A new policy enacted by the U.S. Department of State (DOS) instructs United States consular officers to limit the issuance of visas to some Chinese citizens as part of the administration’s measures to address China’s alleged...more
On May 10, 2018, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a policy memorandum changing the way the agency will calculate the accrual of unlawful presence for students (F-1), exchange visitors (J-1), and...more
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has taken the first step on its path to rescinding the International Entrepreneur Rule (IER), a program that allows qualifying foreign entrepreneurs an opportunity to stay in the...more
Beginning April 30, 2018, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) started phasing in the use of the U.S. Postal Service’s (USPS) Signature Confirmation Restricted Delivery service to mail permanent residency...more
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) launched a modernized version of E-Verify on April 23, 2018. The changes are a result of feedback from E-Verify users and are intended to enhance the employment eligibility...more
From April 30, 2018 to October 31, 2018, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) California Service Center (CSC) are conducting a joint pilot program that affects the...more
On April 25, 2018, the Supreme Court of the United States heard oral argument on the legality of President Trump’s Presidential Proclamation issued on September 24, 2017, the administration’s third iteration of the travel...more
On April 11, 2018, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced the completion of its “computer-generated” random selection process used to select H-1B petitions for the congressionally-mandated cap filing...more
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently announced that beginning April 2, 2018, permanent resident cards, employment authorization document cards (EADs), and travel documents (Advance Paroles) that are...more
On August 25, 2017, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) confirmed that, as part of President Trump’s “extreme vetting” directives, potential legal immigrant workers will be required to undergo in-person...more
On October 20, 2016, the Department of Homeland Security issued a final rule requiring travelers holding People’s Republic of China (PRC) passports with B-1, B-2, or 10-year B-1/B-2 visas to enroll in the Electronic Visa...more
On October 24, 2016, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a final rule increasing filing fees associated with a significant number of immigration applications. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)...more
The U.S. Department of State opened the Diversity Visa (DV) lottery registration for FY 2017 at noon eastern standard time (EST) on October 1, 2015. It will close on Tuesday, November 3, 2015, at noon (EST). The DV program...more
The U.S. Department of State reports that the statutory cap for employment-based preference categories for fiscal year (FY) 2015 has been reached. The federal government’s fiscal year runs from October 1 to September 30....more
On September 25, 2015, the U.S. Department of State (DOS) issued a revised Visa Bulletin for October 2015 that supersedes the original Bulletin dated September 9, 2015. In the current Bulletin, the dates for certain...more
The U.S. Department of State recently released its September 2015 Visa Bulletin, reflecting a significant retrogression for China and India in the employment-based Second Preference category (EB-2). The EB-2 category for...more
On August 12, 2015, in Washington Alliance of Technology Workers v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security et al., No. 14-529 (August 12, 2015), Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia...more
On Tuesday, July 21, 2015, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued its final guidance on the recent Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) decision in Matter of Simeio Solutions, LLC. Under Simeio, employers...more
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is taking extreme measures to get back all the three-year Employment Authorization Document (EAD) cards erroneously issued to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)...more
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it will resume accepting Requests for Premium Processing for all H-1B extension petitions effective July 13, 2015. Premium processing for H-1B extensions had...more
Late last month, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) reached a settlement agreement with a large clothing retailer to resolve claims that the company discriminated against a non-U.S. citizen in violation of the federal...more
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on July 14, 2015, that it completed processing the return of fiscal year 2016 H-1B cap-subject petitions that were not selected in its “computer-generated random...more
A three-judge panel in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, hearing arguments in State of Texas v. United States of America, questioned the attorneys for the U.S. Department of Justice and 26 states about whether the block on...more
Retailers that utilize the H-1B visa for employees in their information technology, design, marketing, buying, and planning departments should start considering their FY 2016 immigration needs now that the H-1B cap filing...more
Under the terms of an agreement simplifying the U.S.-Russia bilateral visa program, American and Russian travelers for business or tourism are now eligible to receive three-year, multiple-entry visas authorizing stays for up...more