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United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) released updated H-1B visa petition numbers for Fiscal Year (FY) 2012, as of October 7, 2011. Since we last discussed H-1B petition numbers (based on filings as of August 26, 2011), 12,000 H-1B regular cap petitions were filed, bringing the total to 41,000. During the same period, 3,300 H-1B Master’s Exemption petitions were filed, bringing that total to 19,100 and very near to the cap amount of 20,000. The H-1B regular cap petitions filed thus far constitute approximately two-thirds of the 65,000 cap amount. Please note that once the Master’s Exemption cap is met, all petitions filed under this category will be applied to the general 65,000 cap automatically by USCIS.

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On September 28, 2011, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced that it arrested more than 2,900 convicted criminal aliens and fugitives during a 7-day “Cross Check” enforcement operation. The operation was carried out in all 50 states and four U.S. territories by ICE officers and agents in coordination with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies. All detained individuals had prior criminal convictions; more than half for felony violations. Additionally, 681 individuals were fugitives who had previously been ordered to leave the country but failed to do so; 386 individuals had previously been removed from the country multiple times and had illegally re-entered the U.S.

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Rep. Joe Heck (R–NV) has introduced the Welcoming Business Travelers and Tourists to America Act of 2011 (H.R. 3039), which would increase fees imposed on travelers entering the United States as a method of speeding up the processing of travel document applications. The revenue from increased fees would fund State Department staffing increases designed to streamline and accelerate visa processing, thereby increasing tourism into the United States. Highlights of H.R. 3039 include the following:

• The State Department must set a visa processing standard of 12 or fewer calendar days at U.S diplomatic or consular missions in Brazil, India and China, and increase staffing levels.
• The State Department must conduct a two-year pilot program on using secure, remote video-conferencing technology to conduct visa application interviews.
• The Secretary of State would be permitted to modify or enter into agreements with certain countries to allow for longer visa validity periods.

According to the bill’s legislative findings, over the past decade the United States lost the opportunity to generate $606 billion in revenue through tourism. Moreover, increasing tourism by shortening the nonimmigrant visa approval timeline could permit an additional 98 million visitors, create 1.3 million jobs, and generate $859 billion in U.S. economic output between 2015 and 2020. Additionally, the findings contend that removing these barriers will benefit U.S. diplomatic relations.

Photo credit: Dx73

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The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) recently announced the results of its report on immigration-related laws and resolutions introduced by state legislatures in 2011. Employment remained one of the top issues in immigration-related legislation, along with law enforcement and identification/driver’s licenses.

Although the number of introduced measures increased by 16% during the first half of 2011, compared to the same period in 2010, the number of enacted bills decreased by 18%.

As reported by the NCSL, the surge in immigration-related proposals at the state level started in 2006, when the number of bills introduced (570) and laws enacted (84) essentially doubled compared to 2005. The most dramatic increase in terms of legislation volume occurred in 2007: 1,562 measures were introduced, with 240 laws enacted and 50 resolutions adopted. Since 2007, the number of immigration-related measures has always been well above 1,000, with at least 200 laws enacted each year.

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Currently, the Immigration and Nationality Act permits the issuance of approximately 140,000 employment-based visas each year. The percentage of available visas that may be awarded to nationals of any one country is capped, i.e., visas issued to individuals of one country cannot exceed 7% of the total number of visas available.

Under the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act (H.R. 3012), introduced by Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R–UT), the per-country limitation for employment-based visas would be removed. Additionally, the following transitional rules would apply to employment-based visas:

• Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 (Oct. 1, 2011-Sept. 30, 2012): 15% of visas would be allocated to immigrants who are natives of a foreign state or dependent area that was not one of the two countries with the largest numbers of natives obtaining permanent resident status during FY 2010.
• FY 2013: 10% of visas would be allocated to immigrants who are natives of a foreign state or dependent area that was not one of the two countries with the largest numbers of natives obtaining permanent resident status during FY 2011.
• FY 2014: 10% of visas would be allocated to immigrants who are natives of a foreign state or dependent area that was not one of the two countries with the largest numbers of natives obtaining permanent resident status during FY 2012.

Additionally, H.R. 3012 increases, from 7 to 15% of the total number of available visas, the per-country restrictions for family-sponsored immigrants.

The bill has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement.

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