U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services - With a partial government shutdown still potentially imminent, here is an overview of the potential impacts on employers and business immigration services....more
As part of the Biden Administration’s initiative to retain high-skilled foreign nationals in the United States, the Department of Homeland Security announced that it is adding eight new fields as qualifying fields of study...more
Effective January 21, 2022, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security updated and expanded the list of STEM fields of study falling within the regulatory definition of “STEM field.” The list, known as the “DHS Stem Designated...more
On July 14, 2020, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a division of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), rescinded its July 6, 2020 policy prohibiting F-1 and M-1 students from remaining in the U.S. to...more
On July 14, 2020, the Trump administration agreed to rescind a July 6, 2020, directive that planned to bar foreign students from the United States if their colleges canceled in-person instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic....more
In a rare reversal, minutes from the start of a federal court hearing in a lawsuit brought by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) against the US government, the Department of Homeland...more
The Trump administration, in response to a lawsuit filed by Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as several other suits, agreed to rescind its surprise Immigration and Customs Enforcement...more
National universities and states across the country filed multiple federal lawsuits this week seeking to invalidate and enjoin implementation of the Student and Exchange Visitor Program’s (SEVP) Fall 2020 COVID-19 Guidance,...more
After facing a number of lawsuits filed by some U.S. universities and states, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has agreed to rescind the policy change announced July 6, 2020 that rolled back some of the temporary...more
On July 6, 2020, the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (“SEVP”) announced a series of changes for the Fall 2020 semester that will rollback accommodations made in response to the COVID-19 pandemic with regard to F-1/M-1...more
The Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) has created a STEM Designated Degree Program list, which includes the fields of study that the Department of Homeland Security considers to be science, technology, engineering...more
The U.S. government never gives without getting something in return, and the same is true with the new STEM 24-month, Optional Practical Training (OPT) Program. On March 11, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published...more
Effective May 29, 2015, the Department of Homeland Security will amend its regulations under the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP). The change will (1) eliminate existing limits on the maximum number of designated...more
In light of both a recent Government Accountability Office report on the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Optional Practical Training (OPT) program as well as the newly-launched Student and Exchange Visitor Program...more