Navigating Uncertain Times:  Friday Roundup

Friday May 5, 2017

 

Whew!  That was close… [Check in again in October]

As you probably know, Congress has finally passed a budget bill that will extend the operations of the United States Government for the remainder of the 2017 fiscal year.  That is, until September 30, 2017.

Although much attention has been given to the fact that there was no direct funding for the construction of a new wall on the Southern border, the overall budget for the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security increased by $1.45 Billion.  This includes an additional $700 million for Customs & Border Protection and $400 million for new detention facilities.  Thus, the ‘security’-side emphasis of immigration is clearly reflected in this bill.

In the meantime, many employers seeking highly-educated and highly-skilled workers are slowly realizing that they, once again, are unable to secure an H-1B visa to hire employees to contribute specialized knowledge to their companies.  All of the H-1B petitions that were randomly selected during the lottery have now been processed and Receipt Notices have been sent out.

There still may be a few Receipt Notices still straggling through the mail system, but for the most part, if you have not already received a Receipt Notice for one of your H-1B cases, you can lament the same way Chicago Cubs fans used to:  “Wait till next year”!

 

We can do better…

 

Have a nice weekend,

HS&D Immigration