TRUMP FIRES USCIS CHIEF AND NOMINATES CONTROVERSIAL REPLACEMENT

Over the Memorial Day weekend, President Trump fired USCIS Director L. Fracis Cissna and replaced him with a one-time Virginia candidate for Governor, Ken Cuccinelli. Cuccinelli has been an outspoken critic of legal immigration. Danielle Spooner, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees union representing USCIS employees, criticized President Trump’s decision, “the resignation of Francis Lee Cissna as Director of USCIS and the possible appointment of Ken Cuccinelli as his successor spells the end of legal immigration as it currently exists.” 

It remains to be seen if the President follows through on yet another controversial hire, or backs off after learning more about the candidate, as he has done in about 50 other high-level appointments. Notably, ICE has not had a confirmed permanent Director in the entirety of the Presidency. Earlier in the year, President Trump withdrew Ron Vitiello’s nomination, after the ICE officer’s union opposed the nomination. It would not be surprising to see this nomination and appointment process to take all summer.

Under Director Cissna, H-1B denial rates have skyrocketed, despite no change in law, leading to lawsuits challenging error-prone decisions. MU Law has worked with clients to file lawsuits on 17 different erroneous decisions, winning 16 victories, with one case remaining open. It remains to be seen if Nominee Cuccinelli will seek to double down on outgoing Director Cissna’s failed policies.

USCIS FINISHES H-1B LOTTERY

USCIS has finished the data entry for all FY 2020 H-1B cap-subject petitions.  Musillo Unkenholt continues to see H-1B checks being cashed and continues to receive H-1B receipt notices in our mail.  Therefore H-1B cap-subject petitioners should not lose hope yet if they have not received an H-1B receipt notice.  We expected that we will continue to see H-1B receipts for the next two weeks.

After the final H-1B receipt notices are sent by USCIS, they will begin returning all H-1B cap-subject petitions that were not selected.  In past years it has taken USCIS 1-2 months to complete this process.  Musillo Unkenholt does not expect the final H-1B returns until late June or early July.

JUNE VISA BULLETIN: ANALYSIS AND PREDICTIONS

The Department of State has just issued the June 2019 Visa Bulletin. This is the ninth Visa Bulletin of Fiscal Year 2019. This blog post analyzes this month's Visa Bulletin.

June 2019 Visa Bulletin

Table A: Final Action Dates -- Applications with these dates may be approved for their Green Card (Permanent Residency card) or Immigrant Visa appointment.

  

EB  Class	All Other	CHINA	INDIA	PHILIPPINES
EB-1	22APR18	22FEB17	01JAN15	22APR18
EB-2	C	01AUG16	19APR09	C
EB-3	C	15SEP15	01JUL09	01NOV18

Table B: Dates for Filing -- The DOS may work on applications with these dates. But the Visa cannot be approved until the date is current per Table A.

EB  Class	All Other	CHINA	INDIA	PHILIPPINES
EB-1	01SEP18	01OCT17	01OCT17	01SEP18
EB-2	C	01NOV16	01JUN09	C
EB-3	C	01JAN16	01APR10	01JAN19

  

MU Law Analysis (all references are to Table A unless noted)

All Other: The EB-1 category moved about 7 weeks.  We expect continued steady movement in this category for All Other.  We do not see any retrogression in the future for EB2 or EB3, other than the usual retrogression at the end of the Fiscal Year.

China: China EB-2 moved 2+ months, moving more than one year so far in 2019’s calendar months.  EB-3 moved ahead half as fast – about three weeks -- which reflects continued demand in EB-3, likely related to the many EB-3 “downgrades”.  EB-2 remains superior to EB-3.

India: There was very little movement in any of the Indian categories.  EB-1 will almost surely not move in FY 2019.  We do not expect any significant Indian movement this fiscal year.  Longer term, we are slightly more optimistic about India EB-3, which should progress faster than EB-2.

Philippines: The EB-3 date leaped again.  It should be into 2019 shortly, and we do not expect any retrogression in the near future. 

USCIS BLOCKED FROM ENFORCING UNLAWFUL PRESENCE MEMO AGAINST F-1 AND OTHER STUDENTS

A federal district court judge has issued a nationwide preliminary injunction, effective immediately, which prohibits the USCIS from enforcing its "Accrual of Unlawful Presence and F, J, and M Nonimmigrants” Guidance Memo.  That memo penalized F, J, and M international students for overstaying or violating the terms of their visas in extremely harsh, unprecedented ways.  MU Law detailed that Guidance Memo in September. 

This is great news for F, J, and M nonimmigrants, including those who trained under CPT and OPT.