The U.S. Department of Labor, Foreign Labor Certification Unit, just released its 2009 annual report, covering visa statistics from October 1, 2008 to September 30, 2009. The report showed a continual decrease in the number of PERM labor certification filings and approvals. Specifically, the report indicates that there was a 42% decrease in certified cases from fiscal year 2007 to fiscal year 2008 and then a 40% decrease from fiscal year 2008 to fiscal year 2009.

The following data is noteworthy:

INDUSTRY: All of the top five industries for permanent labor certification experienced a decrease: Professional, Scientific and Technical Services down 37%, manufacturing down 26%, educational services down 33 %, health care and social assistance down 44%, and finance and insurance down 18%.

STATE: In fiscal year 2009 there were only 8 states with more than 1,000 certifications as compared to 12 states in fiscal year 2008 and 18 states in fiscal year 2007. In addition, all eight of the states with more than 1,000 certifications saw a decrease of more than 30% (with California and Texas at a 47% decrease in the number of certified cases).

COUNTRY: India and China remained two of the top countries for foreign workers in the PERM program. However, South Korea and the Philippines entered the top 5 for the first time in recent years, although still amounting for a small percentage of the overall total. The top five countries included: (1) India – 11,387 petitions certified, 38% of the total; (2) China – 2,112 petitions certified, 7% of the total; (3) South Korea – 1,878 petitions certified, 6% of the total; (4) Philippines – 1,631 petitions certified, 5% of the total; and (5) Canada – 1,591 petitions certified, 5% of the total.

The major reason for the decrease in cases is due to the U.S. economy from 2008 until the present. Although the 2010 annual report will not be available until next year, all indications are that the numbers will be nearly as low as the 2009 annual report.

The decrease in certified cases sheds a ray of hope on immigrant visa availability in the coming years. As HLG has noted repeatedly during the last year, the current retrogression in visa numbers is a result of a booming economy until 2007, an influx of permanent residence filings under the 245i law, and stalled processing at states prior to the new PERM system in 2005. However, once we get through that “bubble” of cases, the visa numbers should move more steadily since the volume of cases in the past three years has been significantly lower. The Philippines and countries other than India and China will fair the best.

The annual report also included data on the labor condition application approvals for the H-1b program. While that data showed increases in the number of certifications, that data is not an indicator of overall numbers since a large portion of the increase is attributed to H-1b transfers (moving from one employer to another) or amended LCA’s (when there is a change in job site).

Form No.	Title	Current Fee	New Fee Effective 11/23/10
I-129/I129CW	Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker	$320	$325
I-539	Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status	$300	$290 *Fee reduction
I-765	Application for Employment Authorization	$340	$380
I-140	Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker	$475	$580
I-485	Application for Adjustment of Status	$1010	$1070
I-907	Request for Premium Processing	$1000	$1225

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The USCIS has indicated that they are getting more than 300 expedite requests a day to expedite Employment Authorization Documents (EAD). Earlier this month, the USCIS recognized that EAD’s were taking longer than usual, so they implemented an expedite process in two situations:

1. If the I-765 application has been pending more than seventy-five days; or
2. If the I-765 application has been pending for more than sixty days, the current EAD will expire within the next two weeks, AND the individual will lose their job (a leave of absence not considered a loss of the job).

The USCIS has said the numerous expedite requests has caused a delay for all the applications that are in the system.

Has your EAD renewal been pending more than 60 days? More than 75 days? Will you be left without work authorization? If so, don’t fear. There is a solution available. The Nebraska Service Center has finally recognized that processing times for EAD and AP renewals have exceeded past processing times, often leaving applicants without valid work authorization. The NSC in conjunction with the American Immigration Lawyers Association has released a way to expedite the processing times. If your case has been pending more than 60 days and you would like assistance with placing an expedite request, please contact an HLG attorney for assistance.

The Department of Homeland Security has just released the Immigration Statistics Yearbook for 2009 which shows that a total of 1,130,818 people received permanent residence in 2009. The largest number was in the 20 to 34 year age group (141,060 people), followed by the 25 to 29 year old age group (136,807 people). 58% were married, 27% were single, and the remaining were widowed, divorced or separated.

Comparison by path to permanent residence:
535,554 were immediate relatives of U.S. citizens
211,859 were family-sponsored preference categories
144,034 were employment based categories
the remaining were diversity lottery, refugees and asylees, or other categories

Comparison by employment category:
40,924 were for 1st preference category
45,552 were for 2nd preference category
40,398 were for 3rd preference category
the remaining were for the 4th and 5th preference categories

Comparison by country for employment-based:
20,264 were for India
14,147 were for South Korea
11,295 were for China, People’s Republic
8,660 were for Mexico
8,516 were for the Philippines

The number of people who became permanent residents in 2009 was the second highest in the last 18 years — only 2006 had a higher number with 1,266,129 as compared to 1,130,818 in 2009. However, the number of those who obtained permanent residence through employment in 2009 was lower than many previous years. Only 44,336 obtained permanent residence in the 2nd preference category as compared to 68,832 in 2008 while the number of people who obtained permanent residence in the 3rd preference employment category was 1/2 or 1/3 of what it has been in most previous years in the past decade.

Comparison of 3rd preference employment to previous years:
33,525 in 2009
38,981 in 2008
62,642 in 2007
60,390 in 2006
109,713 in 2005 (due to legislation for Schedule A workers)
65,875 in 2004
26,962 in 2003

Interestingly, the Department of Homeland Security did not disclose how many people received permanent residence in the “Schedule A” category. The agency designated it as “D – Data withheld to limit disclosure”.

The Department of State Visa Bulletin for immigrant visa numbers moved slightly this month. The April Visa Bulletin (which takes effect April 1st) shows movement of about 1 1/2 months for the third preference categories for Philippines, China and worldwide category and slightly more than 2 months movement for India.

Based upon earlier projections from the State Department for this year, the third preference for the Philippines and worldwide category is expected to make a two-year jump before the end of this fiscal year (October 1st), to move forward with cases with priority dates in the range of April to August 2005. The third preference category for China and India is on pace to move only 5 more months before the end of this fiscal year, based upon Department of State projections.