Once again, this newsletter can only report that the H-1B cap remains in place and that Congress has yet to pass a bill raising the numbers. Congress had scheduled a vote on the bill and again the vote was postponed. The latest target date for a vote is September 24th. And it is still not clear whether the Clinton Administration has reached agreement with the Congress on what an acceptable compromise bill will look like.

One development that is worth noting since our last issue is the fact that H-1B approvals for the next fiscal year are now being issued by the four service centers. And processing times are starting to improve significantly. The INS also issued a guidance memo outlining how pending H-1B cases are to be handled. No real surprises, but it does put in writing several policies we have reported earlier. To see that memo plus read the latest news on the H-1B cap, visit our H-1B Emergency Update Page at http://www.visalaw.com/h1b.html.

Also of interest on the H-1B front is the endorsement by California Governor Pete Wilson of H.R. 3736, the H-1B bill which this publication supports. Wilson has publicly urged President Clinton not to veto the bill stating that the long-term economic interests of the US should be considered over placating the "short-sighted, protectionist demands of organized labor pressure groups."