Friday, July 30, 2010

USCIS UPDATES H-1B CAP COUNT FOR JULY 23, 2010 -- AT 26,000

USCIS just issued another update that as of July 23, 2010 they received approximately 26,000 H-1B petitions towards the 2011 fiscal year under the regular cap plus 11,300 H-1B petitions for applicants with U.S. advanced degrees. The jump to 1,200 petitions in a week is about double the 600 per week average we have been reporting over the last few weeks -- not sure if this is a fluke or sign of slight recovery, remains to be seen.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

AILA AND ASC FILES LAW SUIT AGAINST USCIS TO RELEASE H-1B REVIEW PROCESS

On July 20, 2010, AILA (American Immigration Lawyers Association) and the AIC (American Immigration Council) file a law suit against USCIS in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia for declaratory and injunctive relief, following the denial of two FOIA requests seeking disclosure of DHS and USCIS documents concerning H-1B review and processing procedures.
AILA had pursued disclosure of the documents through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests which were denied in full by the government. In its complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, AILA seeks the court's intervention to compel the government to release the requested records.
The law suit was filed because since 2008, USCIS has implemented new, more stringent procedures for review and processing for H-1B visas and has dramatically increased the frequency of unannounced worksite inspections - expected to reach 25,000 visits in 2010 alone - in connection with H-1B cases. Yet USCIS has kept secret the rules and guidelines related to the review process. Because of the lack of publicly available information on the government's heightened scrutiny of H-1B applications, it is extremely difficult for businesses to anticipate and meet agency expectations during the application process and thus the information was requested.
The documents should have released these documents as a matter of course, even without a FOIA, but the fact that the FOIAs were denied is counter to President Obama's directives for a more open and transparent government.
The law suit was filed under the APA (Administrative Procedures Act) seeking transparency to the reliability and fairness of an adjudication process. It will be interesting to see what the government will say in response. We'll keep you updated.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

USCIS UPDATES H-1B CAP COUNT FOR JULY 16, 2010 -- AT 24,800

USCIS updated that as of July 16, 2010, it has received 25,300 petitions for H-1B applicants under the regular cap plus 11,000 under the advanced degree cap.
I'll keep posting as USCIS updates...

Friday, July 16, 2010

BROADGATE V USCIS UPDATE - GOVERNMENT'S RESPONSE

In a development in the Broadgate V. USCIS law suit filed against USCIS for injunction against the implementation of the January 8, 2010 Neufeld memo which changed the definition of employer-employee definitions, the government Defendants filed with the court their response and opposition to the preliminary injunction requested by the Plaintiffs.
In their response, the government claims that the court lacks jurisdiction over the matter (very common claim the government makes), among other reasons, that the agency’s general policy is not a “final” action for purposes of the APA therefore it is not reviewable by the court.
Furthermore, the government argues, that the guidance memorandum at issue in this case is not subject to the notice and comment rulemaking requirements of the APA because it "merely sets forth a general and flexible framework to guide agency adjudicators in the exercise of their discretion. The memorandum simply refines the contours of an already existing legal norm set forth in the agency’s regulation". We all know this to be untrue, as the agency did in fact change its interpretation and existing legal norm.
In any event, the government argues that the memo falls within the contours of a policy statement or interpretive guidance, and thus exempt from the notice and comment rulemaking.
Based on all the above, the government argues that the Plaintiffs do not show a strong likelihood that their law suit will succeed on its merits, and therefore the court should deny the preliminary injunction.

USCIS UPDATES H-1B CAP COUNT FOR JULY 9, 2010 -- AT 24,800

USCIS updated this week its count of the FY-2011 cap-subject H-1B petitions -- as of July 9, 2010, USCIS received approximately 24,800 H-1B petitions that are subject to the cap and 10,600 petitions subject to the U.S. advanced degree cap. The jump from last week to this one was approximately 600, still a very low trickle...

Friday, July 9, 2010

USCIS UPDATES H-1B CAP COUNT FOR JULY 2, 2010 -- AT 24,200

USCIS just issued another H-1B cap update -- as of July 2, 2010, they received 24,200 H-1B petitions subject to the regular cap plus 10,400 petitions subject to the U.S. master's cap. Slow trickle up from last time, but still relatively low usage for the last couple of weeks.
We'll continue to update as USCIS releases new numbers.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

USCIS ANNUAL REPORT ON FY-2009 H-1B VISAS REVEALS MORE DENIALS

In an annual report presented by USCIS to Congress regarding usage of FY-2009 H-1B visas, full data was unfolded that we all experienced empirically.
According to the report, the total number of H-1B petitions received was down about 15% from the prior year (from 288,764 to 246,647), and approvals were down about 22% (from 276,252 to 214,271). This represents approximately a 50% increase in the rate of denials. Not a big surprise considering how USCIS has hammered all H-1B applications with burdensome and many times against the law RFEs, denials, etc., in the general culture of no. I suspect FY2010 denials will show an even higher percentage than that of FY2009.
According to the report, about half of the approved petitions (48%) were for workers born in India, and about 41% for computer-related positions. No surprises here.
Two thirds of workers whose petitions were approved were between 25 and 34 years old. Again, no surprises, as the H-1B users are mainly young professionals. 41% of approved H-1B petitions were for workers with a bachelor’s degree, 40% had a master’s degree, 13% had a Ph.D. and 6% had a professional degree (such as M.D., J.D., etc.).
The median wage for these workers were $64,000 per year, which is a high wage indicative of professionals in the field. This wage represented a $4,000 increase in the median salary over fiscal year 2008 which shows that the U.S employers are willing to pay more for these workers even in times of economic recession.