The Visa Bulletin for August 2010 has just been released and finally we see progress for EB-3 employment based green cards. For EB-3 categories (professional workers, skilled workers and other workers), the priority date is now June 2004 (except for China and Philippines). If at first glance that date does not sound too good, keep in mind that the EB-3 priority date in the Visa Bulletin for July 2010 was August 2003.

You can locate the Visa Bulletin for the current month and older bulletins at http://travel.state.gov/visa/bulletin/bulletin_1360.html

It is well known among green card holders that when they get married to their spouses, they think that the process usually will take anywhere from 3-4 years. Now there is good news as shown in the August 2010 Visa Bulletin. The priority date for spouses and minor children of green card holders is March 2009. This means that if you have a green card and you filed the immediate relative petition form for your spouse on or after March 2009, your priority date is now current! This is certainly a lot faster than 3-4 years. For more information, please refer to the most recent Visa Bulletin issued for August 2010 at http://travel.state.gov/visa/bulletin/bulletin_1360.html

Because the Visa Bulletin date is for August 1, 2010, it is recommended to wait until August 1, 2010 to file the adjustment of status application.

There are new consular fees that are going into place effective July 13, 2010. The Department of State has explained that the current fees of $131 are not enough to cover all the costs associated with reviewing each applicant’s visa application. This fee list refers to cases being processed by a US Consulate / US Embassy – not the USCIS.

Here is a list of the fee increases by case type:

A. Non-Immigrant Visa Fees: Current New

1. H-1B, L-1, O, P and R-1 Visas $131.00 $150.00

2. E (investor) visas $131.00 $390.00

3. K Visa $131.00 $350.00

4. B-1/B-2 Visitor, F, M & J visas $131.00 $140.00

_______

B. Immigrant Filing Fees: Current New

1. Family-Based Immigrant Visa $355.00 $330.00

2. Employment based Immigrant Visa $355.00 $720.00

3. Diversity Visa Lottery Surcharge $375.00 $440.00
It is important to make a careful note of these changes, as anyone that has dealt with a US Embassy knows, all parts of the application must be completed exactly as each Embassy wants to avoid being denied or receiving a document stating charge of 221(g). Also, if you are submitting paperwork to any US Embassy, please be aware that most US Embassies have upgraded their websites to provide instructions as to how they want the above fees paid and which bank they prefer, etc. Here is a link for a list of US Embassies throughout the world http://www.usembassy.gov/.

A news flash issued by the New York Times states that immigration officials are now quietly reviewing the records of companies that it suspects hire illegal immigrants. This focus on audits is different from the immigration approach we saw in 2009 when the immigration officials conducted raids and arrested hundreds of individuals in the process for each company, including sometimes even the manager(s) in charge of hiring.

So far, more than 2,900 companies have been under scrutiny through these audits, which is a much larger number than the raids conducted under the Bush Administration. Under this new process, immigration is more concerned with “egregious” employers rather than arresting and deporting illegal employees.

Again, the immigration officials are trying to create a “culture of compliance,” which is obviously a current focus of the federal government under President Obama. Certainly this focus on compliance is taking precedence over immigration reform, at least for the time being. More information can be located at

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100710/us_nm/us_usa_immigration_audits_1

The US Embassy in Beijing, China has recently made the visa process easier for applicants by allowing applicants to apply for a visa at any US Embassy that they prefer regardless of where in China they reside. So visa applicants now can choose between the following US Embassies or US Consulates in China:

*US Embassy in Beijing

*US Consulates General in Chengdu

*US Consulate General in Guangzhou

*US Consulate General in Shanghai and

*US Consulate General in Shenyang.

To choose which location to make an appointment at, please refer to http://beijing.usembassy-china.org.cn/visa_interview_appointment_availability.html

Which provides an exact list of the processing visa times for each US Embassy and US Consulate in China listed per visa type. Please see http://beijing.usembassy-china.org.cn/niv_info.html for more information on visa availability dates and how to make an appointment.

In order for the US Embassy in Beijing to keep up with the demand for visas to go to the US, it must start providing appointments in Saturdays at least for the next few weeks. I find this report interesting because it is the only report that I have seen that states that the demand to come to the US has increased in 2010. Other reports seem to tell us those international students and educated folks are choosing to go to other countries. This pattern is easy to notice when you notice that H-1B visas are still available with almost half the visas remaining, while in as recently as 2008, the H-1B visas were all completed within the first month of availability in April 1, 2010.

The US Embassy in Beijing, however, is providing some refreshing information that travel to US from China has increased by 28% this year compared to last year. In 2009, the US embassies in China issued almost half a million visas to Chinese travelers coming to the US. Even more good news is that 62% of those visas were for business and tourism.

As of July 2, 2010, the USCIS has released the following H-1B visa numbers:

*Of the 65,000 H-1B annual visas available, USCIS has received 24,200 H-1B’s so far.

*Of the 20,000 H-1B annual visas available for Master’s cap, USCIS has received 10,400 H-1B’s so far.

Please refer to

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=4b7cdd1d5fd37210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=73566811264a3210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD for more information.

The USCIS anticipates that the H-1B visa numbers will all be gone by August 2010. Please see http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/_Significant_growth_in_H1B_visa__recovery-nid-69142.html for more information. While USCIS anticipates that the H-1B numbers will all be gone by August 2010, I believe we still have a little more time to get these visas filed, as we still have half of the visa availability limits remaining. For each year, USCIS only allows 65,000 for H-1B visas. When these visas are used up, then applicants must wait until the next fiscal year to file for H-1B work visas. The earliest date that USCIS accepts H-1B visas for a new fiscal year is on April 1st of each year. The H-1B start date, though, for a new H-1B visa applicant is a start employment date of October 1st of that year.

In previous years before the downturn, it was not uncommon for USCIS to receive OVER the visa limits on April 1st or April 2nd of that year. However, in the years of 2009 and 2010, H-1B visas remained available until much longer than that, which is probably a result of a slow economy.

Recently on cnn.com and other news channels, we are finally hearing about the topic of US immigration reform. Now that President Obama’s health care push is finally completed, the issue of immigration reform is back on the spotlight. This change became noticeable especially on June 1, 2010 when President Obama gave a speech requesting that Congress pass an immigration reform bill to avoid the alternative of other states passing immigration bills like Arizona’s immigration bill.

This new focus on immigration reform is exciting, but I am of course a little skeptical about how long the process could take before an actual law is enacted. One hopeful sign is that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has joined the push for immigration reform.

Now if you are thinking, big deal, that is just one mayor out of 50, think again.
Mayor Bloomberg is not just an ordinary mayor. He is independently wealthy due to a company that he owns, called Bloomberg LP, which is a financial data leasing company. In fact, Bloomberg LP is so successful in the financial world, that Mayor Bloomberg has been noted to be worth in the Billions and one of the richest men in the US. He in fact takes a whopping salary of $1.00 USD (that is right – one dollar!) as his salary for being New York’s mayor, because he simply does not need the money.

So it is quite natural that due to his strong financial background, Mayor Bloomberg is approaching selling immigration reform by presenting the great financial increase immigration reform will bring to the US. Mayor Bloomberg even called our current immigration system as “national suicide,” because the US is pushing away financial investors and entrepreneurs while other countries are welcoming these individuals and welcoming their investments.

Mayor Bloomberg of New York has even helped to create a partnership of other Mayors and business leaders to make the economic case for reform, including Mayors of San Antonia, Phoenix, Los Angeles and also top executives of big companies like Boeing, New York Mets, Hewlett-Packard and Walt Disney. We will keep our fingers crossed…
For additional information on Mayor Bloomberg’s plan for reform, please refer to
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/24/rupert-murdoch-mayor-bloo_n_623805.html.