Cruz Law, PLLC

Dedicated representation, personal service and quality results

USCIS accepting H-1B Visa’s for 2013

On April 2, 2012, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) began accepting petitions for H-1B nonimmigrant visas for Fiscal Year 2013.  The USCIS has already received 17,400 H-1B applications toward the annual cap of 65,000.  It has also received 8,200 petitions toward the 20,000 cap for exempt applicants with advanced degrees.

Last year, the H-1B visa cap was not met until November 22, 2011.  However, early filing projections suggest bigger volumes and that the cap may be met sooner than last year.

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New information on home sales and foreclosure

Seattle Bubble reports on the latest Foreclosure numbers for March and it appears that there is a surge.

While it appears that home sales are up 6% from last March in King County and down in Snohomish County.  In both counties, the number of Foreclosures (measured by the Notices of Trustee Sales) has risen during the month of March 2012 compared to February 2012.

For those going through Foreclosure or the Pre-Foreclosure process, the state of Washington has a mediation program for which homeowners may qualify.

Amendments to Foreclosure Fairness Act

Recently I attended a CLE which addressed the changes to the Foreclosure Fairness Act to take place in June 2012.

One of the trends that housing advocates see is the unfortunate realization that delinquencies will continue to increase. As a result, there will be more mediations between homeowners and lenders.

In addition, there will be an increase in short sales, loan modifications and deed in lieu of foreclosure. Also, there will be an increase in litigation resulting out of trustee misconduct and loan modification scams.

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