News

USCIS SETTLES LAWSUIT WHICH SHOULD STREAMLINE EADS FOR H-4 AND L-2 DERIVATIVES In a recently signed settlement, USCIS agrees to return to bundling the adjudication of I-539s and I-756s for H-4 and L-2 derivative along with the underlying I-129 petition when these forms are filed together. Prior...

FEBRUARY 2023 VISA BULLETIN Next month, EB-1 India and China will maintain their Final Action cutoff date of February 1, 2022 and their Dates of Filing cutoff date of June 1, 2022. EB-2 India Final Action date stays at October 8, 2011. The EB-2 India Dates for Filing cutoff will remain at May 1,...

USCIS RELEASES PROPOSED FEE INCREASES FOR MULITPLE FORMS TO OFFSET COST OF ASLYUM ADJUDICATION U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services published a proposal last week of certain fee increases that they intend to implement as a way to increase their ability to fund the asylum program. A fee of ...

USCIS ISSUES PROPOSED RULE FOR FEE CHANGE FOR CERTAIN APPLICATIONS In an attempt to “fully recover its operating costs, reestablish and maintain timely case processing, and prevent the accumulation of future case backlogs,” USCIS has proposed a fee increase on certain nonimmigrant worker petitio...

    E-VERIFY RENEWS ABILITY FOR EMPLOYERS TO SIMULTANEOUSLY UPLOAD MULTIPLE HIRING SITES   E-Verify has restored the ability for employers, employer agents, and corporate administrators to upload multiple hiring sites simultaneously. This feature will allow increased efficiency for ...

DHS PUBLIC CHARGE FINAL RULE GOES INTO EFFECT DECEMBER 23, 2022 On December 23, 2022, the Department of Homeland Security's Public Charge Ground of Inadmissibility rule will go into effect. The rule attempts to provide “clarity and consistency for noncitizens on how DHS will administer the publi...

USCIS ANNOUNCES TRIAL OF NEW VERSION OF THE NATURALIZATION TEST The citizenship test for naturalization consists of two parts, an English test that evaluates an applicants ability to read, write and speak, and a civics test that assesses the applicant's knowledge of U.S. government and history....

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SET TO VOTE ON EAGLE ACT NEXT WEEK The Equal Access to Green Cards for Legal Employment Act of 2022 has received bipartisan support and is scheduled to be voted on soon. The Act aims to eliminate per-country limits on employment-based green cards, raise annual limits on...

USCIS ANNOUNCES WORK AUTHORIZATION INCIDENT TO PAROLE STATUS FOR CERTAIN AFGHAN AND UKRAINIAN PAROLEES As of November 21, 2022, USCIS is providing employment authorization incident to status and a no-fee initial employment authorization document to parolees from Afghanistan and Ukraine, in an a...

CHILD STATUS PROTECTION ACT MAY OFFER HOPE TO DEPENDENTS AGING OUT OF GREEN CARD ELIGIBILITY With the employment-based priority dates for EB-2 and EB-3 nationals from India and China in retrogression, the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA) may provide some protection to dependents who turn twent...

AS ELON MUSK LAYS OFF HALF OF ALL TWITTER EMPLOYEES, H-1B AND L-1 WORKERS ARE LEFT IN LIMBO US-based tech companies hire a significant number of H-1B workers and many are considered “H-1B dependent” which means that a notable portion of their workforce is in the country on an employment-related ...

BIG TECH PUSHES FOR ADDITIONAL IMMIGRATION PROTOCOL TO BE ADDED TO THE CHIPS AND SCIENCE ACT IN THE NAME OF NATIONAL SECURITY Three months ago, Congress passed the Chips and Science Act, which aims to attract foreign STEM workers to the United States to help reinvest in the domestic manufacturin...

USCIS EXTENDS COVID-19 RELATED FLEXIBILITY On October 24th, USCIS issued a renewed automatic extension of 60 days to the due date of several types of requests and notices. This extension applies to Requests for Evidence, Continuations to Requests for Evidence, Notices of Intent to Deny, Notices...

USCIS ISSUES POLICY ALERT FOR L-1 INTRACOMPANY TRANSFEREES Updates on eligibility requirements, filing, documentation and evidence, and adjudication procedures for L-1 visa petitions can be found in the recent policy guidance provided by USCIS. For L-1A visas, the employee must be performing ma...

DHS EXTENDS I-9 FLEXIBILITY THROUGH JULY 2023 AND SAYS EMPLOYERS SHOULD CONTINUE USING CURRENT I-9 FORM EVEN AFTER ITS EXPIRATION DATE OF OCTOBER 31, 2022 UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE Form I-9 is used to verify the identity and employment authorization for both citizens and noncitizens who are hired to ...

Welcome to the second edition of our Weekly Immigration News Newsletter! Published every Friday, we will provide you with the most important breaking news and keep you up to date with current U.S. and global immigration policy updates.

H-1B EMPLOYER COMPLIANCE TIPS FOR LCA AND PAF AUDITS Employers who hire H-1B workers are subject to many regulatory obligations. For example, the employer must continue to pay the H- IB worker the required wage rate throughout the entirety of the period of validity of the LCA. If the required wa...

We are excited to announce the launch of our Weekly Immigration News Newsletter! Published every Friday, we will provide you with the most pertinent breaking news and keep you up to date with current U.S. and global immigration policy updates.

On June 24, 2022, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ordered a nationwide preliminary injunction thus allowing RCs to immediately accept new investors as of the date of the decision. The judge ruled that USCIS may not deauthorize the previously valid RCs and those centers must be allowed to continue their operations in accordance with the RIA. Moreover, Form I-526 petitions from immigrants investing in RCs should resume processing.

The FY2023 H1B lottery result is out and will continue to come out until the end of March 2022. USCIS has published the 1st round of random lottery from the submitted petitions. The other rounds of H1B lottery Results will be updated by March 31st, 2022.

Congress has passed the “EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022” as part of its Omnibus spending legislation. Under the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Regional Center Program, individuals can apply for permanent residence if they make the necessary monetary investments and create at least 10 permanent full-time jobs for American workers.

If adequate initial evidence is not submitted with an H1-B petition or does not demonstrate eligibility, USCIS may deny the request for lack of proof or request that the evidence is provided within 12 weeks. A request for evidence will specify the evidence already provided and what is still required. There are several reasons why USCIS may issue an RFE.

The OPT Cap-Gap Extension and pending H-1B visa  A Cap-Gap extension allows an eligible F-1 OPT or STEM OPT student to continue to work on an expired OPT card so long as it expires after April 1st and an H-1B visa lottery has been selected and a non-frivolous change of status from F-1 to H-1B ha...

Denial of H-1B Visa lottery due to double filing of H-1B visa by multiple companies Can I file multiple Cap Subject H-1B visas (lottery) from multiple companies? The short answer is Yes. You can file multiple Cap Subject H-1B visas from multiple companies provided these multiple companies are n...

H-1B Registration Process 2022 The H-1B registration process requires employers to register each qualified cap subject H-1B visa beneficiary through a USCIS online portal before filing the actual petition with the USCIS. If the H-1B registration submissions exceed the statutory limits (which...