With Congress deadlocked on passing needed budget legislation, it is looking increasingly likely that there will be a federal government shutdown at midnight on September 30, 2023. The shutdown will affect some federal...more
As June comes to a close, employers of the lucky foreign nationals selected in the FY2024 H-1B lottery are working to file their H-1B petitions by the June 30, 2023, deadline. This year, the United States Citizenship and...more
Earlier this month, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, proposing to increase the filing fees for certain immigration and naturalization benefit requests, with...more
While U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) made clear that it would not be increasing the $2,500 premium processing fee in its latest round of proposed fee increases, the agency announced on January 12 its final...more
The FY2022 H-1B cap season is now underway. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) adopted the same H-1B registration process as was used last year. Before filing a cap-subject H-1B petition, USCIS requires that...more
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently announced updates to this year’s H-1B cap selection process. The government’s H-1B electronic registration process will open at noon EST on March 9, 2021, and will...more
On February 2, 2021, Alejandro Mayorkas was confirmed as the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the Biden administration then issued three immigration-related executive orders. This is the start of...more
H-1B Cap Selection Process -
On January 8, 2021, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a final rule modifying the H-1B cap selection process. This rule changes the H-1B cap selection process by...more
On October 29, 2020, the U.S. Department of State (DOS) issued the November Visa Bulletin. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) confirmed that it will use the “Dates for Filing” chart. For employment-based visa...more
October Visa Bulletin Released -
On September 24, 2020, the U.S. Department of State (DOS) issued the highly anticipated October Visa Bulletin. October 1, 2020, marks the beginning of the U.S. government’s new fiscal year....more
Business immigration in the United States continues the roller coaster ride of the last six months. With the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. immigration has been subjected to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) office...more
On April 22, 2020, President Trump signed an Executive Order (“Proclamation Suspending Entry of Immigrants Who Present Risk to the U.S. Labor Market During the Economic Recovery Following the COVID-19 Outbreak”) temporarily...more
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Labor (DOL) sent a flurry of operational updates late last week. ...more
Since our last update a week ago, additional and significant immigration developments have taken place in the U.S. and around the world and continue to change. With such fluidity of country and border closures, closures of...more
As additional countries — including the U.S. — close their borders to limit the spread of COVID-19 across country lines, employers in the U.S. and abroad are quickly needing to shift gears as complications arise from...more
Visa issuance fees and validity periods are set based on reciprocity. If a country charges U.S. citizens $50 to receive a visa, then the U.S. will charge citizens of that country a similar amount for a U.S. visa. In 2017,...more
Background -
Visa issuance fees and validity periods are set based on reciprocity – that is, if one country charges U.S. citizens $50 to receive a visa, then the U.S. will charge citizens of that country a similar amount...more
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will implement the H-1B electronic registration process for the FY2021 H-1B cap season, according to its December 6, 2019 announcement. The registration period will...more
Significant changes are expected for the upcoming H-1B cap process in 2020. With the holiday season quickly approaching, this is the time for employers to review their H-1B cap cases and processes to determine what internal...more
A revised version of Form I-539 that includes a biometrics requirement will be published on March 11, 2019. Use of the new form will be mandatory as of that day, USCIS announced February 11, 2019.
Form I-539 is used to...more
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will resume premium processing for H-1B cap petitions that were filed in the first five business days of April 2018, the federal agency announced January 25.
This will...more
More change, more scrutiny, more denials and more backlogs – this sums up 2018 in the immigration and global mobility field. As will be highlighted below, the Trump administration continued to radically alter established U.S....more
12/31/2018
/ DACA ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employment Authorization Documents (EAD) ,
F-1 Visa ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Form I-9 ,
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ,
Government Shutdown ,
H-1B ,
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ,
Temporary Protected Status ,
Trump Administration ,
UK Brexit ,
USCIS
Technology companies, including IT consulting companies, IT service providers and software designers, seek to employ the best and the brightest IT professionals to keep IT systems secure and to deliver innovative solutions....more
11/16/2018
/ F-1 Visa ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Foreign Workers ,
Green Cards ,
H-1B ,
Highly-Skilled Workers Visa ,
I-485 Applications ,
Immigrants ,
Immigration Procedures ,
L-1 Visas ,
OPT ,
STEM ,
USCIS ,
Visas
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently issued two policy memoranda that will affect all immigration petitions filed with the agency. While implementation of the policies is still unclear,...more
Health care organizations of all types, including hospitals, health systems, insurers, pharmaceutical companies and research universities, seek to employ the best and the brightest to deliver quality care and pursue the...more