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The Department of State has just released the May 2012 Visa Bulletin.

The USCIS has just informed AILA that 22,323 cap-subject H-1B petitions have been received as of April 4, 2012. Approximately 25% of these cases are for U.S. advanced degrees. Based on this announcement, approximately 17,000 of the 65,000 “regular” H-1B cap-subject petitions have been filed and 5,500 “Masters” H-1B cap-subject petitions.

Last year, the USCIS reported that 17,400 “regular” H-1B cap-subject numbers had been used through June 29, 2011. It took about 4 and one-half months for the remaining 47,600 “regular” H-1B slots to be filled. If this year’s pace were to equal last year’s pace, that would mean that the H-1B numbers would be exhausted by mid-August.

However this year’s demand seems certain to be greater than that. Last year 15,000 “regular” H-1B cap-subject H-1Bs were filed in the final month (November 2011). If the November 2011 demand is a reasonable metric for usage projection, this year’s H-1B cap would be reached approximately June 1, 2012.

Immigrant visa fees always seem to be on the rise and so it is welcome news to hear that the Business Immigrant Visa Fee Bill price will be dropping from $720 to $405, a decrease of 44 percent. The Fee Bill normally is paid during the National Visa Center stage of Consular Processing for overseas foreign-nationals seeking an immigrant visa. Many healthcare workers process their green card cases at Consulates because of the unavailability of H-1B visas for certain occupations.

This drop is Fee Bill price is great news for all EB-2 and EB-3 visa applicants and their family members. The new lower Fee Bill price is not immediate operative. It is expected to go into effect June 27, 2012 unless the Department of State receives negative comments. The Fee Bill decrease is one-part of an overall suite of price changes at Consulates and Embassies. Most of the other changes are slight increases in the price charged for other visa services.

The Fiscal Year 2013 (FY2013) H-1B cap season will begin on Monday April 2, 2012. For the last several years the H-1B cap season has averaged nine months before all 65,000 H-1B regular cap slots were used. Because of improvements in the US economy, MU Law expects that the 65,000 H-1B regular cap slots will be used by Summer 2012, perhaps as soon as May 2012.

MU lawyers have informally polled our clients and other AILA attorneys in an attempt to gauge the duration of this year’s H-1B season. Based on these conversations, MU Law’s best estimate is that the H-1B visa quota will be exhausted in June/July of 2012, although some prognosticators think it could be reached in May 2012. We will make regular updates to our client base as the USCIS releases information about cap usage.

Additionally, MU Law expects that the 20,000 H-1B US Masters Cap will be used quicker than the H-1B regular cap. This is not a great concern because any US Masters Graduates who do not obtain a slot in the H-1B US Masters cap can apply for an H-1B regular cap slot.

Any cap-subject H-1B petition that is filed after April 1 allows the Beneficiary to begin working in H-1B status on October 1, 2012. Students who hold F-1 OPT student status can remain with valid work authorization through October 1, 2012, provided that their H-1B Petition is field and accepted by USCIS.

Because of the uncertainty in these estimates, MU Law urges all clients immediately to initiate H-1B cap-subject petitions. H-1B cap-subject petitions include:

· New overseas H-1B hires

· Beneficiaries on another nonimmigrant status, such as H-4, L-1, or F-1.

· H-1B workers who hold H-1B cap-exempt status by virtue of the filing of the H-1B with a University or research facility.

The Department of State’s point man on the Visa Bulletin has confirmed for AILA that India and China EB-2 will retrogress to August 15, 2007, a dramatic retrogression from the recent progression of China and India EB-2 number. Charlie Oppenheim, Chief, DOS Immigrant Visa Control & Reporting, says that demand for the EB-2 numbers is high due to the progression of EB-2 dates from November 2011 – April 2012.

USCIS has informed Mr. Oppenheim that they will continue to “preadjudicate” adjustment applications received through April. The “preadjudicated” cases will be held by the State Department in the “pending” demand file. That way, the cases will be ready in October, or earlier, if the current number use pattern changes, and they are needed at the end of this fiscal year to assure utilization of the full employment-based permanent resident visa allocation.

The Department of State historically has progressed dates to stimulate demand in the visa numbers. That practice came under some criticism during the Summer 2007 “VisaGate” incident when the DOS progressed to ‘current’ all categories in response to the USCIS’ inability to approve any I-485, Applications for Adjustment of Status. This flooded the USCIS with 300,000 Applications in the Summer 2007, forcing USCIS to begin approving I-485 Applications. Since VisaGate the progression of visa number has been measured, until this accelerated EB-2 progression began in November 2011.

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