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VISA BULLETIN PREDICTIONS: PHILS EB-3 TO BE CURRENT

TheDepartment of State’s Visa Bulletin guru, Charlie Oppenheim, hosts regularmeetings with the American Immigration Lawyers Association.  Mr. Oppenheim is the Department of State’sChief of the Control and Reporting Division. He is the officer who isresponsible for producing the Visa Bulletin each month.
InMay he presented at the Federal Bar Association – Immigration Law where heoutlined his expectations for future Visa Bulletins.
Hereare some of his expectations:
Philippines
PhilippinesEB-3 will become current with the publication of the July Visa Bulletin.  It is expected to remain current well intothe next fiscal year.  Philippines EB1and EB-2 will also remain current.
India
BothEB-2 and EB-3 categories will only have slow progressions for the foreseeablefuture.  While lower Worldwide EB-2demand may allow some advancement, it does not appear that this will be thecase or EB-3.  EB-1 will also notadvance, although EB-1 should return to Feb 2017 with the start of the nextfiscal year.
China
ChinaEB-3 should advance into 2016 with the next Visa Bulletin.  China EB-2 will move into late 2016.  The inversion of these dates is no longerlikely. 
Worldwide
EB-3 will remaincurrent for the foreseeable future.  EB-2may have a slight retrogression later in the summer.  The EB-1 date will remain unmoved.

TRUMP FIRES USCIS CHIEF AND NOMINATES CONTROVERSIAL REPLACEMENT

Over the Memorial Day weekend,President Trump fired USCIS Director L. Fracis Cissna and replaced him with aone-time Virginia candidate for Governor, Ken Cuccinelli.  Cuccinelli has been an outspoken critic oflegal immigration.  Danielle Spooner, the president of theAmerican Federation of Government Employees union representing USCIS employees,criticizedPresident Trump’s decision, “the resignation of Francis Lee Cissnaas Director of USCIS and the possible appointment of Ken Cuccinelli as hissuccessor spells the end of legal immigration as it currently exists.” 
It remains tobe seen if the President follows through on yet another controversial hire, orbacks off after learning more about the candidate, ashe has done in about 50 other high-level appointments.  Notably, ICEhas not had a confirmed permanent Director in the entirety of the Presidency.  Earlier in the year, President Trump withdrewRon Vitiello’s nomination, after the ICE officer’s union opposed thenomination.  It would not be surprisingto see this nomination and appointment process to take all summer.
UnderDirector Cissna, H-1Bdenial rates have skyrocketed, despite no change in law, leading to lawsuitschallenging error-prone decisions.  MULaw has worked with clients to file lawsuits on 17 different erroneous decisions,winning 16 victories, with one case remaining open.  It remains to be seen if Nominee Cuccinelli will seek to double down onoutgoing Director Cissna’s failed policies.

USCIS FINISHES H-1B LOTTERY

USCIShas finished the data entry for all FY 2020 H-1B cap-subjectpetitions.  Musillo Unkenholt continuesto see H-1B checks being cashed and continues to receive H-1B receipt noticesin our mail.  Therefore H-1B cap-subjectpetitioners should not lose hope yet if they have not received an H-1B receiptnotice.  We expected that we willcontinue to see H-1B receipts for the next two weeks.
Afterthe final H-1B receipt notices are sent by USCIS, they will begin returning allH-1B cap-subject petitions that were not selected.  In past years it has taken USCIS 1-2 monthsto complete this process.  MusilloUnkenholt does not expect the final H-1B returns until late June or early July.

JUNE VISA BULLETIN: ANALYSIS AND PREDICTIONS

The Department of State has just issued the June2019 Visa Bulletin. This is theninth Visa Bulletin of Fiscal Year 2019. This blog post analyzes this month’sVisa Bulletin. 

June 2019 Visa Bulletin

Table A: Final Action Dates — Applications with these datesmay be approved for their Green Card (Permanent Residency card) or ImmigrantVisa appointment.
  
EB 
Class 
All Other  
CHINA       
INDIA     
PHILIPPINES    
EB-1
22APR18
22FEB17
01JAN15
22APR18
EB-2
C
01AUG16
19APR09 
C
EB-3
C
15SEP15
01JUL09 
01NOV18
Table B: Dates for Filing — The DOS may work onapplications with these dates. But the Visa cannot be approved until the dateis current per Table A.
EB 
Class 
All Other  
CHINA       
INDIA     
PHILIPPINES    
EB-1
01SEP18
01OCT17
01OCT17
01SEP18
EB-2
C
01NOV16
01JUN09 
C
EB-3
C 
01JAN16
01APR10

01JAN19
  
MU Law Analysis (all references are to Table A unless noted)
All Other: TheEB-1 category moved about 7 weeks.  Weexpect continued steady movement in this category for All Other.  We do not see any retrogression in the futurefor EB2 or EB3, other than the usual retrogression at the end of the FiscalYear.
China: China EB-2moved 2+ months, moving more than one year so far in 2019’s calendar months.  EB-3 moved ahead half as fast – about threeweeks — which reflects continued demand in EB-3, likely related to the manyEB-3 “downgrades”.  EB-2 remains superiorto EB-3.
India: There was verylittle movement in any of the Indian categories.  EB-1 will almostsurely not move in FY 2019.  We do notexpect any significant Indian movement this fiscal year.  Longer term, we are slightly more optimisticabout India EB-3, which should progress faster than EB-2.
Philippines: TheEB-3 date leaped again.  It should beinto 2019 shortly, and we do not expect any retrogression in the nearfuture. 

USCIS BLOCKED FROM ENFORCING UNLAWFUL PRESENCE MEMO AGAINST F-1 AND OTHER STUDENTS

Afederal district court judge hasissued a nationwide preliminary injunction, effective immediately, whichprohibits the USCIS from enforcing its “Accrual of Unlawful Presence andF, J, and M Nonimmigrants” Guidance Memo. That memo penalized F, J, and M international students for overstayingor violating the terms of their visas in extremely harsh, unprecedentedways.  MU Law detailedthat Guidance Memo in September. 
This is great newsfor F, J, and M nonimmigrants, including those who trained under CPT and OPT.

NATIONAL NURSES WEEK

MULaw is pleased to recognize that this week is National Nurses Week.  National Nurses Week is a weeklongcelebration of the significant contributions that nurses have and continue tomake in America.  Nurse.com has a webpagespecially dedicated to National Nurses Week. 
The specialsection focuses on the 200th birthday of Florence Nightingale.  Beyond her heroic work in the Crimean War, Nightingaleis credited with professionalizing the role of nurses. 
Beyondhighlighting the work of Nightingale, the section has articles on nursingethics, nursing academics, career development, and advocacy.  It is worth your time to spend a little whileon the page. 
And to all the nurseswho read this page.  THANK YOU for allthat you do!

DOS: “CONTINUED AGGRESSIVE ADVANCEMENT” IN PHILIPPINE EB-3

The Department ofState’s Visa Bulletin guru, Charlie Oppenheim, hosts monthly meetings with the American Immigration LawyersAssociation.  Charlie Oppenheim is theDepartment of State’s Chief of the Control and Reporting Division. He is theofficer who is responsible for producing the Visa Bulletin each month.
In this month’s“Check In With Charlie,” Mr. Oppenheim discussed Philippine EB-3, saying thatBeneficiaries “should expectcontinued aggressive advancement in this category for the foreseeablefuture.”  He noted that there has notbeen an increase in demand for these visas. Because of this lack of demand, “retrogression is unlikely to happen this FY since thereare numerous visa numbers available in this category and it is already thethird quarter of the federal FY.”
Othernotes of interest:
EB-1:there should be little or no movement in any EB-1 category.
EB-2Worldwide: will continue to be Current for the foreseeable future.
EB-2 and EB-3 India: slow or little progressions of one weekor less, although EB-3 could move a little faster.  There has not yet been a surge of EB-2s“downgrading” to EB-3.
EB-2and EB-3 China:  EB-2 could advanceseveral months at a time, while EB-3 will advance a few weeks at a time.

MAY 2019 VISA BULLETIN: ANALYSIS AND PREDICTIONS

The Department of State has just issued the May2019 Visa Bulletin. This is the eighthVisa Bulletin of Fiscal Year 2019. This blog post analyzes this month’s VisaBulletin.
May 2019 Visa Bulletin

Table A: Final Action Dates — Applications with these datesmay be approved for their Green Card (Permanent Residency card) or ImmigrantVisa appointment.
  
EB 
Class 
All Other  
CHINA       
INDIA     
PHILIPPINES    
EB-1
01MAR18
22FEB17
22FEB17
01MAR18
EB-2
C
15MAY16
16APR09 
C
EB-3
C
22AUG15
22JUN09 
01JUN18
Table B: Dates for Filing — The DOS may work onapplications with these dates. But the Visa cannot be approved until the dateis current per Table A.
EB 
Class 
All Other  
CHINA       
INDIA     
PHILIPPINES    
EB-1
01SEP18
01OCT17
01OCT17
01SEP18
EB-2
C
01SEP16
01JUN09 
C
EB-3
C 
01JAN16
01APR10

01OCT18
  
MU Law Analysis (all references are to Table A unless noted)
All Other: TheEB-1 category moved one month.  We expectcontinued steady movement in this category for All Other.  We do not see any retrogression in the futurefor EB2 or EB3, other than the usual retrogression at the end of the FiscalYear.
China: China EB-2moved six weeks, moving about one year in 2019’s calendar months.  EB-3 moved ahead half as fast – about threeweeks — which reflects continued demand in EB-3, likely related to the manyEB-3 “downgrades”.
India: There was verylittle movement in any of the Indian categories.  EB-1 will almost surely not move in FY2019.  We are slightly more optimisticabout India EB-3, which should continue to progress faster than EB-2.
Philippines: TheEB-3 date showed great progress, improving three more months.  Thiscontinues a great year for EB3.  Weexpect continued accelerated progress in June’s Visa Bulletin.

USCIS RECEIVES 201,011 H-1B CAP PETITIONS

USCISannounced that it received 201,011 petitions during the filing period,including petitions filed for the advanced degree exemption.  This is notably more than the 190,000 H-1Bpetitions received during the April 2018 filing period).
USCIS is in theprocess of running the H-1B lottery and notifying H-1B cap winners.  Petitioners should expect about 36% of theirH-1B cap filings (non-US masters degrees) to be H-1B cap winners.  Based on prior years, we will receive H-1Blottery winner receipts throughout April and May.  Starting in June, we will receive the H-1Blottery loser petitions.  Traditionallyif you do not receive a winner receipt notice by June 1, you have probably lostthe H-1B lottery.

H-1B CAP 2019 HAS BEEN REACHED

As expected, USCIS has received more than 85,000 H-1B cap-subject petitions on the very first day of H-1B cap filings.  They did not specify how many H-1B cap-subject petitions were received.  We expect to know the overage within the next few weeks.  Last year, the announcement happened on April 13.

USCIS will continue to accept and process petitions that are otherwise exempt from the cap. Petitions filed on behalf of current H-1B workers who have been counted previously against the cap. USCIS will continue to accept and process petitions filed to:

   •  Extend the amount of time a current H-1B worker may remain in the
       United States;
   •  Change the terms of employment for current H-1B workers;
   •  Amend the H-1B petition to notify the USCIS of the filing of a new LCA  
      and/or geographic change in employment;
   •  Allow current H-1B workers to change employers; and
   •  Allow current H-1B workers to work concurrently in a second, 
      contemporaneous part-time H-1B position. 
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Musillo Unkenholt LLC is a full-service immigration law firm headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, serving clients throughout the United States and the world.

Our attorneys have vast experience in an array of immigration processes.

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Cincinnati, OH 45202

Phone: 513.381.VISA (8472)

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