30th April, 2008 - Immigration Prosecution on the rise - TRAC
The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) immigration site has posted the latest information about immigration prosecutions from the U.S. Justic Department, reporting a 21.6% increase of prosecutions in January 2008 as compared to December 2007.

Link to the TRAC Immigration site for further analysis on this growth trend, the top charges filed, top prosecuting judicial districts, etc.

29th April, 2008 - USCIS releases revised Medical Exam Form, effective May 1, 2008
U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Service (USCIS), has revised Form I-693, Report of Medical Examination and Vaccination Record. This revised form (edition date 04/02/08) must be used for all exams completed on or after May 1, 2008. The revision was due to changes to the Tuberculosis (TB) Component of the Centers for Diseases Control and Preventions's Technical Instructions for Civil Surgeons.

Form I-693 is required for adjustment of status applications seeking permanent residence status. For details, see USCIS Update

25th April, 2008 - EAD Form I-765 has been revised
United States Citizenshp & Immigration Service (USICS) has issued a revised Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, following the publication of the OPT Interim Final Rule. Prior versions of Form I-765 will no longer be accepted after July 9th, 2008.
For details, see USCIS Announcement

22nd April, 2008 - DHS proposes exit fingerprints
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) wants to require commercial airlines and cruise-line operators to collect information such as digital finerprints from international travelers and send this information to DHS within 24 hours after the foreign traveler's departure. The majority of non-U.S. citizens are already required to submit fingerprints upon admission to the U.S. The proposed rule would expand the requirement to departures and complete the exit portion of the US-VISIT tracking program, which was a key provision of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007.

DHS announced its proposal today and intends to implement these biometric exit procedure by January 2009. Airliine provides have been especially vocal about opposing the rule, complainiing that the cost of implementation should be borne by the government and not the travel providers. Cost estimates over a 10 year period range from $2-3 billion dollars.

The notice of the proposed rulemaking will be published in the Federal Register. The airline companies, and the general public will have a 60-day period to review and comment before a final rule will be published outlining the new requirements and their effect date.
For details, see DHS Announcement

18th April, 2008
Washington - U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced today that it would allow F1 students who are the beneficiaries of selected H1B petitions for this 2009 FY to request a change of status in lieu of consular notification.
For details, see USCIS to allow F-1 students opportunity to request change of stutus

14th April, 2008
The USCIS conducted the random H1B lottery on April 14, 2008 for both cap subject and US Master's degree applications. 65,000 cap subject applications will be randomly chosen while 20,000 Master's degree applications will be selected. There were approximately 163,000 applications received by the USICS in the first five days. Applications properly filed and selected in the lottery will receive a receipt notice dated no later than June 2, 2008 while applications not selected in the lottery will be returned to their immigration attorney or other representative along with their filing fees. However, applicant submitting duplicate applications will not receive their filing fees. The total adjudication process is expected to take approximately eight to ten weeks. Premium processing cases selected in the lottery will begin being processed on April 14 and will be adjudicated within 15 days. USCIS has "waited-listed"
some H1B petitions, meaning they may possibly replace petitions chosen in the lottery but have been subsequently denied, withdrawn, or found ineligible. USCIS will send a letter to the wait list petitioners to inform them of their status.
For details, see USCIS Runs Random Selection Process For H1B Petitions

10th April, 2008
Preliminary Number of FY2009 H1B cap is finally released today! The USCIS annouced that they have received nearly 16,300 H1B petitions during the filing period ending on 7th April 2008. More than 31,200 of those petitions were for the Advanced Degree category.
For details, see USCIS Releases Preliminary Number of FY2009 H1B Cap Filings

8th April, 2008
The USCIS reached the H1B Masters Cap and Regular Cap for H1B applications as expected on April 07, 2008. The final applicant numbers are not yet available but at a minimum there were in excess of 20,000 Masters cap H1B petitions and 65,000 cap subject petitions for the H1B work visa.
For details, see USCIS Reaches 2009 FY H1B Cap

17 month Extension of OPT for Certain Highly Skilled Foreign Students 4/04/2008
USCIS makes Temporary Accommodation for FY09 Cap-Subject H1B Petitions 4/04/2008