The U.S. Department of State released its November 2008 Visa Bulletin.  The bulletin can be accessed at the 'Processing Times' link on our home page.

With this Visa Bulletin, there is good news.  Employment-Based Two (EB2) category for India and China moved forward a few months.   Employment-Based Three (EB3) category also moved forward for all nationalities.

We will post the December 2008 Visa Bulletin on www.bashyamspiro.com when it becomes available.

The US Department of State released its October 2008 Visa Bulletin.  Unfortunately, employment-based category two (EB2) retrogressed for India and China.  Also, there wasn't much forward movement for employment-based category three (EB3).  To view the entire Visa Bulletin, please go to THIS LINK.

A bill (S.3414) that would recapture family-sponsored and employment-based immigrant visas lost to bureaucratic delays was introduced in the U.S. Senate.  Similar to the bill passed by the House Judiciary Subcommittee, this bill would also prevent loses of family and employment-based immigrant visas in the future.   To read the entire text of this bill, please go to THIS LINK.

There seems to be positive movement in Congress when it comes to helping out the immigrant visa backlog.  As more information becomes available, we will post it at www.bashyamspiro.com.

In what could be considered a positive step for at least some immigration reform this year, the House Judiciary Subcommittee held a mark-up session today and approved three pieces of immigration-related legislation.

H.R. 6020, sponsored by Representative Lofgren (D-CA), would amend the INA to allow soldiers who have served in support of contingency operations to be eligible for naturalization and for other purposes.

H.R. 5882, sponsored by Representative Lofgren (D-CA), would recapture employment-based and family-sponsored immigrant visas lost to bureaucratic delays and to prevent losses of these visas in the future.

H.R. 5924, sponsored by Representative Wexler (D-FL) would provide 20,000 employment-based visas per year for three years specifically for nurses.

All three bills will now go to the full House Judiciary Committee for review. A review date has not been set. We will watch these important bills closely and will provide an update as new information becomes available.

The U.S. Department of State released its August 2008 Visa Bulletin.  Although employment-based category three (EB3) remains ‘unavailable’, employment-based category two (EB2) made a considerable jump to June 2006 for citizens of India and China.  We think that EB3 will continue to be ‘unavailable’ until at least October, when the new USCIS fiscal year begins.

To access the Visa Bulletin, please go to the Processing Times link on our web site.

The U.S. Department of State (DOS) released its July 2008 Visa Bulletin.  According to the bulletin, employment-based category three (EB-3) for professionals and skilled workers will become 'unavailable' in July.  To view the entire visa bulletin, please go to the Processing Times link on our home page at www.bashyamspiro.com.

The Department of State recently released its April 2008 Visa Bulletin. The good news in the bulletin is that Employment-Based Category Two (EB2) is no longer ‘unavailable’ for Indian nationals. The cut-off date in that category for Indian nationals is now December 1, 2003.  To view the entire April 2008 Visa Bulletin, please go to the Processing Times link on the home page of this web site.

The United States Department of State (DOS) released its February 2008 Visa Bulletin. As we predicted in a recent issue of our Immigration News Weekly, the Employment-Based Second Preference Category (EB2) for Indian nationals has become ‘unavailable’. That means the demand for this category has exceeded the supply of immigrant visas available for this fiscal year.

To view the entire February Visa Bulletin, please go toTHIS LINK and click on State Department Visa Bulletin.

We will discuss the February Visa Bulletin and the ramifications of EB2 unavailability for Indian nationals in the next issue of our Immigration News Weekly.