| December 2010 Visa Bulletin | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All Other Countries | China | India | Mexico | |
| EB-2 | Current | 08JUN06 | 08MAY06 | Current |
| EB-3 | 22FEB05 | 08DEC03 | 22JAN02 | 01JUL02 |
Several healthcare occupations regularly utilize the H-1B visa including,
Physical Therapists, Occupational Therapists, Speech Language Pathologists, and some Registered Nurses.Several plaintiffs sued the Georgia Board of Physical Therapy earlier this week. The lawsuit alleges that the FSBPT’s examination policy is discriminatory and violates both federal and state law, and that this discrimination is intentional.
The lawsuit also names the FSBPT as a Defendant. Success in that lawsuit likely will compel the FSBPT to revoke their policy, although it may take many months before any resolution is reached. If you are interested in participating in the lawsuit, you are encouraged to contact the AAIHR, which is working with the lawsuit’s Plaintiffs.
MU VISA ADVISOR: USCIS Filing Fee Increase
Effective November 23, 2010 USCIS filing fees will increase an average of 10%. Most employment-based petitions’ fees will be raised, although the dependent Form I-539, used for H-4, L-2, and several other status petitions, will decrease by $10.
Here is the chart of the increase for the most commonly-used employment-based immigration Forms.
| New Fees Nov 23, 2010 | |
|---|---|
| I-129 | $325 |
| I-131 | $360 |
| I-140 | $580 |
| I-485 | $1,070 |
| I-539 | $290 |
| I-765 | $380 |
| I-907 | $1,225 |
You can find the new fees on the USCIS’ webpage: www.uscis.gov.
If the lawsuit in Georgia is successful, it likely will end the FSBPT’s discriminatory test administration policy. AG’s offices in several states have been contacted and made aware of the AAIHR’s position. Many states have expressed off-the-record concern about the FSBPT’s actions. Because of the deliberate nature of the state’s AG’s offices, the AAIHR has chosen the litigation path.
MU is an associate member of the AAIHR and has been working with the AAIHR to outline the legal strategy. We have donated both time and funding to the effort.
Interested AILA lawyers can participate by contacting AILA. CLE credit is available.
The NPTE has just announced that, contrary to prior indications, there will not be any difference in registration fees for the regular NPTE and the NPTE-i. The registration fee remains $370.00. Readers are alerted that registration for the May 2011 NPTE-i begins November 1. It is unclear what the demand for the exam will be and so qualified applicants are encouraged to register.
The Notice Posting rule requires employers to post Notice of a potential Labor Certification Application (including Schedule A Application) at the worksite for 10 business days. The idea behind the law is to give US workers notice of the future Labor Certification, so that they can notify the DOL of any wrongdoing by the employer. Before this decision, the DOL steadfastly had held that a “business day” is a weekday (Monday through Friday) and that federal national holidays would not count as business days.
This interpretation had been particularly irritating for healthcare employers, who routinely are open for business on weekends and holidays. Immigrant visa cases would be needlessly delayed because of this silly interpretation. Occasionally, we would even hear of a case has been denied because of a posting that was done during a minor federal holiday, in spite of the fact that the employer’s hospital remained fully staffed.
The DOL’s Appeal Board, the Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals (BALCA) thankfully has ended this nonsense. The BALCA opinion makes the vital point that “the purpose of the Notice of Filing requirement is to ensure that an employer’s employees and other interested persons are notified that it is filing an application for permanent alien labor certification.”
Going forward, employers can satisfy the 10 business day Notice posting rule by placing Notice for ten consecutive days when employees are on the worksite and able to see the Notice of Filing.
The present processing dates are:
EB-1 – all current
EB-2 – all current, except China (01 JUN 06) and India (08 MAY 06)
EB-3 – all 22 JAN 05, except China (22 NOV 03), India (22 JAN 02), and Mexico (01 MAY 01)
