Month: April 2013

According to Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access
Clearinghouse (TRAC) the average time a pending case has been waiting in
an immigration court has consistently risen since Fiscal Year 1998. In
Fiscal Year 2013, the average time hit a new high of 555 days. This
average wait time is different than the average processing time, which
would include all days until a case is closed and not just the open time
of cases. In 1998, the average wait time was 324 days; in 2012, it was
531 days.

TRAC also commented on the states that had the longest pending case
time. California topped the list at 696 days. Other states with long
pending case times were Nebraska, Ohio, Colorado, Massachusetts,
Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, Illinois and Minnesota, all of whom
averaged over 570 days each.

Today U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it
has received enough H-1B visa petitions to reach the annual cap for
Fiscal Year 2014. In addition, USCIS received more than 20,000 H-1B visa
petitions filed on behalf of people who are exempt from the standard
cap under the advanced degree exemption. After today (April 5, 2013),
USCIS will not accept H-1B petitions that are subject to the FY 2014
annual cap or the FY 2014 advanced degree exemption.

USCIS notes that it will now use a computer-generated random selection
process for all cap-subject FY 2014 petitions received up to April 5,
2013. The federal agency is not yet able to state the exact day of the
random selection process. In addition, they are not yet providing the
total number of petitions received.

The Department of Homeland Security today announced that it would extend
the designations of Nicaragua and the Honduras for Temporary Protected
Status (TPS) for 18 months. This extension will allow currently eligible
TPS beneficiaries to retain this status through January 5, 2015.

This extension was put into place because the conditions in Nicaragua
and the Honduras due to Hurricane Mitch remain disruptive and neither
country is currently able to handle adequately the return of their
nationals. Nicaraguan and Honduran residents wishing to extend TPS will
need to re-register for TPS and apply for renewal of their Employment
Authorization Documents with USCIS.