Visa Bulletin for October 2009

The US Department of State has released the new Visa Bulletin for October 2009. In family-based categories, there is very slight movement forward, but just by a few weeks or months in most categories. However, Family 1st Preference for Mexico moves forward by 17 months

Employment-based categories remain "Current" for all 1st preference applicants, and for 2nd preference from Mexico, China, and countries other than India and China.

The biggest change is that the bulletin once again lists priority dates for 3rd Preference and Other Workers. These categories have been "Unavailable" since the May 2009 bulletin. Unfortunately, the priority dates listed on the October bulletin are all at least a few weeks behind the dates listed the last time, in the April bulletin. This may be the Visa Office being conservative in its first allocation of numbers for the new fiscal year. Let's hope so, and hope that they move forward in the next few months.

Federal Contractor E-verify mandatory today

Despite last-minute appeals and lawsuits to delay its implementation, the FAR (Federal Acquisition Regulation) rule takes effect today. The rule requires contractors to use an electronic system (E-verify) to verify whether their employees are eligible to work in the U.S.

The E-Verify requirement would apply to federal contracts with a performance period longer than 120 days and a value over $100,000. The rule covers subcontractors if a prime contract includes the clause. For subcontracts that flow from those prime contracts, the rule extends the E-Verify requirement to subcontracts for services or for construction with a value over $3,000.

Employers who would like more information are encouraged to sign up for the free webinars being hosted by DHS: link.

For more details, see the prior blog posts here.

Wall Street Journal article: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125236773673291025.html