Late November Visa Bulletin Preserves Forward Movement
for Employment-Based Immigrant Visa Numbers
The Department of State released the November Visa Bulletin
about two weeks later than usual, and U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services (USCIS) is allowing applicants to use the
"Dates for Advanced Filing" chart (Chart B) for
November.
Chart B for November preserves the very substantial forward
movement for all categories of employment-based immigrants that was
implemented in October. The dates for filing in nearly all
categories are identical between October and November, so qualified
applicants waiting for required evidence can now submit
applications any time before November 30, 2020.
The November bulletin also notes that the Continuing
Appropriations Act, 2021 (P.L. No. 116-159) extends both the
employment fourth preference religious workers (SR) and employment
fifth preference pilot (I5 and R5) categories until December 11,
2020.
Details: November 2020 Visa Bulletin, https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/visa-bulletin/2021/visa-bulletin-for-november-2020.html
DHS Proposed Rule Would Replace Random H-1B
Registration Selection With Wage-Level-Based Selection
Process
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a proposed
rule on November 2, 2020, that would prioritize the selection of
H-1B registrations (or petitions, if the registration process is
suspended) based on corresponding wage levels. U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services generally would first select registrations
based on the highest Occupational Employment Statistics prevailing
wage level that the proffered wage equals or exceeds for the
relevant Standard Occupational Classification code and area(s) of
intended employment.
Modifying the H-1B selection process by replacing the random
selection process with a wage-level-based selection process
"is a better way to allocate H-1Bs when demand exceeds
supply," DHS said. The agency believes that such a new
selection process "would incentivize employers to offer higher
wages or petition for positions requiring higher skills and
higher-skilled workers instead of using the program to fill
relatively lower-paid vacancies."
The proposed rule would be implemented for both the H-1B
regular cap and the H-1B advanced degree exemption, but would not
change the order of selection between the two as established by the
H-1B registration requirement final rule. The wage level ranking
would occur first for the regular cap selection and then for the
advanced degree exemption.
Litigation is expected. Comments are due within 30 days of
November 2, 2020, on the proposed rule, and within 60 days on the
proposed information collection.
Details: DHS proposed rule, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2020-11-02/pdf/2020-24259.pdf; USCIS statement, https://www.uscis.gov/news/news-releases/dhs-trump-administration-protect-american-jobs-from-unfair-international-competition
OFLC Releases FAQs on DOL Prevailing Wage Interim
Final Rule
The Department of Labor's (DOL) Office of Foreign Labor
Certification (OFLC) released two rounds of frequently asked
questions (FAQs) addressing issues related to DOL's interim
final rule on prevailing wage calculations.
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