Final Rule: Notices of Decisions and Documents Evidencing Lawful Status, Effective Jan. 27, 2015

From USCIS: The final rule, Notices of Decisions and Documents Evidencing Lawful Status, published on Oct. 29, 2014, is effective on Jan. 27, 2015. This rule amends regulations governing when USCIS will:

• correspond with,
• issue a notice of decision to, or
• provide documents to

an applicant, petitioner, or requester, and/or an attorney of record or accredited representative.
The rule also explains how a person can consent to have such notices and secure identification documents sent directly to a designated representative.

April 2015 Visa Bulletin Predictions

For March 2015 Visa Bulletin, please click here: http://blog.mygcvisa.com/2015/02/march-2015-visa-bulletin.html

Please see April 2015 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: 1-3+ months
  EB2 India: 4-6 months. Please see article 1. Also see article 2.
• EB3 (ROW, Mexico): 4-8 months. Please see article.
  EB3 China: 4-8 weeks
  EB3 India: 1-2 weeks
  EB3 Philippines:  4-8 months. Please see article.
• FB categories: 1 to 12 weeks Please see article.
• F2A: 3-6 weeks. Please see article.

Family Based:

Family-Sponsored	All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed	CHINA- mainland born	INDIA	MEXICO	PHILIPPINES
F1	15AUG07	15AUG07	15AUG07	15SEP94	01MAR05
F2A	22JUL13	22JUL13	22JUL13	22JUN13	22JUL13
F2B	22AUG08	22AUG08	22AUG08	22JAN95	22APR04
F3	15FEB04	15FEB04	15FEB04	15MAR94	15AUG93
F4	08JUN02	08JUN02	08JUN02	22JUN97	08OCT91

Employment Based:

March 2015 Visa Bulletin Analysis

For March 2015 Visa  Visa Bulletin, please click here: http://blog.mygcvisa.com/2015/02/march-2015-visa-bulletin.html

Please see below analysis of March 2015 Visa Bulletin:

EB1: All EB1 categories are current and should continue to remain current for fiscal year. Demand continues to be around 1650 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 700 per month. 

EB2 China: EB2 China moved forward by 5.5 months in this visa bulletin. It is likely to continue to move forward around at a fast pace in the net few months.

EB2 India: EB2 India category also got a big jump in this visa bulletin. It moved forward by around 16 months to 01JAN07. Per the latest pending inventory, there around 1,000 I-485 pending applications before that date. In addition, there are applicants in EB2 who have not yet filed their application as well as applicants who will be porting from EB3 India to EB2 India.

Update on EAD For H4 Visa Holder

USCIS has recently submitted the final rules to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to  make certain H4 visa holders eligible to obtain employment authorization.

It may take 30 to 60 days for OMB office to approve this ruling. After this rule is approved,  it would be sent to the Federal Register for publication and implementation.

Eligible individuals would include H-4 dependent spouses of principal H-1B workers who:

• Are the beneficiaries of an approved Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker; or
• Have been granted an extension of their authorized period of stay in the United States under the American Competitiveness in the Twenty-first Century Act of 2000 (AC21) as amended by the 21st Century Department of Justice Appropriations Authorization Act. AC21 permits H-1B workers seeking lawful permanent residence to work and remain in the United States beyond the six-year limit.

March 2015 Visa Bulletin

For February 2015 Visa Bulletin, please click here: http://blog.mygcvisa.com/2015/01/february-2015-visa-bulletin.html

March 2015 Visa Bulletin has been released (valid from March 1 to March 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	01AUG07	01AUG07	01AUG07	22OCT94	01FEB05
F2A	22JUN13	22JUN13	22JUN13	22MAY13	22JUN13
F2B	08JUL08	08JUL08	08JUL08	01JAN95	22MAR04
F3	22JAN04	22JAN04	22JAN04	22FEB94	01AUG93
F4	15MAY02	15MAY02	15MAY02	01JUN97	08SEP91

Employment Based:

H2A Temporary Agricultural Labor Processing Statistic FY 2015 YTD

H.R 213 and S.153: Immigration Bills Introduced in Congress

H.R. 213 - Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act of 2015

Congressman Jason Chaffetz introduced in the House H.R. 213 bill on January 8, 2015.

This bill will amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to 

(a) eliminate the per-country numerical limitation for employment-based immigrants and 
(b) to increase the per-country numerical limitation for family-sponsored immigrants, and for other purposes.

Some of you may remember that this bill is same as bill HR 3012 which was passed in House but did not pass in Senate (because of Irish immigration added to this bill in Senate which was opposed by Senator Grassley).