration filing fees. The State Department that includes visa posts is reportedly not hit by any massive furloughs until June 2013 and visa processing may be minimally affected by the sequestion, at least for now.

The story is different for the U.S. Department of Labor. The acting Secretary of U.S. Department of Labor released a news that 4,700 employees are hit by furloughs. There is no information available about at this time as to the number of employees of the Office of Foreign Labor Certification that are or will be hit by furlough. Since the operation of the OFLC  rely on fee revenue, it is likely that the OFLC will be affected by this sequestration.

Monday, March 11, 2013

Predictions: Visa Bulletin May 2013

For official May 2013 Visa Bulletin please click here: http://blog.mygcvisa.com/2013/04/visa-bulletin-may-2013.html

Please see below prediction for May 2013 Visa Bulletin (for both Family Based and Employment Based):

Quick Summary:
  • EB1, EB4, EB 5: Current
  • EB2 Rest Of World: Current
    EB2 China: 6 weeks
    EB2 India: 0 week. See article: EB2 India Analysis & Prediction
  • EB3: 1 week to 2 months
  • F1 to F4: 1 week to 4 months

Please Note: These numbers includes the 18,000 additional visas (spillovers) from FB category to EB category. USCIS seems to have started slowly applying these spillovers to EB categories.

Family Based:

Family-Sponsored All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed CHINA- mainland born INDIA MEXICO PHILIPPINES
F1 08APR06 08APR06 08APR06 08AUG93 15JUN99
F2A 15JAN11 15JAN11 15JAN11 01JAN11 15JAN11
F2B 15MAY05 15MAY05 15MAY05 22MAR93 15AUG02
F3 01AUG02 01AUG02 01AUG02 01APR93 22OCT92
F4 08MAY01 08MAY01 08MAY01 15SEP96 15SEP89

Employment Based: 

Friday, March 8, 2013

Visa Bulletin April 2013

April 2013 Visa bulletin has been released (valid from April 1 to April 30 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 08MAR06  08MAR06 08MAR06 01AUG93 15FEB99
F2A 15DEC10  15DEC10 15DEC10 01DEC10 15DEC10
F2B 08APR05 08APR05 08APR05 22FEB93 15JUL02
F3 22JUL02 22JUL02 22JUL02 22MAR93 01OCT92
F4 01MAY01 01MAY01 01MAY01 01SEP96 15AUG89

Analysis: Demand Data For April 2013 Visa Bulletin

For April 2013 Demand Data, please click here: http://blog.mygcvisa.com/2013/03/demand-data-for-april-2013-visa-bulletin.html

Demand Data Analysis:

Every month each country in each category is eligible to get 233 visas (7% * 28.6% * 140,000)/12. This does not include the 18,000 additional spillover from FB category to EB category.

EB2 India: Till Jan 2005, the numbers went up from 300 to 375. This means there was 375-300+233=308 cases ported. The porting rate is remaining constant around 300 cases per month in EB2 India category. However till Jan 2007, the porting cases increased by 2050-1650+233=633 cases. So we are seeing a big increase in this period. However if you look at dates till Jan 2012, the number decreased by 425 cases. This could be either due to (a) EB2 India porting to EB1 category or (b) those cases were withdrawn/abandoned/rejected or (c) USCIS is doing "spring cleaning" and making the data more accurate (based on the available and updated information each month).

Also this "demand destruction" could be due to multiple things: People changing jobs and filing the PERM again (not porting but starting the entire process again), people getting laid off and going back home, people abandoning their GC process because of frustration, people going back home due to better opportunities, multiple PERMs like husband and wife both have PERMs filed, people updating to EB1, people getting married to EB2ROW candidates (or GC holders, US citizens etc).

EB2 China:  The demand prior to Jan 2009 has decreased  by 475 (3,450 to 2,975). Since there is no demand in EB2 China before Jan 2009, all of FB/EB spillover should be applied to EB2 India category (which is backlogged till Sept 2004).

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Demand Data For April 2013 Visa Bulletin


Update: For analysis of April 2013 Demand Data, please click here: http://blog.mygcvisa.com/2013/03/analysis-demand-data-for-april-2013.html

EB Demand Data For April 2013 Visa Bulletin has been released. Please see details below:



Tuesday, March 5, 2013

USCIS Forms

USCIS FORMS ARE FREE: Download them from link below (forms can be filled out using the latest version of Adobe Reader), or order by mail or phone at 1-800-870-3676. Don't pay anyone for copies of these forms.

Don't forget to sign your forms! Failure to sign will result in rejection.

Looking for "DS" forms? - see the Department of State website.

E-Notification: When filing at Lockbox facilities in Chicago, Phoenix, or Lewisville, TX, you may file Form G-1145 to receive an email and/or text notification that your application has been accepted.