News Update - September 4, 2009

By Alan Lee, Esq.^†‡

H-1B Cap Use and Looking at the Future

In the latest H-1B cap count of August 28, 2009, approximately 45,100 H-1B cap subject petitions have been received by U.S.C.I.S. Although this means that there are still approximately 19,900 cap numbers available and that movement has been almost nil since May, affected readers may wish to submit their H-1B petitions sooner rather than later. The reasons are that there appears to be a backlog of cases tied up with the Department of Labor's new LCA (labor conditions application) system which is the first hurdle in H-1B processing, and some financial institutions have or will regain H-1B petitioning authority soon with the repayment of their TARP funding. Also if the overall employment picture brightens, such may provide more incentive for employers to sponsor H-1B aliens. We note that the jobs report of September 4, 2009, showed less job loss nationally in August than expected.

† 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 © 2009 Alan Lee, Esq.

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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.