Republican Senator John Cornyn introduced a bill on the Senate floor Tuesday that would create 55,000 visas for graduates of STEM advanced degree programs with qualifying job offers. The bill would not add to the number of immigrant visas issued each year, but would reallocate the 55,000 visas dedicated to the Diversity Visa Lottery. Supporters of the bill argue that the new program would promote economic growth by encouraging a set of highly educated people to remain in the U.S. The bill would also allow for certain people entering U.S. graduate programs (Masters and Ph.D.) in STEM fields to qualify for “dual-intent.” This would mean that they would be in lawful nonimmigrant status, while also pursuing their permanent residence.

For more information about the proposed legislation, see Senator Cornyn’s official press release, or read the bill here.

In a press release issued Friday, the Department of Homeland Security announced that it has extended the list of approved degree programs that qualify for the STEM optional practical training extension. STEM refers to designated degrees in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and math, which qualify graduates for an extra 17 months of OPT beyond the 12 months allowed all foreign students upon graduation from a U.S. university. The list has been expanded to include graduates in pharmaceutical sciences, econometrics, and quantitative economics, among other things.

The STEM program was created to help attract the world’s brightest scholars, and encourage economic and technological development in the United States. For a complete list of STEM degree programs, please see the list issued by SEVIS.

USCIS has updated the count of cap eligible petitions for H-1B visas in the 2013 fiscal year. As of May 11, USCIS had received 36,700 out of 65,000 cap eligible petitions. USCIS also reported that it had received 14,800 petitions eligible for the Master’s cap exemption of 20,000 visas. For more information, please visit the USCIS website.

The White House released a press statement Thursday articulating the importance of international tourism in the U.S. economy. The administration reported that revenue from international tourism, goods, and services in the United States in 2011 rose more than 8% from 2010. The total spending of international visitors to the U.S. last year is estimated at around $153 billion, and the total number of international tourists has consistently been on the rise for several months now.

The Obama Administration took this opportunity to stress its dedication to promoting an increase in the U.S. tourism industry, which supports more than 7.6 million jobs in this country. The White House announced several initiatives, including the National Travel and Tourism Strategy, aimed at bolstering both international and domestic travel in the United States. The administration also hopes to encourage tourism in local areas that have traditionally received fewer visitors.

An important component of the President’s strategy is to encourage improvements in the Visa Waiver Program and visa interview processes. Improvements in these areas would simplify travel for many foreign travelers, and make the United States a more attractive tourist destination internationally.

For more details relating to the Obama Administration’s new tourism initiative, please refer to the official White House press release.

The U.S. Department of States has officially released its June 2012 Visa Bulletin. As projected, visa numbers in the EB2 category from India and Mainland China have become unavailable. The designation “unavailable” indicates that no visas will be issued to applicants holding EB2 priority dates until such time as new numbers become available. As previously mentioned, all cases filed prior to the retrogression of priority dates will remain pending until the dates again become current and processing can continue.

The Court will examine four sections of the law that have been prevented from taking effect by an injunction issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9^th Circuit. The enjoined sections: (1) allow state law enforcement officials to ask anyone to verify their immigration status after a stop, arrest, or detention if there is “reasonable suspicion” that the person is unlawfully present in this country; (2) allow state law enforcement officials to arrest individuals without a warrant if there is probable cause to suggest that the person has done something that would make him or her removable from the United States; (3) make it a state crime for a person to be unlawfully present in the United States; and (4) make it a state crime for anyone who is not lawfully present in the U.S. to seek employment in this country.

While oral arguments were presented before eight of the nine justices Wednesday (Justice Elena Kagan removed herself from the proceedings due to a conflict of interest), the Court will not release its decision in Arizona v. the United States for several months. However it is decided, this case will set an important precedent for U.S. immigration law and is likely have a great impact on the future of immigration enforcement in the United States.

The Department of State has confirmed with officials from the American Immigration Lawyers Association that the employment based second preference visa limit has been reached for the 2012 fiscal year for immigrants chargeable to India or Mainland China. This means that no further visa numbers are available and no visas will be issued to members of this category until further notice. Officials are hopeful that they will be able to correct EB2 priority date retrogression for these chargeable areas as soon as possible after the start of the new fiscal year in October. In the mean time, USCIS will continue to accept applications based upon the cut-off dates published in the April and May 2012 Visa Bulletins. These applications will remain pending until visa numbers become available and processing can again move forward.

USCIS has released and updated count of the FY2013 H-1B cap. Please visit the USCIS website for more information.

USCIS has updated the FY2013 H-1B cap count. As of April 13, 2012, USCIS had issued receipts to 20,600 H-1B cap-subject applications . This number includes applications that are approved or remain pending, but does not include applications that have already been denied. USCIS has also receipted 9,700 H-1B petitions eligible for the Masters cap exemption. For more information, please visit the USCIS website.

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services has released a count of the cap subject H1B applications that it has received for the fiscal year 2013. H1B application season for FY2013 opened on April 2, and already USCIS is reporting 17,400 applications–more than 25% of the yearly quota–have been filed. For more information on the FY2013 H1B count, please see the USCIS website.