U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently asked Congress for $1.2 billion in emergency funding in order to continue operations. USCIS also intends to impose a 10 percent surcharge on new immigration...more
As employers work through issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important to evaluate the immigration considerations for employees on various work visas. Some of the most common alternatives to H-1B visas include...more
On April 11, 2018, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced the completion of its “computer-generated” random selection process used to select H-1B petitions for the congressionally-mandated cap filing...more
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently announced that beginning April 2, 2018, permanent resident cards, employment authorization document cards (EADs), and travel documents (Advance Paroles) that are...more
On December 27, 2016, the Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) —the appellate body for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)—announced a new standard for National Interest Waiver visa petitions in a precedent...more
As the 2016 presidential election approaches, election reminders abound encouraging everyone to get out and vote on November 8th. Largely focused on the importance of participation, these messages do not typically distinguish...more
The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) electronic permanent labor certification system (PERM) as we know it has been in existence for the past 10 years. This year, the Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) is expected to...more
The U.S. Department of State opened the Diversity Visa (DV) lottery registration for FY 2017 at noon eastern standard time (EST) on October 1, 2015. It will close on Tuesday, November 3, 2015, at noon (EST). The DV program...more
The U.S. Department of State reports that the statutory cap for employment-based preference categories for fiscal year (FY) 2015 has been reached. The federal government’s fiscal year runs from October 1 to September 30....more
On September 25, 2015, the U.S. Department of State (DOS) issued a revised Visa Bulletin for October 2015 that supersedes the original Bulletin dated September 9, 2015. In the current Bulletin, the dates for certain...more
The U.S. Department of State recently released its September 2015 Visa Bulletin, reflecting a significant retrogression for China and India in the employment-based Second Preference category (EB-2). The EB-2 category for...more
On August 12, 2015, in Washington Alliance of Technology Workers v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security et al., No. 14-529 (August 12, 2015), Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia...more
On Tuesday, July 21, 2015, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued its final guidance on the recent Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) decision in Matter of Simeio Solutions, LLC. Under Simeio, employers...more
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is taking extreme measures to get back all the three-year Employment Authorization Document (EAD) cards erroneously issued to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)...more