Business Immigration Insights

The US Department of Labor (USDOL) has published its statistics for fiscal year 2018, which ended on September 30, 2018. The USDOL certified the majority of the 119,776 labor certification (PERM) applications processed in the last fiscal year. Of the 24,052 applications still in process with the USDOL as of the end of the fiscal year, 64% were still in analyst review and 25% were in audit review. The majority of PERM applications were for: computer and mathematics occupations; positions in California and Texas; positions in the Professional, Scientific and Technical Services or ...

UPDATE: In November, USCIS will accept EB I-485 applications based on the Department of State’s Dates for Filing chart.

The Visa Bulletin is released monthly by the Department of State and is used to determine when a sponsored foreign national can submit the final step of the green card process. The complete visa bulletin can be found here.

Below is a summary of the November Visa Bulletin, including Final Action Dates and changes from the previous month:

• China: EB-1 freezes at June 1, 2016, EB-2 advances six weeks to May 15, 2015, and EB-3 halts at June 1, 2015
• India: EB-1 remains at June 1 ...

On October 3, 2018, California U.S. District Judge Edward Chen granted a preliminary injunction in the case of Ramos v. Nielsen, preventing the Department of Homeland Security from terminating Temporary Protected Status for El Salvador (scheduled to end on 9/9/19), Haiti (7/22/19), Nicaragua (1/5/19), and Sudan (11/2/18).  The injunction remains in place until the Court lifts it or the lawsuit ends.