1. INS Announces H-1B Visa Usage
2. Employment-Based India and China Numbers to Retrogress
3. The Firm Speaks

1. INS Announces H-1B Visa Usage

The INS has announced that as of February 15, 2000, approximately 67,000 H-1B approvals were counted against the FY 2000 cap, and approximately 44,000 H-1B petitions were pending. The INS does not know how many of the pending petitions will count against the cap. (If all 44,000 are applied to the count, the count as of February 15 would be 111,000 out of the total of 115,000 H-1Bs available this fiscal year.) The INS has not indicated whether it still believes that it over-allocated H-1B numbers in FY 1999 and, if so, whether it would attempt to apply that overage to the FY 2000 count. 

This is the first time this year that the INS has provided any specific numbers concerning H-1B usage this fiscal year.   Since the INS figures represent petitions filed or approved as of February 15, three weeks ago, it is more likely than ever that the H-1B cap for this year will be reached very soon.  Once the INS determines that the cap has been officially reached it will publish a notice in the Federal Register. Stay tuned.

2. Employment-Based India and China Numbers to Retrogress

The State Department's Visa Office has indicated that, as expected, the cut-off dates for India and China in the employment-based second and third immigrant visa categories will retrogress in April. This is due to a strikingly high number of adjustments of status completed by the INS in the last few weeks. The Visa Office is currently trying to determine how far the numbers will back up.  That information is expected be released next week.  Stay tuned.

3. The Firm Speaks

Steve Yale-Loehr will speak on investor visas at the annual ALI-ABA immigration law conference in Washington, DC on May 4-5.  The conference is geared to a basic audience, and will explain how to develop sound business and human resources strategies in this era of increasing globalization and use of foreign personnel.

Steve Yale-Loehr will speak on how universities should deal with undocumented students and scholars that they discover on their campuses.  The panel will be held as part of the NAFSA: Association of International Educators annual conference in San Diego May 29-June 2.

Steve Yale-Loehr will speak on immigrant investor visas at the annual conference of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) in Chicago June 15-18.  Mr. Yale-Loehr currently co-chairs the AILA investors committee.

Steve Yale-Loehr will speak tonight (March 8) at a forum entitled Visas After Graduation from 7-9 pm in Alumni Auditorium, Kennedy  Hall on the Cornell University campus.  Mr. Yale-Loehr and members from the Cornell International Student and Scholar Office will present various options regarding working in the United States for international students. Questions concerning F-1 and J-1 practical training following graduation, and H-1B temporary worker visas will be discussed.  For more information, visit http://www.isso.cornell.edu/immigration/h1vsopt.html.

Steve Yale-Loehr will present essentially the same program for Binghamton University students on March 30 with Ellen Badger, director of the Binghamton University Office of International Student and Scholar Services.

Steve Yale-Loehr will debate Professor Vernon Briggs of the Cornell University School  of Industrial and Labor Relations on whether immigration helps or hurts the United States.  The talk will be on Thursday March 16 from 4:30-5:30 pm in Room 1120 of Snee Hall (right across from the law school, on the engineering quad).  The public is invited.

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That’s it for this issue. For answers to any of your immigration questions, contact Hilary Fraser (htf@millermayer.com), Rosie Mayer (rma@millermayer.com), or Steve Yale-Loehr (syl@millermayer.com) at True, Walsh & Miller.