News Update - August 1, 2008

By Alan Lee, Esq.

H-2B Worker Petitions Have Reached the Congressionally Mandated Cap

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has stated that any H-2B worker petitions submitted after July 29, 2008 requesting employment start dates prior to April 1, 2009 will be rejected. As of July 30, 2008 USCIS has received enough petitions to reach the congressionally mandated cap for the first half of Fiscal Year 2009. A random selection process will be used on the petitions which were received on July 29, 2008, where some will be considered, and others will be rejected and the fee returned.

This cap will not effect workers who already have H-2B status, and USCIS will continue to process petitions filed to:

• Extend the stay of a current H-2B worker in the United States;

• Change the terms of employment for current H-2B workers and extend their stay; or

• Allow current H-2B workers to change or add employers and extend their stay.


The author is a 26+ year practitioner of immigration law based in New York City. He was awarded the Sidney A. Levine prize for best legal writing at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in 1977 and has written extensively on immigration over the past years for the ethnic newspapers, World Journal, Sing Tao, Pakistan Calling, Muhasha and OCS. He has testified as an expert on immigration in civil court proceedings and was recognized by the Taiwan government in 1985 for his work protecting human rights. His article, "The Bush Temporary Worker Proposal and Comparative Pending Legislation: an Analysis" was Interpreter Releases' cover display article at the American Immigration Lawyers Association annual conference in 2004, and his victory in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in a case of first impression nationwide, Firstland International v. INS, successfully challenged INS' policy of over 40 years of revoking approved immigrant visa petitions under a nebulous standard of proof. Its value as precedent, however, was short-lived as it was specifically targeted by the Administration in the Intelligence Reform Act of 2004.

This article © 2008 Alan Lee, Esq.

 

Copyright © 2003-2012 Alan Lee, Esq.
The information provided here is of a general nature and may not apply to any particular set of facts or circumstances. It should not be construed as legal advice and does not constitute an engagement of the Law Office of Alan Lee or establish an attorney-client relationship.