- Part of the reason for these jumps
is because of policy changes at USCIS
which is allowing them to issue green cards
at a faster pace.
We have some important immigration news for you today.
The US Chamber of Commerce has announced a workforce crisis
and it's calling on the Biden Administration to double
the number of employment-based visas
available every single year.
Also, the July-based Visa Bulletin has been released
and we have seen significant movement
through both the employment and family-based categories.
We're going to cover all the details right now.
Make sure you stay tuned until the end
to see how this news might potentially impact your case.
And if you like this video,
please make sure you subscribe to my page
and like the video to help support the growth of my channel.
Let's start with an important update about
employment-based visa categories.
The US Chamber of Commerce has announced a significant
workforce crisis where the US does not have enough
skilled workers and has called
on the Biden Administration to double
the annual number available of employment-based visas
from 140,000 to 280,000 visas available each year.
They have also called for the cap on the H-1B quota
to be lifted and to be increased to double the size
in order to bring more skilled professionals
to the United States.
This sounds exciting,
but what exactly is causing the US Chamber of Commerce
to worry so much and get involved in immigration reform?
As the US economy tries to recover from the pandemic,
American companies are reporting
a lack of available workers,
which has slowed down the pandemic recovery.
According to a report released by the Chamber of Commerce,
there were 8.1 million job openings in 2021,
which is a record high.
There are now approximately half as many available workers
for every open job relative to the average
over the past 20 years.
In addition, 90% of the state and local businesses surveyed
reported a lack of available workers
as the main factor slowing down
the economy in their area.
This has companies across the country calling
on the Biden Administration to lift the cap
and expedite employment-based visas.
As we discussed in my previous video,
bi-partisan support for the most immigration reform
seems unlikely.
However, the US economy is a top priority
for both Republicans and Democrats.
If the US Chamber of Commerce and American businesses
are both pushing to expand the employment-based visas,
there is a good chance that we will see
progress in this area.
We have already seen some of the steps taken
by the Biden Administration to make it easier
for employment-based visa applicants to come to the US.
In April of this year, the president allowed
the H-1B visa ban issued by President Trump to expire.
The Department of Labor also delayed
a separate Trump-era rule that raised wage rates
for H-1B workers and green card holders.
And in May, USCIS announced that it will give deference
to its own prior adjudications,
effectively streamlining the processes
for previously approved H-1B
and other work-based applications.
So unlike in other areas requiring immigration reform,
this one where it concerns the US workforce
may actually show some progress in a reformation.
In addition to expanding the limit
for employment-based visas,
the Chamber of Commerce is also encouraging
the Biden Administration to stop counting spouses
and minor children under the annual green card quota,
which could also double the amounts
of employment-based visas available.
Eliminate per-country caps that cause individuals
from some countries to wait longer than others.
And offer international students
who graduate from US universities
more opportunities to obtain
employment-based green cards upon graduation.
If economic conditions do not improve and American
businesses continue to suffer,
American businesses will continue
their political pressure upon the government.
And it is likely to increase the possibility
of immigration reform in this area.
There is a lot more information coming about immigration
reform as these are being proposed
by the Chamber of Commerce,
but I would like to move on to the Visa Bulletin.
If you want to learn more,
I have included links in my description below
regarding this news.
And if this is your very first time visiting my channel,
please make sure you subscribe
and make sure you like this video
so you can go ahead and get more immigration news.
Before we get to the Visa Bulletin,
I would like to remind everyone
that the US Bureau of Consular Affairs
announced their immigrant visa priorities in April,
releasing a tiered system
for their consular sections to follow each month.
Tier one is immediate relative intercountry adoption visas,
age-out cases, and certain special immigrant visas.
Tier two is immediate relative visas, fiance visas,
and returning resident visas.
Tier three is family preference immigrant visas
and SE Special Immigrant Visas for certain employees
of the US government abroad.
And Tier four is all other immigrant visas,
including employment preference and diversity visas.
The State Department's first priority
is family reunification.
So they are maximizing their limited resources to prevent
the backlog of immediate relative and fiance visas
from growing.
Rest assured that they have also instructed
US embassies and consulates to schedule
in tier three and tier four each month.
However, continued delays are still expected
in these categories.
Okay, so what sort of movement are we seeing
in the July Visa Bulletin?
Starting with employment-based visas,
we saw significant movement this month across the board,
including major advancements in India
that has a lot of people excited.
USCIS has instructed applicants to use
the Final Action Dates chart.
So let's take a look at the dates and what has changed.
Just a note, all of the previously current categories
are still current, so I'm only going to point out
where we saw movements in this July bulletin.
If you would like to take a look at a specific category,
I will include a link in my description
to the July Visa Bulletin so you can take a deeper dive.
So we continue to see significant advancement in both India
and China for EB-2, with China moving forward
by seven months to December 1st, 2017,
and India by six months to June 1st, 2011.
India EB-3 is where we saw that big jump
that has people excited.
Both the professionals and skilled workers
and other workers categories moved forward by over a year,
to January 1st, 2013.
This is the biggest jump we have seen
in this category in years.
We also saw EB-3 for China move forward 4 months
to Jan 1, 2019,
and the other EB-3 worker categories moved by two months
to December 1st, 2009.
Part of the reason for these jumps is because
of policy changes at USCIS,
which is allowing them to issue green cards
at a faster pace.
We hope to see these advances continue
in the next couple months through September.
For Mexico, we saw the EB-4 category
advance by three months to February 1st, 2020.
And we saw the same category advance in Central America
by one month to December 1st, 2018.
Finally, the EB-5 category.
China advanced by almost two months to November 8th, 2015.
Vietnam had other big jumps of two years
from April 1st, 2020.
At this rate, we should see Vietnam
join the rest of the areas as current very soon.
Note that the EB-5 I just mentioned
is for the EB-5 non-regional center.
If you take a look at this chart on the July Visa Bulletin,
you will see the EB-5 regional center
is now listed as unauthorized.
This is because the Regional Center Program
expires on June 30th, 2021.
So barring congressional action on passing legislation
to reauthorize this program,
immigrant visa issuance and adjustment of status
applications under this category
will cease after June 30th, 2021.
Moving on into family-sponsored visas.
We continue to see forward movement
though not at the same rates that we saw
from employment-based categories.
Let's start by looking at the final action dates,
where we finally saw Mexico making some big advancements
in nearly every category.
F-1 had the biggest jump,
moving forward five months to October 1st, 1998.
China, India, and all other countries
moved forward by 14 days to November 15, 2014.
F-2A continues to remain current in all chargeability areas,
while the F-2B category moved forward for China, India,
and all other countries by 24 days to September 15th, 2015.
And Mexico moved forward at almost five months
to February 1st, 2000.
Next we have the F-3 category,
where Mexico advanced almost four months to March 8th, 1997,
and China, India, and all other countries
advanced two months to November 1st, 2008.
Next we have the biggest filing dates
for family-based visa categories.
For these dates, we saw the biggest advances
in the F1 and F2 categories.
Note that with the exception of the F2A category,
USCIS has instructed applicants to use the dates
for filing chart for July of 2021.
Again, I'm only going to cover the areas
where we saw actual movement.
I will link to the full visa bulletin below
for those of you who want to take a full look.
For F1 categories of family-based visa filing dates,
we saw the most movement
though not as much as last month.
The Philippines continues to lead the pace in the category,
with the filing date moving forward more than 11 months
to April 22nd, 2015.
This was followed by Mexico where the filing date advanced
two months and 17 days to August 1st, 2000.
Then we had India, China,
and all the other countries move forward
by two and a half months to May 15, 2016.
The F2-B saw advancements in China, India,
and all other countries by one month and one week
to September 22nd, 2016.
And the Philippines moved forward two months
to October 1st, 2013.
In the F-3 categories, India, China,
and all other countries moved forward by three weeks
to August 22nd, 2009.
And the Philippines advanced just under two months
to October 1st, 2003.
In the F-4 category,
we saw advancement only in the Philippines,
which jumped forward almost six months
to February 1st, 2004.
Leave me a comment and let me know if there's a category
that you have been waiting on!
Finally, is Biden's hope for major immigration reform dead?
If you want to find out, watch this video where I explain
the immigration court backlog
and how it could potentially prevent
the Biden Administration from passing
any meaningful immigration reform over the coming years.
I will continue releasing more videos
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Check out this video, I'll see you there.