Dear Readers: 

Last week in this column I discussed the status of the H-1B bonus quota for 20,000 graduates of US masters, Ph.D. and other graduate level programs. March 8^th was the USCIS deadline to start accepting applications under legislation passed by Congress late last year. Shortly after our newsletter was completed and mailed, we received a memorandum from USCIS indicating that they were going to issue the 20,000 visas to all H-1B applicants and not just graduates of qualifying educational programs. 

The reason? According to sources at USCIS, the agency believes it approved at least 20,000 applications in the general 65,000 quota for people that would qualify for the new numbers and it is taking a broad interpretation of what Congress intended. Members of Congress are unhappy as are the many advanced degree holders who now must worry about competition for visas from the general pool of applicants. There, bad news is being warmly greeted by the general H-1B applicant pool. 

The USCIS memo indicated that applications still could not be submitted until a Federal Register notice is released and until that happens, the USCIS has the option of changing its mind on this. Presumably, a lot of behind the scenes arguing is going on over this and it will be interesting to see how it all shakes out. 

In the mean time, a new I-129 form was posted on the USCIS web site that incorporates many of the recent legal changes. The new form replaces both the I-129 and the I-129W forms and collects information necessary to determine if an applicant qualifies under the new quota as well as incorporating new information on fees and fee exemptions. Whether the new form needs to be used immediately is not yet clear. USCIS had indicated initially to the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) that the new form would be required to be used when the new quota officially opened.  Then AILA announced that USCIS was backtracking on this and it is still not clear when the form must be used. 

According to AILA, however, the USCIS has indicated a need to begin collecting the new data as of March 21^st and many are speculating that this means that the new quota will be opened on that date. AILA also learned that filing fee checks will be made out to Department of Homeland Security, though checks made out to USCIS, CIS and other obvious names will continue to be accepted. 

On a side note, AILA is to be congratulated for staying out ahead on this and doing such a great job for its members. If you practice immigration law and are not an AILA member, you are really losing out. 

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The other big development in immigration law this month is the implementation of the long awaited PERM labor certification program on March 28^th. We would be very interested in hearing from readers on their experiences using the new system and we’ll be reporting on our own results. Let me know what you think of PERM by sending me messages at gsiskind@visalaw.com. 

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Finally, as always, we remind readers that we're lawyers who make our living representing immigration clients and employers seeking to comply with immigration laws. We would love to discuss becoming your law firm. Just go to http://www.visalaw.com/intake.html to request an appointment or call us at 800-748-3819 or 901-682-6455. 

Regards,