H-1B Cap Almost Reached - Now is the Time to File

As of November 14, 2011, USCIS has received 56,300 petitions against the 65,000 cap amount on H-1B visas leaving less than 10,000 numbers available for the 2012 Fiscal Year filings. The numbers have risen drastically over the past two months and by 5,500 since the last report approximately two weeks ago. Employers can continue to submit H-1B cap petitions but should do as soon as possible because at this rate the cap is expected to be reached in the next few weeks. The 20,000 cap set aside for advanced degree holders was reached at the end of October.

Once the cap is reached, employers will not be able to file new petitions until April 1, 2012 with start dates of no earlier than October 1, 2012. As such, employers are encouraged to contact their Monty & Ramirez immigration counsel to prepare H-1B petitions for submission as soon as possible before the cap is reached.

Sarah D. Monty is a partner and the lead immigration attorney for the immigration section at Monty & Ramirez LLP.

Contact Information:
Email: smonty@montyramirezlaw.com
Telephone: 281.493.5529
Website: http://www.montyramirezlaw.com/

EB-5: USCIS to Begin Deferring to States’ Designations on Targeted Employment Areas

Effective immediately, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) will defer to a state’s designation of the boundaries of the geographic or political subdivision that will be a targeted employment area (“TEA”). Director Alejandro Mayorkas announced in a public teleconference this past week that although USCIS will now defer to the state’s designation, it still must ensure compliance with the statutory requirement that the proposed TEA has an unemployment rate of at least 150 percent of the national average rate.

A TEA is a rural area or a non-rural area that has experienced high unemployment (150 percent of the national average unemployment rate during a comparable 12-month period). If an EB-5 Regional Center project is located in a TEA, the alien investor may invest $500,000 rather than a $1,000,000 investment, in the project to pursue conditional residence status.

The public teleconference was made in relation to the Director’s well placed efforts to improve the EB-5 Investor Program. These efforts are furthered by the newly released draft memorandum, “A Work in Progress: Towards a New Draft Policy Memorandum Guiding EB-5 Adjudications.” USCIS is seeking review and comments on the draft memorandum from EB-5 stakeholders, attorneys and interested parties who would like to share their ideas to better the program. The draft memorandum may be found here, and comments may be submitted to public.engagement@dhs.gov. Comments will be accepted through December 9, 2011.

Sarah D. Monty is a partner and the lead immigration attorney for the immigration section at Monty & Ramirez LLP.

Contact Information:
Email: smonty@montyramirezlaw.com
Telephone: 281.493.5529
Website: http://www.montyramirezlaw.com/