DOS’s Charlie Oppenheim: January Visa Bulletin

Posted on by Hayden Smith

While EB-1 China and EB-1 India demand remains high, the rest of world demand has tapered off and is currently lower than Charlie’s monthly use target. If this trend continues, EB-1 Worldwide (including El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, Mexico Philippines and Vietnam) could potentially become current by the summer of 2020.

 

EB-1 China will continue to advance at a pace of up to three weeks, but EB-1 India is not expected to advance in the near future.

 

EB-2 Worldwide and EB-3 Worldwide categories remain current for January. EB-3 Worldwide will have a Final Action Date imposed no later than March 2020, with a strong possibility of that happening in February. EB-2 Worldwide is likely to remain current longer than EB-3 Worldwide, and hopefully no cut-off date will be required until after March 2020.

 

The longer these categories remain Current, the more likely it is that the retrogression will be more significant so as to severely limit the number usage for a period of time.

Over the coming months, Charlie expects EB-2 China to advance at a pace of up to one month, with EB-2 India advancing at a rate of up to one week. Charlie notes that EB-2 China demand has picked up at a steady pace, but still remains manageable for now. The EB-3 China Final Action Date advances one month to December 1, 2015, in January, which positions EB-3 China’s Final Action Date five months ahead of EB-2 China, maintaining a climate favorable for downgrades. Charlie predicts that the EB-3 China Final Action Date will continue to advance at a rate of up to six weeks. China EB-3 Other Worker category will continue to have an earlier Final Action Date than EB-3 China due to excessive demand in this category.

 

The EB-3 India Final Action Date holds at January 1, 2009, for January, keeping it almost five months behind EB-2 India, maintaining a climate favorable for upgrades. Charlie predicts advancement of “up to” three weeks for EB-3 India, but notes that we should not expect to see any movement in this category until the demand begins to drop below his monthly target number usage.

 

EB-3 Other Worker Worldwide is likely to have a Final Action Date imposed in the coming months.

State Department’s Charlie Oppenheim’s comments on the December 2019 Visa Bulletin

Posted on by Hayden Smith

Employment-Based Categories

EB-1:

Charlie is seeing low demand in the EB-1 Worldwide category. Thus, he predicts that EB-1 Worldwide (including El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, Mexico Philippines and Vietnam) will continue to advance at a pace of up to 3 months for the foreseeable future.

EB-2:

EB-2 Worldwide (including EB-2 El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, EB-2 Mexico, EB-2 Philippines, and EB-2 Vietnam) remains current for December, but could retrogress as early as January 2020.

EB-3:

Although EB-3 Worldwide (including EB-3 El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, EB-3 Mexico, and EB-3 Vietnam) will remain current in December, there is a real possibility that this category could have a final action date imposed as early as January 2020.

 

Family-Based Categories 

The F2A Final Action Date, which has been current since July 2019, remains current across all countries through December. The data available at this time indicates that F2A should remain current for the foreseeable future.

TPS EXTENSIONS

Posted on by Susan Lane

On Friday, November 1, 2019, the Department of Homeland Security announced a Federal Register notice extending the validity of TPS-related documentation for beneficiaries under the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designations for El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua and Sudan through January 4, 2021.

The notice also automatically extends the validity of Employment Authorization Documents; Forms I-797, Notice of Action; and Forms I-94, Arrival/Departure Record (i.e., TPS-related documentation).

November 2019 Visa Bulletin News

Posted on by Susan Lane

Department of State’s Charlie Oppenheim’s Comments on November 2019 Visa Bulletin

 

The Employment-Based 1st preference categories (EB-1) will continue to advance at the pace previously reported, i.e.,  up to three months for EB-1 Worldwide (including El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, Mexico, Philippines, and Vietnam) and EB-1 China, and little if any forward movement for EB-1 India at least through January.

 

Since EB-1 China and EB-1 India will be subject to their per country limits in the foreseeable future, the only possibility of more rapid movement in these categories is if demand for visas in EB-1 Worldwide and other categories were to fall below that allowed under the overall annual limit.

 

EB-1 worldwide is experiencing low demand which could lead to a return to “current” at some point this fiscal year.

 

EB-2 Worldwide (including EB-2 El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, EB-2 Mexico, EB-2 Philippines, and EB-2 Vietnam) remains current for November and is expected to remain current for the foreseeable future.

 

Charlie still expects EB-3 Worldwide (including EB-3 El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, EB-3 Mexico, and EB-3 Vietnam) to remain current through at least January.

OCTOBER VISA BULLETIN NEWS

Posted on by Susan Lane

The Department of State’s Charlie Oppenheim projects that the employment-based EB1 category will move up to 3 months for the worldwide and China categories, and for India, little if any forward movement until January 2020 at the earliest.

 

Potential EB-2 movement:

Worldwide: CURRENT
China: Up to two months
India: Up to one week

 

Potential EB-3 movement:

Worldwide: CURRENT
China: Little if any forward movement
India: Little if any forward movement
Mexico: Will remain at the Worldwide date
Philippines: Up to several months

STEM OPT EMPLOYER SITE VISITS

Posted on by Susan Lane

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has started to conduct site visits of employers who employ F-1 students on STEM Optional Practical Training.  Please visit https://studyinthestates.dhs.gov/employer-site-visits for details on these site visits.

 

Employers need to make sure their front line employees request identification and a business card from the ICE officer, and to have the officer wait until a designated person at the worksite is present to accompany the ICE officer during the visit, which typically lasts 1-2 hours according to recent reports.

H-1B CAP CASE NEWS

Posted on by Susan Lane

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) today announced a notice of proposed rule-making that will require employers seeking to file H-1B cap-subject petitions to pay a $10 fee for each electronic registration they submit to USCIS. This is the new method to handle H-1B cap cases beginning in FY2021.  If the case is selected in the lottery based on this registration system, the employer will then file the H-1B petition application in its entirety with USCIS.  More information from DHS will be forthcoming.