H-1B Cap Reached, hope the USCIS will move the adjudicating forces from the H-1B production line to the I-140 production line soon
02/17/2004: H-1B Cap Reached
According to the AILA, USCIS announced that the annual H-1B cap reached as of 02/17/2004 and any cases which they would receive from February 18, 2004 would be returned to the senders with the filing fees. For the new H-1B filers, H-1B visa numbers will not be available until October 1, 2004. For the details, please see the AILA announcement.
02/12/2004: Thaw in I-140 Backlog on the Horizon
The I-140 processing has been experiencing a terrible delay for several months. There is a good news, though. Very soon, the H-1B annual cap is expected to reach and the USCIS is scheduled to move the adjudicating forces from the H-1B production line to the I-140 production line. Accordingly, people will see letters coming from the Service Centers in the mail, no matter whether it is RFE or outright approval or denial. Three groups of people have suffered most from the I-140 backlog. The first group is those who did not file concurrent I-140/I-485 to go for the consular processing rather than the time-consuming I-485 proceeding. This group includes Canadians, Europeans, certain Asians, and certain Mexicans/South Americans. The second group is those who had to change employment after 180 days of filing of I-485. Since the current USCIS interpretation of the AC 21 change of employer requires approval of I-140 petition, a number of I-485 filers in this group have lived in fear in the event that they lost employment or they face such crisis. The third group is those who are forced to process the immigrant visa outside of the U.S. upon approval of their I-140 petitions. Most typically, allied health care workers including nurses and those who live outside of the U.S. Please stay tuned!
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02/17/2004: H-1B Cap Reached
According to the AILA, USCIS announced that the annual H-1B cap reached as of 02/17/2004 and any cases which they would receive from February 18, 2004 would be returned to the senders with the filing fees. For the new H-1B filers, H-1B visa numbers will not be available until October 1, 2004. For the details, please see the AILA announcement.
02/12/2004: Thaw in I-140 Backlog on the Horizon
The I-140 processing has been experiencing a terrible delay for several months. There is a good news, though. Very soon, the H-1B annual cap is expected to reach and the USCIS is scheduled to move the adjudicating forces from the H-1B production line to the I-140 production line. Accordingly, people will see letters coming from the Service Centers in the mail, no matter whether it is RFE or outright approval or denial. Three groups of people have suffered most from the I-140 backlog. The first group is those who did not file concurrent I-140/I-485 to go for the consular processing rather than the time-consuming I-485 proceeding. This group includes Canadians, Europeans, certain Asians, and certain Mexicans/South Americans. The second group is those who had to change employment after 180 days of filing of I-485. Since the current USCIS interpretation of the AC 21 change of employer requires approval of I-140 petition, a number of I-485 filers in this group have lived in fear in the event that they lost employment or they face such crisis. The third group is those who are forced to process the immigrant visa outside of the U.S. upon approval of their I-140 petitions. Most typically, allied health care workers including nurses and those who live outside of the U.S. Please stay tuned!
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) I hope you don't have to feel that)