Prepare for Surprise USCIS H-1B Site Visits. Funded by antifraud H-1B visa petition filing fees, the government, through its “Administrative Site Visit and Verification Program,” is actively pursuing its authority to root out fraud in employment-based visas. Some of our clients have already had the pleasure of a site visit. Expect more. One of the two Service Centers reportedly has transferred (appears randomly) close to 20,000 cases to the USCIS Office of Fraud Detection and National Security (FDNS). We anticipate that the other Service Center may have sent an equal number of cases to FDNS. FDNS also receives other case referrals. As a result, an FDNS officer or contractor may soon be knocking upon your door to verify that all employer representations in the underlying H-1B visa application package are accurate. The officer likely will (a) have a camera in hand to take pictures of the work site and request a tour of your facility; (b) request to review payroll and H-1B records; (c) request to interview the employee and perhaps manager/supervisors; and (c) request a follow up visit. Don’t be alarmed, but do set up protocols for immigration compliance and to contact immigration counsel immediately. Following some practice tips below may make for an “uneventful” site visit. FDNS otherwise has the power to initiate further investigation which may result in revocation of the H-1B visa approval.

The United States Department of State has announced its Diversity Visa lottery for 2011.  DV-2011 applications must be submitted electronically between noon, Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) (GMT-4), Friday, October 2, 2009, and noon, Eastern Standard Time (EST) (GMT-5), Monday, November 30, 2009.  Applicants may access the electronic Diversity Visa entry form (E-DV) during the registration period.  Applicants are strongly encouraged not to wait until the last week of the registration period to enter.  Heavy demand may result in website delays and the State Department will not accept entries submitted after noon EST on November 30, 2009.

Most significantly, the Employment-Based third preference category is finally “available” for Chinese nationals with priority dates of February 22, 2002 and Indian nationals with priority dates of April 15, 2001, and for all others (not from Mexico), June 1, 2002.  For the Employment-Based EB-2 second preference category, there has been only slight forward movement from last month:  Permanent visas are available for priority dates of March 22, 2005 for Chinese nationals and January 22, 2005 for Indian nationals.  The EB-2 category is still current for all other foreign nationals.  Please click here to access the complete October Visa bulletin.