According to Australian High commissioner Varghese “, There has been a significant increase in the number of student Australia Visa applications received and the number of student applying for universities in Australia. The increase is almost 30% compared to the last year.”

Study In Australia

In 2010-11, a major decline in the number of Indian students was noted. The decline was not only in the number of students from India but also in the number of students from other countries.

Foreign students are attracting to Australia for the new Australia visa rules. According to the new rules, students can stay and work for a few years after the completion of their graduation or degree.

Australia has also assured that they have taken elaborate steps to ensure the security of foreign students.

In Financial year 2011, 63 % of all L1-B applications were received and among them 27% are issued as a denial. According to the report, issuing new L1 Visas to India-born professionals face a difficult task. The increasing denials might largely be a case of denials among Indians.

H1-B visa for US

As per the country specific data on new petitions of L1-B visas indicates that USCIS is more likely to deny the applications from Indians than other countries. The denial rate has been raised from 2.8 % in financial year 2008 to 22.5% in FY 2009. With this, many employers are being unable to transfer those employees in US to work on several research projects.

L1-B visas are meant for those workers with specialised knowledge of the work of company but various tech firms are largely dependent over H-1B visas. Indian IT firms and multinational companies like IBM & Infosys are the largest users of H1-B visas.

US Visa Denials

US market accounts for more than 50% of total software exports from India and Indian companies send thousands of professionals every year to visit client sites. Last year, Cognizant has applied for maximum numbers of H1-B visas followed by Wipro & Infosys. The company got approved 6000 visas among the 60,000 Visas which are approved every year.

The new graduate entrepreneur route will open from April 6 and the tier T1 post study work will be closed. With such route, only the most talented international graduates will be able to apply to work in UK. Under the new UK visa regulations, the graduates must have a salary offer of at least £20,000 or more from a reputable employer.

Apply UK student Visa

These rules are a part of UK student Visa, which will:

• Tackle abuse- According to this, work placements will be restricted to the 1/3^rd of international students who are studying in UK. The time limit for studying at degree level will be restricted to 5 years as a general limit.
• Encourage Growth- The new entrepreneur route for graduates will offer up to 1000 places for international students who want to stay in UK but who don’t meet Tier 1(Entrepreneur) Visa requirements.
• Will ensure that students can support themselves- The students, working immigrants and their dependents will be required to show a higher amounts of funds to ensure that they can sipport themselves while their stay in UK.

New UK Student Visa Regulations To Cut Abuse

• Economic Boost- The young entrepreneurs with £50,000 to invest in their businesses will get the chance to stay in UK after their higher studies.

According to Mr. Green, it will attract the best and brightest international students and we need to be more selective that who can come and stay in UK.

The 2007 Immigration raids on mainly Latino neighborhood of Fair haven have come a day after the city became the first one to offer the ID cards to the illegal immigrants.

2007 Immigration raids in New Haven

This settlement seems to be the largest ever offered by the US in a lawsuit over the immigration raids. This settlement is the first to include compensation along with the immigration relief as per Mark Pedulla, a Yale student who was also involved in representing the claimants.

An ICE spokesperson, Rose Feinstein, said that this settlement is not proposes as an admission of charge on the part of Federal Government.

“The government is settling in order to avoid the additional time and expense of further litigation,” Feinstein said.

2007 Immigration raids in US

The claimants were among those 30 people arrested on the raid in early morning hours on June 6, 07.  The men claimed that the agents drew out their weapons, pushed them out of bed and also frightened the young children in some homes. They have claimed that the federal agency was reacting against New Haven for its hold of the illegal immigrants.

In June 2009, a judge ruled out that the agents violated the lawful rights of four immigrants in the raids. The swings in New Haven arose after the city had approved issuing the ID cards to all the residents.

The mayor of New Haven, DeStefano who has introduced the ID card program has tightened his hold of newcomers in December by announcing the proposal to extend the voting rights to illegal immigrants.

The lawsuit appealed that during 2007 Immigration raids, armed Federal officers violated the lawful rights of 11 men by arresting them without warrants. The lawsuit names around 16 defendants and they were 14 officers who have carried out the raids and two supervisors including the head of ICE at that time, Julie L. Myers.

US government welcomes all the foreign students to get education from American schools and universities. Students on the US F1-Visa may also accept the jobs in America as a part of their trainings.  Here are the few steps required to apply for a US student F1-Visa:

• Download the application guide for F1-student Visa.
• Select where you would prefer to study & stay in USA.
• Choose the kind of school or university, graduate school, college, ESL or the Vocational school.
• Contact the selected university or school to check with the admission and fee process.
• After acceptance from your selected school, you will get an I-20 application form by the school which is an essential document while applying for student US Visa.
• After filling I-20 application form and US student F1- Visa application guide, you can apply for f1-visa in US embassy.
• While you are on F1- Visa, you may be authorized legally to apply for any job in US.
• Citizens of all countries are eligible to apply for F1-Visa.

What is included in the application-guide for US student F1-Visa?

• Overview of F1-student Visa
  

  F1 Student Visa

• How to fill the application form
• Eligibility and requirements information
• Visa extension information
• Lists of all USCIS offices
• List of all the US embassies  and more.
• Benefits and drawbacks with F1-student visa
• Frequently asked questions and more.

The provisional measures for the process are aimed to improve the competition of the US companies in Global market. This implementation will also propose the tax breaks, Startup capital, and visa process, so as to boost highly-skilled workers. January 2012 Visa bulletin had also been released by US travel state government.

DHS has also stated that the US president supports the legislative measures which may attract the immigrants who create various jobs and competitiveness in US including strengthening H-1b program, creating the ‘Startup Visa’, and ‘Stapling’ the Green cards to the graduates of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Field.

These proposed changes will allow the researchers and outstanding professors to present a widen scope of their academic achievements.  Under the current law, the F-1 students are eligible for the 17-month extension only if they have recent degree, on which OTP (Optional Practical Training) is based.

DHS has also stated that these changes would also allow the additional part-time study for the spouses of F-1 foreign students.  It would expand the number of DSOs at the schools certified DHS to enroll the international students.

DHS will also provide the work authorization for the spouses of certain H-1B Visa holders.  On Feb 22, 2012, USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) will also launch its ‘Entrepreneurs in Residence ‘program to deliberate how to maximize the current immigration laws to attract the foreign talent.

DHS has also stated that the information Summit will also focus on ensuring that the immigration pathways for the foreign talent are Clear and consistent, and they better reflect the current business realities.

DHS has indicated that all these administrative reforms for US Visa rules will get ‘completed in future’ but it has not defined any timeline for the implementation of such reforms.

1. Rise in H1B Cap Count:  the number of H1B cap count has reached to 56,300 till November 14^th of this year. What it means is that now there are very less number of USCIS H1B cap numbers remaining, less than 9,000 caps to be more accurate. There were total limits of 65,000 cap numbers for the fiscal year 2012.
2. EB2 cutoff date for India and China advanced significantly: As it was earlier predicted, in the visa bulletin for December, 2011 by the US Department, the cutoff date for EB2 visa, which is the short form for employment based second reference, for December, 2011 for China and India is now 15^th March, 2008. This will help for the people who are waiting for many years for their I-485 to be processed, which is considered as the last step of the Green Card process.
3. USCIS will Accept “Bundling” of L1B Petitions:  USCIS had announced this November that it should be allowed to “bundle” with L-1 petitions for numerous employees when they file them for identical positions by the same employer. These petitions might be streamlined to improve the negotiation process. It also helps USCIS to recognize that businesses   need   transfer of multiple employees. Likewise, it is also expected in the January 2012 visa bulletin prediction.

The above article discusses significant points about the January 2012 visa bulletin prediction, which are under consideration and some of them are likely to get the green signal for implementation early next year.

What are your predictions. Share your thoughts in comment section

November 2011 Visa Bulletin Prediction for Family Sponsored Preferences

F1 Visa cutoff dates of China, India and worldwide might remain as 15JUN04 or the date can advance to 1-2 months. Mexico cutoff date will be 29MAR93. Philippines cut-off dates might remain as 08JAN97 or it might have a date in MAR97 or AUG97.

F2A Visa cut-off dates of China, India and worldwide will have an advancement of 1-7 months from 08JAN09. Mexico and Philippines cut-off date will have 1-5 months advancement from the specified date.

F2B Visa cut-off dates for China, India and Worldwide will remain as 15JUL03 or have 15 days -3 months advancement. Mexico cut-off date will be 01DEC92 or 22DEC92. Philippines cut-off date will advance 2-3 months from 01MAY01.

F3 Visa cut-off dates for China, India and worldwide will have a date in SEP01 or OCT01. Mexico cut-off date will remain as 01DEC92 or have slight advancement of 7 days – 1 month. Philippines cut-off date will be a date in JUN92 or JUL92.

F4 Visa cut-off dates for China, India and worldwide will be 15JUN00. Mexico cut-off date will remain stable as 08APR96 or it will have slight advancement of 7 days to 40 days.  Philippines cut-off date will advance from 7 days – 2months from 01AUG88.

November 2011 Visa Bulletin Prediction for Employment Based Preferences

EB1 Visa cut-off dates are Current for all countries.

EB2 Visa cut-off dates will be Current for Mexico, Philippines and Worldwide. India and China cut-off dates will remain as 15JUL07 or have 1-6 month’s advancement.

EB3 Visa cut-off dates for Worldwide and Philippines will advance to 15 days – 1 month from 08DEC05. Cut-off date for China will advance to 7 days – 1 month from 08AUG04. Cut-off date for India will have advancement of 7 days – 40 days from 15JUL02.  Mexico cut-off date will advance to 15 days – 8 months from 08DEC05.

Other Workers Visa cut-off dates for Worldwide, Mexico and Philippines will have advancement of 1-4 months from 15SEP05. China cut-off dates will remain as 22APR03. India cut-off date will remain as 08JUN02 or have slight advancement of 7 days to 1 month.

EB4, Certain religious workers Visa, 5th Targeted Employment Areas/Regional Centers and Pilot Programs will have cut-off dates as Current for all countries.

Share your thoughts in comment section.

Looking to track your permanent U.S residency and a green card then EB-5 Green Card visa immigration program is the fast and easy way with visa approval rating more favorable.

September 2011 Visa Bulletin Prediction for Family Sponsored Preferences

F1 Visa cutoff dates of China, India and worldwide will be 01May04. Mexico cutoff date will be 08MAR93 or an advancement of 7 days-2 months. Philippines cut-off dates will be 15APR96 or an advancement of 2 to 4 months.

F2A Visa cut-off dates for all countries other than Mexico will be 22SEP08 or 22Nov08. Mexico cut-off date will have an advancement of 4 months to 8 months.

F2B Visa cut-off dates for China, India and Worldwide will remain as 01JUL03 or have 3 months advancement. Mexico cut-off date will be 22OCT92 or 01NOV92. Philippines cut-off date will be a date in MAR01.

F3 Visa cut-off dates for China, India and worldwide will be a date in SEP01. Mexico cut-off date will remain the same as 15NOV92 or have slight advancement of 7 days to 1 month. Philippines cut-off date will be a date in APR92 or MAY92.

F4 Visa cut-off dates for China, India and worldwide will remain as 08MAR00 or have 20 days-2 months advancement. Mexico cut-off date will remain stable as 08MAR96 or it will have slight advancement of 7 days to 40 days.  Philippines cut-off date will remain as 15MAY88 or have an advancement of 15 days to 1 month.

September 2011 Visa Bulletin Prediction for Employment Based Preferences

EB1 Visa cut-off dates are Current for all countries.

EB2 Visa cut-off dates will be Current for Mexico, Philippines and Worldwide. India and China cut-off dates will have 1-6 months advancement from 15APR07.

EB3 Visa cut-off dates for Worldwide and Philippines will have a date in DEC05. Cut-off date for China will have advancement of 7 days-1 month from 08JUL04. Cut-off date for India will have advancement of 7 days to 1 month from 01JUN02.  Mexico cut-off date will have advancement of 3-8 months from 01NOV05.

Other Workers Visa cut-off dates for Worldwide, Mexico and Philippines will have slight advancement of 6 months to 1 year from 01May05. China cut-off dates will remain as 22APR03. India cut-off date will have 7 days to 1 month advancement from the date 01JUN02.

EB4, Certain religious workers Visa, 5th Targeted Employment Areas/Regional Centers and Pilot Programs will have cut-off dates as Current for all countries.

SEPTEMBER VISA AVAILABILITY : According to the August visa bulletin published ,

” Heavy applicant demand for numbers in the Family First preference could require retrogression of some of the September Family First preference cut-off dates. This action may be necessary to keep visa issuances within the respective annual preference numerical limits. If this were to occur they could be expected to return to the previous cut-off date for October, the first month of the new fiscal year ” .

Below is the brief summary in Table format .

Family Sponsored Based Preference

Employment Based Preference

On the chart above, the listing of a date for any class indicates that the class is oversubscribed ; “C” means current number which is available for qualified applicants whose priority date is earlier than the cut-off date and “U” means unavailable i.e. numbers are not available

CUT-OFFS for DV Category Immigrants WHICH WILL APPLY IN SEPTEMBER

Read the details of visa bulletin for August 2011 visa bulletin and the September visa availability  here : latest month visa bulletin