Monday, December 18, 2023

USCIS HAS REACHED ANNUAL LIMIT OF H-1B VISAS

USCIS has announced that they have received sufficient H-1b cap petitions to reach the statutory limit of 65,000 H-1b regular cap visas and the 20,000 H-1b advanced degree visas for fiscal year 2024.

Since the H-1b cap limit has been hit for the 2024 fiscal year, there will be no further selections in the H-1b lottery for this fiscal year.

All registrants who were not selected have been sent notices through their online USCIS accounts to inform them that they have not been selected. The non-selection notice will update the registration entry to state:

“Not Selected: Not selected – not eligible to file an H-1B cap petition based on this registration.” “

All currently pending H-1b cap petitions will continue to be processed normally. USCIS will also continue to accept all cap-exempt H-1bs petitions, such as:

  1. Extensions and amendments to previously approved H-1bs;
  2. H-1b transfers for a change in sponsoring employers;
  3. H-1b concurrent petitions to allow an H-1b Beneficiary to work for multiple employers; and,
  4. H-1b petitions filed by cap-exempt organizations (Institutions of higher education and affiliated non-profit organizations as well as non-profit or governmental research organizations).

The H-1b lottery will open for registrations for the US government’s 2025 fiscal year in March of 2024.

Tuesday, December 12, 2023

JANUARY 2024 VISA BULLETIN: DATES ADVANCE. WILL ADVANCEMENTS CONTINUE?

The Department of State has just issued the January 2024 Visa Bulletin, which is the third of the 2024 US fiscal year.  This blog post analyzes this month's Visa Bulletin. 

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.

Employment-
based

All Chargeability 
Areas Except
Those Listed

CHINA-
mainland 
born

INDIA

MEXICO

PHILIPPINES

1st

C

01JUL22

01SEP20

C

C

2nd

01NOV22

01JAN20

01MAR12

01NOV22

01NOV22

3rd

01AUG22

01SEP20

01JUN12

01AUG22

01AUG22

Table B: Dates of Filing

The USCIS is expected to use the Table B Dates of Filing chart for I-485 employment-based filings. See: USCIS Visa Bulletin Dates

MU Law Analysis

This was a very positive Visa Bulletin.  Nearly every category advanced.  Philippine and All Other EB-3 leaped forward eight months, allowing thousands to obtain green cards.  China EB-3 advanced seven months.  Even India EB-3 moved forward by one month. 

Similar advancements happened in EB-2, with India and China EB-2 (each two months), and Philippine and All Other EB-2 (three and a half months) all progressing.  We even saw EB-1 advancements in India and China.  India EB-1 jumped three and a half years, and China moved ahead by four and a half months.

MU expected advancements.  We expect slow progress in the near future, with occasional bursts like in this January Visa Bulletin.  We still believe that there is some slack in the EB-3 numbers (non-India and China) and would not be surprised to see the EB-3 dates advance into late 2022 or even 2023 before the end of the summer.