STEPHANIE MARKS’ IMMIGRATION UPDATE - Vol. 35 (02/2008)

 

► H-1B petitions for new hires must be filed on April 1, 2008.

► Department of Labor auditing more PERM filings.

► Fee paid for nonimmigrant visa at US Consulates abroad increases.

 

► H-1B petitions for new hires must be filed on April 1, 2008. Employers who have new graduates or other new hires starting work during the remainder of 2008 who will need H-1B status should contact us now to start the H-1B process. H-1B petitions for new hires, including those persons who will have F-1 student Optional Practical Training (OPT) employment authorization, must be filed on April 1, 2008. This includes F-1s who have employment authorization that will run until spring and summer of 2008. It is expected that the cap will be reached on April 1, 2008 and once that cap has been reached, it will not be possible to obtain H-1B status until October 1, 2009. H-1B status may be obtained irrespective of the cap for the following persons:

  • Employees who already have H-1B status and change employers or change the terms of their H-1B employment are not subject to the cap.
  • Extensions of H-1B status for employees who already have H-1B status are not subject to the cap.
  • Citizens of Chile or Singapore since those countries have a separate H-1B quota.
  • Petitions filed by certain educational, government or research institutions are not subject to the cap.

► Department of Labor auditing more PERM filings. Our office and many other law firms have seen a trend of significant increases in audits from the Department of Labor on PERM filings in the past few months. These are paper audits in which documentation showing the recruitment efforts and results must be sent to the Department of Labor. We will provide more information about the impacts and outcomes of the audits as it becomes available.

► Fee paid for nonimmigrant visa at US Consulates abroad increases. The U.S. Department of State has increase the nonimmigrant visa application fee, known as the machine-readable visa (MRV) fee, from $100 to $131 effective January 1, 2008. Each U.S. Consulate has its own procedures for payment of visa fees and those procedures are explained on their websites which can be found at http://usembassy.state.gov.

 

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