March 2023 Newsletter

March 2023 Newsletter

Welcome to our March Newsletter, which covers select immigration development this past month.?

We start with the annual H-1B visa lottery! We cover the registration period for this year’s H-1B visa lottery, beginning Wednesday, March 1 and closing on Friday, March 17. The full H-1B Registration process timeline for the fiscal year 2024 H-1B cap is available at the link here. When the registration period closes on March 17, USCIS will run the lottery. It will notify employers and their attorneys of the selected registrations by March 31, 2023, following which employers have 90 days to file complete H-1B petitions on behalf of their prospective H-1B employees. More information about the H-1B visa and the annual lottery is available here.?

We also have our analysis of the State Department’s latest monthly Visa Bulletin, which has zero movement across all employment and family-based categories. While the EB-2 category worldwide has seen backlogs over the past several months, the EB3 category has remained open for nationals of most countries. That said, due to increased EB-3 applicants, the Department of State has announced that they may establish a worldwide final action date for the EB-3 category over the next few months. The entire Visa Bulletin is available on the State Department's website, which includes information on the diversity visa lottery and the EB-5 priority dates here.

We close with a short story about the successful naturalization of one of our dear clients whose immigration to the United States defied all odds. Congratulations Mr G-H-!

I hope you find this information useful. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you would like to discuss these or any other immigration-related developments further.?

H-1B Lottery Registration Opens March 1

February 1, 2023

The registration period for this year’s H-1B visa lottery runs from Wednesday, March 1 at 9 AM PST / 12 PM EST to Friday, March 17 at 9 AM PST / 12 PM EST. Read more here.

March 2023 Visa Bulletin Released

February 24, 2023

The Department of State has released its March 2023 Visa Bulletin, which, overall, indicates zero movement across all employment and family-based categories. Read more here.

Congratulations, Mr. G-H-!

In February, we celebrated the naturalization of a very dear client whose immigration to the United States defied all odds! At the age of 35, Mr. G-H- fled Sudan during the civil war and lived in a refugee camp in Jordan for nearly three years where he first learned English. UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency?granted him refugee status and he eventually was resettled to the United States (in Memphis, TN!). He obtained lawful permanent residence, moved to the Bay Area, and then applied for citizenship (on his own). Unfortunately, his interview didn't go well and USCIS issued a notice to deny, citing a number of factual discrepancies. Mr. G-H- was given 30 days to respond.

Mr. G-H found us online and scheduled an in-person consultation. I won't deny that I was skeptical at first. But as I talked with him, I could tell he was genuinely bewildered and stressed by the specificity of the questions. I realized how much he had been through and how it was impacting his ability to recall facts and dates accurately. We worked through each discrepancy and prepared a reply, explaining each one with supporting evidence, including a letter by his dedicated physician at the?Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center, confirming the physiological impact of the stress Mr. G-H- had and continued to endure as a refugee. Our reply worked!!! Mr. G-H-'s application was approved and he attended his oath ceremony this week.

Our superstar legal assistant,?Caroline Roberts, who answered Mr. G-H-'s calls on a daily basis and meticulously combed all of his records to explain the inconsistencies, accompanied Mr. G-H- to his ceremony. We wanted to make sure he was not alone at such a momentous occasion.

Mabrook Mr. G-H-! Welcome to America.