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CONTENTS:
1. Employment-Based Immigration Numbers to Backlog Soon
We always display the most recent State Department Visa Bulletin on our web
site at
http://shusterman.com/vb.html
We posted the October 2004 Visa Bulletin online a full week before the State
Department based posted it on their page.
For the past few years, while the family-based numbers have been inching
ahead, the employment-based numbers have all been "current", no backlog.
This is about to change for the worse.
The October 2004 Visa Bulletin contains the following caveat:
"During the past two years, the visa allocation system compensated for
reduction in CIS visa number demand by making very rapid advances in the
visa cut-off dates. As the cut-off dates advanced, tens of thousands of
applicants became eligible to file for adjustment of status at CIS offices.
Heavy demand was expected as CIS began to address their backlog and finalize
action on such cases. The Visa Office has been alerting interested parties
to this possibility over the past two years, and this is exactly what has
recently begun to happen. FAMILY: As CIS demand for visa numbers continues
to increase, little if any forward movement of cut-off dates is expected
during FY-2005, and the potential for retrogressions in certain categories
cannot be ruled out. While retrogression of certain Family cut-off dates is
not likely in the immediate future, it cannot be ruled out late in the
fiscal year. This is because the CIS backlog is likely to include large
numbers of applicants in all categories with priority dates well before the
current cut-off dates. EMPLOYMENT: The increasing CIS use of numbers is
likely to require the establishment of cut-off dates in one or more
categories during FY-2005. Such action is expected in the Employment Third
preference category as early as January."
In simple English, this means that the 3.5 million persons who have played
by the rules established by Congress and waited in line to able to apply for
permanent residence under the existing system of family and employment
preferences are screwed!
The State Department is warning that the family-based numbers are unlikely
to move forward and may even move backward in the coming year. Equally
disturbing is that by January 2005, the employment-based numbers are
expected to start developing backlogs.
If the increasing backlog in the family and employment categories were
simply the result of the demand for green cards exceeding the supply, this
would be completely justified. The United States admits approximately one
million immigrants annually, more than any other country in the world.
Anti-immigrant groups label this as "mass immigration" and call for the
Congress to drastically decrease the number of immigrants. However, viewed
in perspective, the numbers of legal immigrants admitted to the U.S.
annually equals less than one-half of 1% of our population, not a "flood",
but more like a "trickle". A majority of these immigrants are parents,
spouses and children of U.S. citizens. The rest are close family members of
U.S. citizens and permanent residents, persons with essential job skills and
refugees.
1. Employment-Based Immigration Numbers to Backlog Soon
We always display the most recent State Department Visa Bulletin on our web
site at
http://shusterman.com/vb.html
We posted the October 2004 Visa Bulletin online a full week before the State
Department based posted it on their page.
For the past few years, while the family-based numbers have been inching
ahead, the employment-based numbers have all been "current", no backlog.
This is about to change for the worse.
The October 2004 Visa Bulletin contains the following caveat:
"During the past two years, the visa allocation system compensated for
reduction in CIS visa number demand by making very rapid advances in the
visa cut-off dates. As the cut-off dates advanced, tens of thousands of
applicants became eligible to file for adjustment of status at CIS offices.
Heavy demand was expected as CIS began to address their backlog and finalize
action on such cases. The Visa Office has been alerting interested parties
to this possibility over the past two years, and this is exactly what has
recently begun to happen. FAMILY: As CIS demand for visa numbers continues
to increase, little if any forward movement of cut-off dates is expected
during FY-2005, and the potential for retrogressions in certain categories
cannot be ruled out. While retrogression of certain Family cut-off dates is
not likely in the immediate future, it cannot be ruled out late in the
fiscal year. This is because the CIS backlog is likely to include large
numbers of applicants in all categories with priority dates well before the
current cut-off dates. EMPLOYMENT: The increasing CIS use of numbers is
likely to require the establishment of cut-off dates in one or more
categories during FY-2005. Such action is expected in the Employment Third
preference category as early as January."
In simple English, this means that the 3.5 million persons who have played
by the rules established by Congress and waited in line to able to apply for
permanent residence under the existing system of family and employment
preferences are screwed!
The State Department is warning that the family-based numbers are unlikely
to move forward and may even move backward in the coming year. Equally
disturbing is that by January 2005, the employment-based numbers are
expected to start developing backlogs.
If the increasing backlog in the family and employment categories were
simply the result of the demand for green cards exceeding the supply, this
would be completely justified. The United States admits approximately one
million immigrants annually, more than any other country in the world.
Anti-immigrant groups label this as "mass immigration" and call for the
Congress to drastically decrease the number of immigrants. However, viewed
in perspective, the numbers of legal immigrants admitted to the U.S.
annually equals less than one-half of 1% of our population, not a "flood",
but more like a "trickle". A majority of these immigrants are parents,
spouses and children of U.S. citizens. The rest are close family members of
U.S. citizens and permanent residents, persons with essential job skills and
refugees.
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