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• As of November 19, 2016, OFLC/DOL is processing the Prevailing Wage Determination Requests for PERM .  Please check the link for PERM Processing Times.

This bulletin summarizes the availability of immigrant numbers during December for: “Final Action Dates” and “Dates for Filing Applications,” indicating when immigrant visa applicants should be notified to assemble and submit required documentation to the National Visa Center.

http://www.immigration.com/visa-bulletin/visa-bulletin-december-2016

Are you seeking to adjust your status and become a U.S. permanent resident under a family-sponsored or employment-based preference immigrant visa? If you have not yet had a relative or employer file an immigrant visa petition on your behalf, please learn more about the Adjustment of Status Filing Process.

USCIS has published a final rule to modernize and improve several aspects of certain employment-based nonimmigrant and immigrant visa programs. USCIS has also amended regulations to better enable U.S. employers to hire and retain certain foreign workers who are beneficiaries of approved employment-based immigrant visa petitions and are waiting to become lawful permanent residents.

Nationals of the People’s Republic of China with a 10-year visa will update their information every two years using EVUS

Starting on November 1, 2016, USCIS will centralize the Special Immigrant Juvenile (SIJ) program. This means SIJ-based Form I-360 petitions and Form I-485 applications will primarily be adjudicated at one location, the National Benefits Center (NBC).

USCIS will publish the revised Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, by Nov. 22, 2016 -- NOT Jan. 22, 2017. Employers may continue using Form I-9 dated 03/08/2013 N. through Jan. 21, 2017. By Jan.

USCIS and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in consultation with the Department of State, have added St. Vincent and the Grenadines to the list of countries whose nationals are eligible to participate in the H-2A and H-2B visa programs for the coming year. The notice listing the eligible countries was published on Oct. 26, 2016 in the Federal Register.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)  published a revised version of Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification.

By Jan. 22, 2017, employers must use only the new version, dated 11/14/2016. Until then, they can continue to use the version dated 03/08/2013 or the new version. 

Among the changes in the new version, Section 1 asks for “other last names used” rather than “other names used,” and streamlines certification for certain foreign nationals.

Other changes include:

The H-2B Program

The H-2B non-agricultural temporary worker program allows U.S. employers to bring foreign nationals to the United States to fill temporary non-agricultural jobs.
For more information about the H-2B program, see the link to the left under "H-2B Non-Agricultural Workers." 

The Consolidated Natural Resources Act of 2008 (CNRA) extended U.S. immigration laws to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), and authorized the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to create the CNMI-Only Transitional Worker (CW-1) program to ensure adequate employment in the CNMI until the program is phased out on December 31, 2014.

The United States Mission to Nigeria is pleased to announce an expansion of the Drop Box Visa Renewal Program, tentatively to start of June 9th.  This program allows certain visa applicants who have previously been issued U.S. visas to renew their visas without attending an interview.