U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently updated employers and immigration practitioners regarding important dates to keep in mind regarding the upcoming H-1B registration for the upcoming H-1B lottery. This...more
2/26/2024
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Foreign Workers ,
H-1B ,
Highly-Skilled Workers Visa ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Immigrants ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Lottery ,
USCIS ,
Visa Caps ,
Visas
For the first time in two decades, a limited number of eligible H-1B workers are now able to apply to renew their visas without having to leave the United States. Starting January 29, 2024, the U.S. Department of State’s...more
What employers are going through today is something that hasn’t been seen in more than a century. To stem the tide of a global pandemic, more and more state and local governments are entering “Stay at Home” or “Shelter in...more
On January 31, 2019, the Department of Homeland Security announced two major changes to the H-1B program. Under the final rule, which takes effect April 1, 2019, employers seeking to file H-1B petitions will now be required...more
Over the last few months, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have unabashedly and repeatedly stated that is the current administration’s intent to rescind employment...more
It’s hard to believe that H-1B season is around the corner! United States Citizenship & Immigration Services (“USCIS”) will start accepting new H-1B petitions for fiscal year 2019 on Monday, April 2, 2018. As such, employers...more
Today, after receiving 199,000 petitions, United States Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it conducted its lottery (a computer-generated random selection process) on April 11 to select the H-1B...more
United States Citizenship & Immigration Services (“USCIS”) announced Friday that it had reached the congressionally mandated H-1B cap for fiscal year 2018. ...more
As a reminder to all U.S. employers, H-1B season is around the corner! United States Citizenship & Immigration Services (“USCIS”) will start accepting new H-1B petitions for fiscal year 2018 on Saturday, April 1, 2017. As...more
When President Barack Obama unveiled his Immigration Accountability Executive Actions in 2014, a measure supported by the National Association of Manufacturers, the media was focused on how the current administration’s...more
On July 8, 2016, U.S. Immigration & Citizenship Services (“USCIS”) announced that it had returned all unselected H-1B cap-subject petitions for fiscal year 2017 not selected by its lottery....more
On May 2, 2016, U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) notified stakeholders and the public that it completed data entry of all fiscal year 2017 H-1B cap-subject petitions selected by its random computer-generated...more
As many have noticed, the processing of H-1B extensions at the California Service Center and Vermont Service Center continue to be extremely slow, and the backlog is causing significant hardships for those affected...more
As a reminder to all U.S. employers, H-1B season is almost here! United States Citizenship & Immigration Services (“USCIS”) will start accepting new H-1B petitions for fiscal year 2017 on Friday, April 1, 2016. As such,...more
The optional practical training (OPT) program allows students here on an F-1 visa (who have either graduated or been pursuing a degree for 9 months) to work in their chosen field of study for one year. In 2008, the U.S....more
10/20/2015
/ Accreditation ,
Comment Period ,
Department of Education ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
E-Verify ,
Federal Register ,
Form F-1 ,
H-1B ,
Immigration Procedures ,
OPT ,
Proposed Legislation ,
STEM ,
Visa Caps ,
Visas
On August 12, 2015, Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia dealt a blow to employers by vacating the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) 2008 interim rule expanding the...more
8/19/2015
/ AFL-CIO ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
E-Verify ,
Employment Authorization Documents (EAD) ,
Form F-1 ,
H-1B ,
Hiring & Firing ,
OPT ,
Popular ,
Stays ,
STEM ,
USCIS
Most business immigration practitioners tell H-1B employers an amended or new H-1B petition, along with a corresponding Labor Condition Application (LCA), is required whenever there is a material change in the terms and...more
Today, after receiving nearly 233,000 petitions, United States Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it conducted its lottery (a computer-generated random selection process) to select the H-1B petitions...more
United States Citizenship & Immigration Services (“USCIS”) announced today that it has reached the congressionally mandated H-1B cap for fiscal year 2016....more
Last Thursday, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed an emergency motion with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to lift a preliminary injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen last month in lawsuit filed by...more
To obtain an H-1B visa, a petitioner must demonstrate that the proposed position it intends for the beneficiary to fill qualifies as a specialty occupation and that the beneficiary is qualified for that position. As defined...more
To obtain an H-1B visa, a petitioner must establish that it will have an employment relationship with the beneficiary. While this seems like a very simple and easy enough thing to do, the problem is that in an employment...more
While many immigration practitioners wait anxiously for a resolution to the judicial challenges faced by DAPA and expanded DACA, others let out a sigh of relief at the announcement made today by U.S. Citizenship and...more
As a reminder to all U.S. employers, H-1B season is on the horizon! United States Citizenship & Immigration Services (“USCIS”) will start accepting new H-1B petitions for fiscal year 2016 on Wednesday, April 1, 2015. As such,...more