USCIS Updates H-1B Cap Count

On April 19, 2012 the USCIS provided updated information on the number of fiscal year 2013 H-1B petitions received so far. 20,600 regular H-1B petitions have been received and 9,700 Masters degree petitions have been received, for a total of 30,300. At this rate, the total of 85,000 cases could be exhausted in 1-2 months from now.

US Department of State Announces EB2 Cut-off

Today, AILA released this announcement from the U.S. Department of State:

DOS Confirms China-Mainland Born and India EB-2 Cut-offs

Charlie Oppenheim, Chief of Visa Control at the State Department, has confirmed that, effective March 23, 2012, no further EB-2 visas will be authorized for China-mainland born and India applicants with priority dates of August 15, 2007, or later. Visa applicants processing in April at consulates abroad will still receive visas, as those numbers were allocated before the cut-off date was established. Mr. Oppenheim understands that USCIS will contine to receive and process applications for adjustment of status for aliens with priority dates prior to the date established in the April 2012 Visa Bulletin, and those cases with priority dates of August 15, 2007, or later, will be forwarded to and held by Visa Control at DOS in a "pending" file until new visas are available beginning with FY2013 on October 1, 2012. Mr. Oppenheim advises that an item in the May Visa Bulletin will address the EB-2 movement.

Lobbying For Senate Bill 1979 Permanent Reauthorization of Conrad 30

On March 30, 2012, immigration attorney Barry Walker visited Congressional staffers at the Capitol in Washington, D.C. for the purpose of urging members of Congress to pass Senate Bill 1979. S. 1979 is a bill that would permanently extend the Conrad 30 program. The Conrad 30 program was passed by Congress in 1994, and it gives the States the standing to make J-1 waiver recommendations for J-1 physicians who pledge to come to medical shortage areas in the United States for three years. Our State of Mississippi is one of the States that suffers from a severe shortage of primary care and sub-specialty physicians, especially in our rural counties, where a major portion of the population lives below the U.S. poverty level. If S.1979 is passed, more foreign physicians will be encouraged to come to underserved areas. Currently, those foreign physicians who obtain graduate medical training in the U.S., as H-1B nonimmigrants, do not need a waiver of the foreign residence requirement, and so they have no incentive to serve in an underserved area in the U.S. S.1979 would provide several immigration advantages to H-1B physicians, if they agree to serve in an underserved area. They would enjoy an exemption from the H-1B numerical limitation (the H-1B cap) and they would be able to obtain classification as a first employment based immigrant (EB-1).
In our conversations with various Congressional staffers, we heard of no one who has any objection to this legislation. Hopefully it has a good chance of passage, and will likely be voted on prior to the September 30, 2012 end of the current Congressional session.