IMMIGRATION UPDATES
1. Announcement of Visa Bulletin for New Fiscal Year: Continuation of EB-1 Worldwide Backlog; EB-2 Rest of the World is “Current”, Mainland China in Retrogression
The U.S. Department of State’s (DOS) most recently released Visa Bulletin for October 2019 shows a continuation of worldwide backlog for EB-1.
On the other hand, the Visa Bulletin for October 2019 shows that EB-2 for Rest of the World (ROW) is “current”, but cutoff dates for issuance of an EB-2 immigrant visa for Mainland China-born applicants have regressed 2 years to January 1, 2015.
Apart from F2A Spouses and Minor Children of Green Card Holders, USCIS will accept adjustment of status applications for all other family-based cases and employment-based cases based on the “Dates for Filing” charts.
The October 2019 Visa Bulletin can be found here.
2. USCIS Proposes $10 Minimum Registration Fee for H-1B cap-subject petitions
On September 3, 2019, USCIS announced a notice of proposed rulemaking that would require petitioners seeking to file H-1B cap-subject petitions to pay a $10 fee for each electronic registration they submit to USCIS for the H-1B cap selection process. The purpose of this proposed rulemaking is for USCIS to expend resources to implement and maintain the H-1B registration system.
On January 31, 2019, DHS posted a final rule in the Federal Register for public inspection, amending regulations governing H-1B cap-subject petitions. There are two major changes to the H-1B program in this final rule: 1) it reverses the order USCIS selects H-1B petitions; and 2) it introduces an electronic registration requirement for petitioners seeking to file H-1B cap-subject petitions. This rule went into effect on April 1, 2019, where ALG fully expects USCIS to implement the electronic registration requirement for the FY 2020 cap season.
USCIS’ alert can be found here.
ALG SUCCESS STORIES
L-1A Extension Petition Approved in 2.5 Months for General Manager of Trading Company of Sports Goods, and Outdoor and Travel Goods
Ms. Z had been serving as the General Manager of a successful Chinese trading company, mainly engaged in the R&D and Sales of materials and innovative sports and outdoor products, for over 13 years, where she directly supervised 3 managers and a total of 24 subordinated staff. She was then transferred to the U.S. under the L-1A visa and had been serving as the General Manager of the U.S. company for its first year of operations. In this position, she helped set up the company’s new offices in the U.S. and was responsible for the overall management and strategic development of the U.S. company. The U.S. affiliate company hoped to extend Ms. Z’s L-1A status in the U.S. in order for them to continue to expand its U.S. business, as well as have her continue manage 12 employees in the U.S.
Even with a request for additional evidence, which ALG attorneys swiftly responded to, USCIS approved this L-1A extension petition in 2.5 months from initial submission.
コメント