President Biden announced that a new process will take effect in late August permitting certain noncitizen spouses of U.S. citizens to apply for lawful permanent resident status (green card status) without having to depart...more
On April 1, 2024, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it had reached the annual quota of 85,000 cap beneficiaries in the initial registration period for employment in FY 2025. USCIS has...more
On Monday, March 25 at Noon EDT, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) closed the initial H-1B registration period. The agency stated that it will soon randomly select enough unique beneficiaries of...more
On August 1, 2023, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that they selected a total of 188,400 H-1B cap registrations to reach the annual 85,000 quota. In March 2023, the agency first selected...more
Employers are required to use the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Employment Eligibility Verification (Form I-9) to verify the identity and employment authorization for...more
8/7/2023
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E-Verify ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Eligibility Verification ,
Foreign Workers ,
Form I-9 ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Immigrants ,
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ,
Required Forms ,
USCIS
On June 28, 2023, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) introduced a new online Biometrics Appointment Rescheduling tool, which allows immigration benefits applicants and their attorneys to reschedule biometrics...more
Starting on November 1, 2022, employers verifying their employees’ identity and employment authorization eligibility must use the new I-9 Form version....more
This week, the U.S. State Department has announced that the dates for this year’s Diversity Visa (DV) Lottery filings will officially open on Wednesday, October 5, 2022 at 12:00 p.m. EDT, with the entry period closing on...more
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) announced on May 7, 2022, that it had selected this year’s Diversity Lottery (DV 2023) applicants. Since the DOS does not notify winners, entrants who submitted within the mandatory time...more
On November 19, U.S. Citizenship Services (USCIS) announced it had completed a third H-1B lottery selection for the fiscal year 2022 cap. This is the third H-1B lottery selection this year. USCIS allows for 85,000 H1-B...more
11/23/2021
/ Filing Deadlines ,
Filing Fees ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Foreign Workers ,
H-1B ,
Highly-Skilled Workers Visa ,
Immigrants ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Lottery ,
USCIS ,
Visa Caps ,
Visas
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is expected to release new guidelines for employment authorization which will affect H-4 and L-2 spouses resulting from a settlement agreement reached in a federal court...more
Congress has mandated that in a given calendar year, 140,000 employment-based green cards will be awarded to companies sponsoring foreign nationals for permanent employment in the United States. This mandate is effective on...more
8/26/2021
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EB-2 ,
EB-3 ,
EB-4 ,
EB-5 ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Foreign Workers ,
Green Cards ,
Immigrants ,
Popular ,
Visas
On the latest Law Brief® episode, Immigration Partner Roxanne Levine joins Partner and Host Rich Schoenstein to delve into the new administration’s approach to U.S. immigration policy in 2021. They explore the impact of the...more
4/15/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Diversity Lottery ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Foreign Workers ,
Green Cards ,
Immigrants ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Immigration Reform ,
Path To Citizenship ,
Travel Restrictions ,
Visas
An executive order further limiting entry for nonimmigrant workers in H-1B, H-2B, L-1 and J-1 status (and their dependents) will take effect on June 24, 2020, at 12:01 am and will remain in effect through December 31,...more
Premium processing, the vehicle utilized by many U.S. petitioners filing for nonimmigrant and immigrant-based benefits, is being resumed by U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS) with a phased-in approach commencing...more
Commencing May 1, 2020, employers verifying identity and employment authorization for their employees must use the October 21, 2019 edition of Form I-9: Employment Eligibility Verification. All U.S. employers must properly...more
On April 22, 2020, an Executive Order entitled "Proclamation Suspending Entry of Immigrants Who Present Risk to the U.S. Labor Market During the Economic Recovery Following the COVID-19 Outbreak," outlined a 60-day pause for...more
New regulations proposed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are slated to take effect for the 2021 H-1B cap filing period, which starts on April 1, 2020.
Proposed in January 2019, the new regulations mandate that...more
The Public Charge Rule, which had been scheduled to be implemented on October 15, 2019, was halted by U.S. District Courts in New York, California and Washington state late last week.
The preliminary injunctions issued in...more
On Friday, October 4, President Trump issued an unexpected proclamation ordering consular officials to bar immigrants seeking to live in the United States unless they "will be covered by approved health insurance" or can...more
On October 2, this year's Diversity Lottery Registration Program (DV lottery) becomes available to applicants from eligible countries. You can enter the DV lottery here. Entries can only be submitted electronically. All...more
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released its final rules for public inspection, vastly constricting the number of immigrants who might be deemed eligible for lawful permanent residence.
As previously...more
On June 17, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced it is embarking upon a strategy to decrease processing times based on location for applications for U.S. citizenship and applications for adjustment of...more
The U.S. Department of State has added a new social media question to its immigrant and nonimmigrant visa application forms.
Effective June 1, applicants filling out Forms DS-160 and DS-260 must provide the government with...more
On April 5, USCIS announced that it has received a sufficient number of H-1B petitions to meet the Congressionally mandated 65,000 H-1B regular "bachelor's degree" cap cases for this fiscal year.
USCIS will next determine...more