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Priority Date projections for EB-2 India and China

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News Release from Jewell & Associates, PC – March 19, 2012 The recent rapid progress of the cut-off dates for Indian and Chinese nationals in the EB-2 preference category will end soon, according to the Department of State’s Chief of Visa Control and Reporting, Charlie Oppenheim:

On March 16, 2012, at the AILA Midwest Regional Conference in Chicago, Charlie Oppenheim… informed participants that he will likely retrogress India and China-mainland born Employment-Based Second Preference priority dates to around August 2007, effective with either the May or June 2012 Visa Bulletin. He also advised that he projects that all EB-1 visas available in FY2012 will be used this year, resulting in no “spilldown” to EB-2.

From AILA InfoNet Doc. No. 12031639 (posted Mar. 16, 2012) (emphasis added).

© Jewell & Associates, PC 2012

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BALCA overturns labor certification denial, the sole basis of which was omission of job order from audit response

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Employers wishing to file labor certifications on behalf of their employees must follow strict recruiting guidelines set by the Department of Labor (DOL). One of the required recruitment steps is posting an online job order with the appropriate State Workforce Agency (SWA) for a period of 30 days. The regulation regarding how to record posting of the job order says “[t]he start and end dates of the job order entered on [Form ETA-9089] serve as documentation of this step.” See 20 C.F.R. § 656.17(e)(2)(i).