American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) held its annual immigration law conference in Vancouver, Canada from June 25 to June 28. This conference is a great opportunity for immigration attorneys to communicate with each other and USCIS representatives. Since we are members of AILA, we sponsor our attorneys to attend AILA annual conference every year. This year, Co-Managing Jane Xu attended the conference. She participated in discussions about a wide range of immigration issues. She felt the face-to-face discussion with USCIS officers were very informative and constructive. Here are some updates she sent back.

1. 2009 H-1B Application

USCIS has completed the random computer selection process and shall complete sending out the rejection notice for petitions unselected by next week. There will be no visa available for applications previously being put on the waiting-list. USCIS has received sufficient applications to exhaust all the visa numbers for the fiscal year of 2009.

USCIS will complete the adjudication of all accepted H-1B filings by August 2008.

2. I-140 Premium Processing

We reported on June 11 that USCIS would resume I-140 Premium Processing under some circumstance from June 16. However, USCIS has so far rejected 60% of the new I-140 Premium Processing requests because those requests are not legitimate. USCIS only allows Premium Processing for those beneficiaries whose H-1B will expire within 60 days of filing the request, and who need the I-140 approval to become eligible for that e-year additional H-1B extension. The rejected requests are filed outside the 60 days window. In other words, the requests were filed too earlier. For the specifics about the requirements of I-140 Premium Processing, please refer to our article:
http://www.hooyou.com/news/news061308I140.html

3. FBI Background Check (Name Check)

USCIS has worked very hard with FBI in 2007 to eliminate backlogs in name check,
which is one of two top priorities for USCIS in 2007. USCIS has the following
targets:

by May, 2008, complete all name checks pending more than 3 years (this goal has been substantially met);
by July 31, 2008, complete all name checks pending more than 2 years;
by Nov. 30, 2008, complete all name checks pending more than 1 year;
by Feb. 28, 2009, complete all name checks pending more than 180 days;
by June 30, 2009, complete 50% of all name checks pending more than 90 days

USCIS stated that it would realize these goals through utilizing new technology
and increasing staff.

4. Two-Year EAD

Starting from June 30, 2008, USCIS will issue two-year EADs for those whose 485
cannot be approved due to visa retrogression. USCIS states that it will look at
the visa bulletin at time of adjudication to determine whether to issue 1 year
or 2 year EAD. Also note starting from July 9, 2008, a new version of form I-765
needs to be used. This policy applies to both employment-based and family-based I-765.
For the details about this policy, please refer to our article:
http://www.hooyou.com/news/2-Year%20EAD.pdf

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Founded in 1996, Zhang & Associates, P.C. offers legal services to clients nationwide in all aspects of U.S immigration law. We have successfully handled thousands of immigration cases.
At Zhang & Associates, P.C., our attorneys and supporting professionals are committed to providing high-quality immigration and non-immigration visa services. We specialize in NIW, EB-1, PERM, and I-485 cases. In the past twelve years, we have successfully helped thousands of clients get green cards. If you plan to apply for a green card, please send your CV to Attorney Jerry Zhang (info@hooyou.com) for a free evaluation.
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