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The American Immigration Council (AIC) reports that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is issuing Requests for Evidence (RFEs) and Denials at increased rates for H-1B and L-1 petitions.

The RFE rate for H-1B petitions has increased to almost 40% in the first three quarters of FY 2019 compared to 22 and 21% in FYs 2015 and 2016.  The RFE rate for L-1 petitions is even higher, nearing 54% in the first three quarters of FY 2019. By comparison, the L-1 RFE rate was just 34% in FY 2015.

USCIS uses RFEs to request for additional documents to confirm the validity of petitions. RFEs often add months to the H-1B and L-1 process and even when petitioners respond with additional information, increasingly USCIS issues denials. In FY 2019 (as of June), only 63% of H-1B petitions were approved after an RFE was issued, compared to 83% in FY 2015.  Only about 50% of L-1 petitions were approved after an RFE was issued since FY 2017.

On May 31, 2019, The U.S. Department of State added new questions to Forms DS-160/DS-156 Nonimmigrant Visa Application and the Form DS-260 Immigrant Visa Application. The new versions of these forms require foreign national visa applicants to disclose information about their social media history. Applicants must disclose all the social media platforms they have used within the previous five years, as well as provide their username(s) for each platform.

This increased information gathering is a result of President Trump’s March 2017 executive order 13780, which requires the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Director of National Intelligence to develop “screening and vetting standards and procedures” for all immigration programs.

Think Immigration  suggests that the addition of social media questions on visa applications will increase processing times while the ACLU has suggested that the new requirement infringes on the rights of immigrants and U.S. citizens.

The visa bulletin is out at this link: July 2019

The level of Employment-based demand, primarily for USCIS adjustment of status applicants, has been steadily increasing in recent weeks. For example, there has been no forward movement for India and China under the EB-1 employment based category. The Department of State expects the EB-1 final action date for India will move forward to February 22, 2017 in October 2019.

Employment-based petitions must use the Final Action Dates chart. The employment-based categories are as follows: EB-1 is at April 22, 2018 for all countries except China (May 8, 2017) and India (January 1, 2015); EB-2 is current for all countries except China (November 1, 2016) and India (April 24, 2009); EB-3 is current for all countries except China (January 1, 2016), India (July 1, 2009);  EB-3 other workers is current for all countries except China (November 22, 2007), India (July 1, 2009); EB-4 and religious worker visas are current for all countries except El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico (July 1, 2016); and EB-5 non-regional centers and regional centers are current for all countries except China (October 1, 2014), India (May 1, 2017) and Vietnam (October 1, 2016).  Family based petitions must use the Dates for Filing chart.  Family based petitions are backlogged, with the most recent date at March 8, 2019 for F2A (spouses and children under 21 of lawful permanent residents) and the longest queue for Philippines F4 (brothers and sisters of U.S. Citizens) at July 1, 1998.

The U.S. Embassy and Consulates in China announced that they will consolidate H and L visa applications for foreign nationals. Effective March 1, 2019, interviews for H and L visas will be conducted only at the Embassy in Beijing, and the Consulates in Guangzhou, and Shanghai. H and L visa interviews will no longer be conducted at the Consulates in Chengdu or Shenyang. For more information, please go to: Applying for a U.S. Visa in China.

If you have questions or need assistance with consular processing of visas in China or anywhere else in the world, please contact at immigrationinfo@cornerlaw.com .

The immigration community is scratching its head about Trump’s recent Tweet about H-1B visas. “H-1B holders in the United States can rest assured that changes are soon coming which will bring both simplicity and certainty to your stay, including a potential path to citizenship,” tweeted Trump on January 11, 2019.  Trump may have been referring to the USCIS proposed regulation to change the order of the H-1B lottery; however this will have no effect on H-1B visa holders ability to secure green cards or citizenship.  The government has also not announced any changes to the current path to permanent residence or citizenship for H-1B visa holders.  So no one really knows what his Tweet meant!

For more information and comments: Forbes 

Or contact  Cornerstone Law Group

U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman has blocked U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross’ attempt to include a question about citizenship on the 2020 U.S. Decennial Census in State of New York et al. v. U.S. Department of Commerce, et al.

The U.S. Census Bureau, which falls under the U.S. Department of Commerce, has not asked a citizenship question since 1950.  The census, which measures U.S. population and demographics every ten years, serves to properly allocate House of Representatives seats and helps to appropriate billions of dollars in Federal funds, grants, and support to states, counties and communities.

According to Secretary Ross, the citizenship question was a response to a U.S. Department of Justice request for better citizenship data to enforce the Voting Rights Act and its protections against racial discrimination in voting.

The visa bulletin is out at this link: February 2019

For the Date for Filing, employment-based categories are as follows: EB-1 is at June 1, 2018 for all countries except China and India (October 1, 2017); EB-2 is current for all countries except  China (November 1, 2015) and India (May 22, 2009); EB-3 is current for all countries except China (January 1, 2016), India (April 1, 2010) and the Philippines (October 1, 2017);  EB-3 other workers is current for all countries except China (June 1, 2008), India (April 1, 2010) and the Philippines (October 1, 2017); EB-4 and religious worker visas are current for all countries except El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras (May 1, 2016); and EB-5 non-regional centers and regional centers are current for all countries except China (October 1, 2014).  Family based petitions are backlogged, with the most recent date at December 1, 2017 for F2A (spouses and children under 21 of lawful permanent residents) and the longest queue for Philippines F4 (brothers and sisters of U.S. Citizens) at August 1, 1997.

There has been a significant increase in the frequency with which IT professionals are refused visas at consular posts in Mission India. These refusals appear to be the result of the Buy American/Hire American Executive Order (BAHA). AILA, our immigration lawyers association, has provided the following strategies for visa issuance:

• Applicants must be prepared to discuss the job offered and the specific skill set required to perform the job.
• Applicants should be prepared to provide a succinct “elevator speech” explanation to the consular officer about the position. The applicant must clearly communicate what they do (or will be doing) and should be prepared to articulate the value that they bring to the U.S. employer.

U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) reports  that criminal investigations, business audits, and arrests by ICE and ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) division have surged 300 to 750 percent in fiscal year (“FY”) 2018 compared to FY2017.  HSI opened 6,848 worksite investigations compared to 1,691 in FY2017 and initiated 5,981 I-9 audits compared to 1,360 in FY2017. HSI made 779 criminal arrests and 1,525 administrative worksite-related arrests in FY2018 compared to 139 criminal arrests and 172 administrative worksite-related in FY2017.  Businesses were ordered to pay more than $10.2 million in judicial fines, forfeitures, and restitutions and HSI levied businesses another $10.2 million in civil penalties in FY2018.

HSI continues to focus on the criminal prosecution of employers who knowingly break the law, and the use of I-9 audits and civil fines to encourage compliance with the law. The Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986 requires employers to verify the identity and work eligibility of all individuals they hire, and to document that information using the Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9.

For more information about I-9 regulations please contact our office at: immigrationinfo@cornerlaw.com

A recent Forbes Op-Ed article, International Students Are Founding America’s Great Startups, by Stuart Anderson, highlights the high percentage of U.S. startup companies that have been founded by professionals who first came to the United States as international students.

The study, conducted by the National Foundation for American Policy, a non-partisan public policy research organization of which Anderson is the executive director, finds that almost one quarter (20 out of 91)  of U.S. billion-dollar startups have a founder who first came to the U.S. as an  international student. These startups have a collective value of $9.6 billion and have created an average of more than 1,400 jobs per company.

Anderson argues that programs such as Optional Practical Training (OPT), which allows foreign students to stay in the U.S. after graduation to work for a period of up to 12 months, gives foreign students an opportunity to join the U.S. workforce and find successful U.S. startups. He argues that the Trump Administration’s restrictions on foreign students will make it more difficult for these students to become valuable assets to the U.S. workforce.