Monthly Minute | Design Patents
It's that time of year again: H-1B CAP season! The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) initial registration period for H-1B CAP will open at 12:00 p.m. ET, on March 7, 2025, and run through 12:00 p.m. ET, on...more
Welcome to the first installment of MVA’s Business Immigration Quarterly! Each quarter we will be bringing you a roundup of current trends, important issues, and interesting topics in the business immigration community. ...more
The recent changes by the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) in filing fees for certain forms, effective April 1, 2024, have continued to cause confusion for employers and individuals trying to determine the...more
Effective April 1, 2024, there will be significant changes to filing fees associated with most immigration-related applications to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The increases are partially because the...more
In back-to-back final rules published on Dec. 28, 2023, and Jan. 31, 2024, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced significant fee increases for premium processing requests and immigration benefit...more
On January 31, 2024, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a final rule in the Federal Register to adjust immigration benefit request fees, effective April 1, 2024. The agency has stated that the “[t]he...more
Many USCIS filing fees are being adjusted upward beginning on April 1, 2024. That date, of course, is particularly significant. It is the earliest date that Cap H-1Bs can be filed. The H-1B filing fee, for example, will rise...more
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has proposed historic increases to its fee schedule for immigration benefit applications. Under the proposed fee rule, the filing fee for common employment-based applications...more
It’s hard to keep up with all the recent changes to labor and employment law. While the law always seems to evolve at a rapid pace, there have been an unprecedented number of changes for the past few years — and this past...more
Just as the Biden Administration is proposing increased funding for USCIS to help reduce the agency’s backlog, USCIS is announcing future new actions to improve processing times....more
After years of outreach to USCIS, a major settlement (Shergill, et al. v. Mayorkas, 11/10/21) has forced the agency to update its policy to provide that certain H-4, E, or L-2 dependent spouses will qualify for an automatic...more
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it is experiencing delays in issuing receipt notices for some applications and petitions filed at USCIS lockboxes that are located in Chicago, Illinois,...more
On August 3, 2020, USCIS published a final rule that will significantly change forms and increase fees for certain immigration and naturalization benefit requests effective October 2, 2020. Any application, petition, or...more
Beginning October 2, 2020, U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) will be increasing its filing fees for many of the most commonly filed benefit requests. Applications or petitions postmarked on or after that date...more
Updates to USCIS Policy on New Forms, Premium Processing, and Filing Fee Increases Take Effect on October 2, 2020 - As previously reported in Epstein Becker Green’s August 2020 Immigration Alert, U.S. Citizenship and...more
As previously reported by Mintz, on August 3, 2020, USCIS issued a Final Rule which will increase USCIS filing fees. There are dramatic fee increases to many common petitions and applications; and some filing fees will be...more
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently issued its much anticipated Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy memorandum titled, “Reconsideration of the June 15, 2012 Memorandum Entitled ‘Exercising...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Employers should identify as soon as possible any current employees and employment candidates who may require H-1B work permit sponsorship before October 1, 2021, given that it is anticipated USCIS will...more