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The U.S. State Department released the June Visa Bulletin, showing no advancement in most key employment-based categories. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services confirmed that in June it will use Final Action Dates to determine filing eligibility.
India EB-3 advanced by one week to Aug. 22, 2012. Other priority dates remained unchanged.
Final Action Dates for Employment-Based Preference Cases:
Additional Information: June will mark the fourth straight month that USCIS will use Final Action Dates to determine employment-based filing eligibility. The agency will continue to use Dates for Filing to determine family-based eligibility. In the April Visa Bulletin, the State Department said it anticipated “very little to no forward movement” in the coming months. In the June Visa Bulletin, the State Department said that because of high demand in the employment second and third categories, worldwide Final Action Dates (including Mexico and the Philippines) will likely retrogress in the next Visa Bulletin.
This alert has been provided by the BAL U.S. Practice Group.
Copyright © 2024 Berry Appleman & Leiden LLP. All rights reserved. Reprinting or digital redistribution to the public is permitted only with the express written permission of Berry Appleman & Leiden LLP. For inquiries, please contact mailto:copyright@bal.com.
The Department of Labor is accepting public input on whether to revise its Schedule A list of job classifications through May 13.
Key Points:
BAL Analysis: Green cards in the EB-2 and EB-3 classifications generally require permanent labor certification, or PERM; however, PERM is not required for occupations on the Schedule A list of shortage occupations. Schedule A has not been revised since 2004. The DOL’s move to ask for public input is a welcome development toward modernizing the list and the process for revising it. The request for information is a preliminary step in the rulemaking process, and several steps must be completed before the list can be updated. BAL will continue following this matter and will provide updates as information becomes available.
Diversity Visa lottery results for DV-2025 applicants are now available on the State Department’s Entrant Status Check webpage.
Additional Information: The Diversity Visa program provides 55,000 immigrant visas (green cards) per year to individuals from countries with low levels of immigration to the United States. Individuals register during an annual registration period and are selected through a random lottery. Those selected in the DV-2025 program may apply for a visa during fiscal year 2025 — from Oct. 1, 2024, through Sept. 30, 2025.
BAL Analysis: Applicants are reminded that the State Department’s Entrant Status Check webpage is the only official source where results are posted. They must use the official website to find out if they have been selected in the lottery and, if selected, to check for the date of their immigrant visa appointment, as the U.S. government does not directly notify selectees. Selectees are encouraged to apply for visas as early as possible once their program rank numbers become eligible.
Copyright © 2024 Berry Appleman & Leiden LLP. All rights reserved. Reprinting or digital redistribution to the public is permitted only with the express written permission of Berry Appleman & Leiden LLP. For inquiries, please contact copyright@bal.com.
Nonimmigrant visa issuance continued to climb in fiscal year 2023, surpassing pre-pandemic totals, according to recently published State Department statistics.
According to the Report of the Visa Office 2023, the State Department issued a total of 10,438,327 nonimmigrant visas, up more than 34% from last year’s total of 6,815,120. Visa issuance plummeted during the COVID-19 pandemic but has rebounded in each of the last two fiscal years.
Additional Information: The Visa Office changed its methodology for calculating visa data beginning with fiscal year 2019 to reflect the greater access to application-level data. Its previous methodology was based on a count of workload actions, which were not linked by application. The new methodology more accurately reflects final outcomes from the visa application process during a specified reporting period but does not mean the prior methodology was flawed or erroneous.
BAL Analysis: Recently, BAL Senior Counsel Tiffany Derentz held a BAL Community event with Julie Stufft, the State Department’s deputy assistant secretary for visa services, where they provided insights on administrative processing, the domestic visa renewal pilot program and additional information about what’s ahead for the Visa Office this year. BAL Community members can watch the event on demand.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services updated its FAQ on the new fee rule to help certain petitioners understand how to submit the correct required fees.
BAL Analysis: The updated FAQ with clarifying instructions for certain petitioners was a direct response to the number of petitions USCIS was receiving with incorrect fees. The agency stated on X, “We are receiving many petitions with incorrect fees. If you are filing Form I-140, I-129, or I-129CW, ensure your payment matches the required fees or we will have to reject your petition.”
The Supreme Court agrees to hear another immigration case.
BAL makes a big announcement.
And what U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services data tells us about the recent H-1B registration lottery.
Get this news and more in the new episode of BAL’s podcast, the BAL Immigration Report, available on Apple, Spotify and the BAL news site.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced today that it received 479,953 total registrations for this year’s H-1B lottery — a figure substantially less than last year’s record-breaking 780,884.
The agency attributed the decline to the undertaking of fraud investigations and implementation of the new beneficiary-centric selection process, noting that the number of unique employers for FY2025 (approximately 52,700) was also comparable to the number last year for FY2024 (approximately 52,000). The number of unique beneficiaries was similar to last year’s, but the number of multiple registrations for the same beneficiary decreased significantly.
The overall beneficiary selection rate was around 25.8%, with 114,017 unique beneficiaries selected out of approximately 442,000. The overall registration selection rate was 25.6%, with 120,603 registrations selected out of 470,342 eligible registrations.
USCIS distributed the following chart, showing registration and selection numbers for fiscal years 2021-2025.
Registrations*
*The count of eligible registrations excludes duplicate registrations, those deleted by the prospective employer prior to the close of the registration period and those with failed payments.
**The number of initial selections for FY2024 — 110, 791 — was smaller in than in prior years primarily due to (a) establishing a higher anticipated petition filing rate by selected registrants based on prior years; and (b) higher projected Department of State approvals of H-1B1 visas, which count against the H-1B cap.
***USCIS selected the number of unique beneficiaries projected as needed to reach the congressionally mandated caps and exemptions. All properly submitted registrations for those beneficiaries that were selected were set to a selected status. Accordingly, the number of selected registrations was higher than the number of selected beneficiaries, and this number is not completely comparable to prior years that used a direct registration selection method.
BAL Analysis: BAL continues to review the information USCIS published Tuesday and will provide additional analysis in the days and weeks ahead.
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments last week in a closely followed case involving a California woman whose husband was denied an immigrant visa to rejoin her in the United States.
Sandra Muñoz, a U.S. citizen, sued the federal government after her husband, Luis Asencio Cordero, a citizen of El Salvador, was denied a visa after a U.S. consular officer in San Salvador found he was inadmissible under federal law. His visa refusal letter referred to the applicable section of law, INA 212(a)(3)(A)(ii) (“other unlawful activity”), but did not provide a detailed reason for the denial. As part of the litigation record, the Department of State later clarified that the basis of refusal was because the consular officer had reason to believe Asencio Cordero was a member of the gang MS-13, based in part on his tattoos.
At issue before the court are:
The case is similar to Kerry v. Din, which the court heard nine years ago. In that case, a divided court ruled in favor of the government after a U.S. citizen challenged her husband’s visa denial. The law was left unsettled, however, after the justices issued three separate opinions, with no majority opinion.The Justices are expected to rule on the case they heard last week, Department of State v. Muñoz, in late June or early July. A transcript of the oral arguments is available here, and an audio recording is available here.
Additional Information: On Monday, the court agreed it would hear a separate immigration case involving the revocation of a foreign national’s visa petition after the Department of Homeland Security determined his marriage to a U.S. citizen was a “sham.” Specifically, the justices will decide whether the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals was right in determining that it lacked jurisdiction to review DHS’ purely discretionary revocation of the visa petition, where the underlying basis for the revocation was a generally reviewable nondiscretionary provision. The court’s decision could have broad implications for both family- and employment-based visa petitions.
DALLAS, April 29, 2024 — BAL, the world’s most innovative corporate immigration law firm, is thrilled to announce that six nationally recognized partners of Seyfarth Shaw’s immigration practice will join BAL this summer. Acclaimed partners Russell Swapp, James King, Gabriel Mozes, Sharon Cook, Michelle Gergerian and Jason Burritt along with many of their legal and operations team members will join BAL this summer in the largest realignment in the immigration industry in years.
“We are excited to have Russ, Jim, Gabe and their talented teams join BAL,” said Jeremy Fudge, CEO at BAL. “This move further demonstrates that our oneBAL model, which prioritizes collaboration over internal competition to ensure clients always receive superior resources and insights, is a magnet for talent in the industry. BAL’s unique operational structure and commitment to continually invest in our technology, people and client relationships is transforming how corporate immigration services are delivered.”
Seyfarth’s immigration practice, ranked Band 1 in the Legal 500, is the top-rated group in the large multi-practice law firm model. In bringing on these Seyfarth partners, BAL further elevates itself as the industry’s unrivaled powerhouse of legal knowledge, innovation and customer service. To accommodate this expansion, BAL will open a new office in Atlanta, marking the firm’s 13th office across the United States.
“I’m truly grateful to Seyfarth for the past two decades; it has been an incredible journey to build the most outstanding immigration practice inside an Am Law firm,” said Russell Swapp, founding partner and co-chair of Seyfarth’s Global Mobility practice. “We had many options, but BAL stood apart as the most skilled, creative and passionate legal minds ready to better our clients’ experience and advance our industry.”
“We have a remarkable cultural and organizational fit and a shared commitment to investing in our employees and using technology to enhance our incredible legal experts,” said Frieda Garcia, Managing Partner at BAL. “At BAL, we are revolutionizing how our clients secure the talent they need to change the world.”
Both firms have a shared commitment to making the transition of personnel and clients to BAL as seamless as possible, with minimal disruption to ongoing client matters. “This move aligns with the strategic vision of both Seyfarth and the immigration group. We all agreed that their practice would be best positioned at a boutique immigration-only firm with a different model and platform than ours,” said Lorie Almon, Seyfarth Chair and Managing Partner. “We extend our gratitude to our colleagues who are leaving for their service to Seyfarth and for their contributions over the years, and we wish them continued success in their new endeavor.”
BAL has operated for more than 43 years and is driven by its mission to provide an experience that makes a positive difference in people’s lives. The firm is led by Jeremy Fudge, CEO, and Frieda Garcia, Managing Partner. BAL’s diverse client base includes corporate immigration programs of all sizes from the most innovative companies in life sciences, aerospace, technology, manufacturing, medical research, energy, professional sports and more.
About BAL
Established in 1980, BAL powers human achievement through immigration expertise, people-centered client services and innovative technology. BAL, with 13 offices across the United States and global coverage in more than 185 countries around the world, operates as a single entity through its oneBAL culture — a uniquely holistic approach, intentionally structured as one team, one brand, one P&L, one standard of excellence and one unifying technology. This united approach enables the firm to deliver the highest level of knowledge, insights and resources from across the entire organization. At BAL, we pursue the exceptional. To learn more, visit BAL.com.
The U.S. Department of Labor announced a final H-2A regulation Friday, saying the rule was crafted to target the “vulnerability and abuses experienced by workers under the H-2A program that undermine fair labor standards for all farmworkers in the U.S.”
The H-2A program allows employers to hire temporary agricultural workers when there is a lack of “able, willing and qualified” U.S. workers. The new rule includes sections:
The final rule is scheduled to take effect on June 28; however, H-2A applications filed before Aug. 28, will be processed according to federal regulations as is in effect as of June 27. Applications submitted on or after Aug. 29, 2024, will be processed in accordance with the provisions of the new rule.
Additional Information: The 600-page rule is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on Monday, April 29. A pre-publication version is available here. BAL continues to review the rule and is available to help employers develop an H-2A strategy to ensure that key roles are filled. More information is available on BAL’s H-2 temporary workforce solutions page.