An electronic news service for international students and scholars, owned by the Office of International Student and Scholar Services at Binghamton University, State University of New York

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Editor's Note: Next Monday, May 29, 2006 is Memorial Day, a U.S. Federal holiday. All University offices and facilities will be closed. Locally, district schools are not in session, and banks and post offices are also closed.

ISSS-BU News will not publish on May 29, 2006. The next edition will be on June 5, 2006.

CONTENTS:

1. Photos From the International Student Graduation Reception Now Posted
2. Fifty-Sixth Annual BU Commencement Held This Weekend
3. No International Coffee Hours This Summer
4. USCIS Announces Latest H-1B Cap Count

1. Photos From the International Student Graduation Reception Now Posted

Photos from the Saturday, May 13 th International Student Graduation Reception have now been posted to the ISSS website. They may be viewed from the ISSS home page, http://isss.binghamton.edu
The direct link is http://isss.binghamton.edu/prog/GraduationReception2006/index.html

2. Fifty-Sixth Annual BU Commencement Held This Weekend

Congratulations to the more than 3,600 Binghamton University students who received their degrees at Saturday and Sunday's commencement exercises at the Events Center. 820 doctoral and master's degrees were conferred, along with more than 2800 bachelor's degrees.

3. No International Coffee Hours This Summer

ISSS-BU News reminds our readers that the monthly international coffee hours are suspended for the months of June, July and August and will resume in September. The Office of International Student and Scholar Services looks forward to welcoming everyone back to the first coffee hour of the Fall semester, which will take place on Friday, September 1 in the Old Union Hall.

4. USCIS Announces Latest H-1B Cap Count

Since April 1, 2006, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has been processing applications for H-1B status with starting dates of October 1, 2006 or later. The H-1B visa allows foreign nationals with bachelor degrees or higher to be employed in professional positions for which they have the appropriate training and experience. Most positions are subject to an annual cap of 65,000. Examples of positions not subject to the cap include those at U.S. colleges and universities. An additional 20,000 H-1B visas are made available to those with Master's degrees or higher from U.S. institutions.

USCIS is maintaining a web page that provides the latest information on the number of H-1B applications available for the 2007 federal fiscal year, October 1, 2006 – September 30, 2007. The link is: http://www.uscis.gov/graphics/services/tempbenefits/cap.htm

The latest USCIS H1B cap update, issued May 16, 2006, shows that 39,445 standard H-1B applications have already been filed. An additional 5,048 applications have been filed by those with advanced degrees from U.S. institutions.

If this filing rate continues, both the standard H1B cap and the advanced degree cap for the entire federal fiscal year could be met well before the federal fiscal year even begins. Immigration attorneys are urging any person who is eligible for H-1B to have their employers file as soon as possible to avoid missing the cap and then having to wait until October 1, 2007 to work in H1B status in the United States.

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