What benefits are available under AC21 to aliens with Immigrant petitions/adjustment applications?
A14: First, 104 of AC21 lifts the per-country limits on employment-based immigrant visa numbers if the total number of visas available during a calendar quarter exceeds the number used. The Department of State is charged with issuance of these visas and maintenance of priority dates and availability. This issue will not be addressed in INS regulations. Where the country caps delay an alien’s immigration notwithstanding this provision, AC21 also provides for an extension of H-1B status until the alien’s adjustment of status application can be processed and a decision made. Finally, AC21 gives extensions of H-1B status in one-year increments to H-1B aliens who have an employment-based immigrant visa petition or application for adjustment of status pending if It has been more than 365 days since the visa petition or the labor certification application has been filed. Note that the adjustment application, labor certification, or visa petition need not necessarily have been pending for a ye
