Labor Immigration Law

Our firm handles a fair amount of appeals with the Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) and we often receive inquiries not only about about the procedural aspects of an AAO appeal but also about the current processing times for AAO cases.

About the AAO

As a short preliminary background matter, the AAO is an appeals office which handles appeals of certain decisions made by USCIS field offices and regional procssing centers.  The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requires that all AAO decisions be made available to the public.  As a result, AAO decisions are accessible in reading rooms at USCIS headquarters here in Washington, DC and at field offices.  Also, some (but not all) AAO decisions are available online.

Current AAO Processing Times

USCIS has released the average processing times for cases pending at the Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) as of May 1, 2009.

Among the most notable AAO processing times:

• H-1B appeal takes 15 months (compared to 13 months when last reported in March 2009);
• I-140 EB1 Extraordinary Ability takes 10 months, Multinational Manager or Executive takes 9 months while EB1 Outstanding Professor or Researcher category is current (meaning less than 6 months);
• I-140 EB2 (Advanced Degree) takes 24 months (compared to 21 months in March 2009) while EB2 (NIW) is current (meaning less than 6 months); and
• I-140 EB3 Skilled Worker takes 21 months (compared to 20 months in March 2009) while EB3 Other Worker takes 16 months (compared to 22 months in March 2009) on appeal.

Read the full AAO Processing Times report.

We have received some inquiries about transfers of I-140s from the Texas Service Center (TSC) to the Nebraska Service Center (NSC).  There also seems to be some discussion on various Internet discussion boards as to what is the reason behind this transfer.

The NSC Liaison has confirmed that TSC transferred a number of standalone I-140s to NSC in order to help achieve the target 4-month processing time.

USCIS released updated information on the numbers of cap-subject H-1Bs filed since April 1.  As of Monday, May 4, USCIS has received approximately 45,000 H-1B petitions counting toward the 65,000 cap.   USCIS will continue to accept petitions subject to the general cap.   Additionally, USCIS has received approximately 20,000 petitions for aliens with advanced degrees; however, it will continue to accept advanced degree petitions since experience has shown that not all petitions received are approvable.

The numbers, as of May 4th, indicate that there were less than 1,000 H-1B regular cap applications filed for the period between April 27th and May 4th.