Employers may find out as early as next week whether the annual quota for H-1B visas for 2009 has been reached.  According to the last official count, announced December 15, reflecting H-1B visa petitions filed as of last Friday, December 11, 2009, there are about 2100 FY H-1B visa numbers remaining of the annual allotment of 65,000 visas and 20,000 additional visas for holders of U.S. master’s or higher degrees.   Once the USCIS announces it will no longer accept cap subject H-1B visa petitions, employers needing to obtain H-1B visas will not be able to file H-1B visa petitions until April 1, 2009, with the earliest requested start date under the H-1B of October 1, 2010, the beginning of the government’s new fiscal year. 

The State Department’s first Visa Bulletin for 2010 is out.  We can report only glacial movement, and the Department of State’s longer term projection for employment-based immigrant visa availability in 2010 is no holiday gift.  We think stalactites form faster.  Still, in the EB-2 category, Chinese nationals advanced 1 month to May 1, 2005.  The EB-3 category also saw forward movement of 1-2 months for all nationalities.  Chinese nationals with priority dates of August 1, 2002 and before, Indian nationals with priority dates of June 22, 2001 and before, Mexican nationals with priority dates of July 1, 2002 and before, and Filipino nationals with priority dates of August 1, 2002 and before, now have visa numbers available to them.  Nationals of all other countries in the EB-3 category must have priority dates of August 1, 2002 or before for visa availability.

As before, we will continue to monitor the visa bulletin closely, and to advise our clients if visa movement impacts their case.

• Audits Now in the I-9 Arena.  In our October immigration news alert, we provided a heads up and best practices advice about government H-1B *unannounced* site visits occurring this fall to verify representations made in employers’ underlying H-1B visa petitions.  Now there’s more, this time dealing with I-9 forms.  On Friday, November 20, 2009, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Assistant Secretary, John Morton, announced that it had served audit notices, or “Notices of Inspections” (NOIs), to 1,000 businesses last week.  Employers’ hiring records, including I-9 forms, are always subject to audit to ensure the compliance of employment eligibility verification laws.   [Employers must always keep I-9 forms for existing employees.  When employees terminate, employers must keep I-9s for the later of (1) 3 years after the employee's hire date, or (2) 1 year after the employee's employment ends.]