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
On January 20, 2021, President Biden sent The U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021 (the Bill) to Congress for consideration. This legislation is considered groundbreaking and takes into consideration the last 25 years of efforts by...more
1/28/2021
/ Asylum ,
Biden Administration ,
Citizenship ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Diversity Lottery ,
FBI ,
Green Cards ,
H-1B ,
Immigration Reform ,
LGBTQ ,
Path To Citizenship ,
Popular ,
Temporary Protected Status
With the new Biden administration at the helm, we note that the H-1B final midnight regulations promulgated Friday, January 15, 2021, by the former administration have been rescinded. Those regulations, which set up a...more
On Friday, December 4, 2020, a federal judge ordered the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to reopen the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program to new applicants for the first time since 2017. This...more
12/10/2020
/ Chamber of Commerce ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
DACA ,
Deferred Action ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Foreign Nationals ,
H-1B ,
Specialty Occupations ,
Trump Administration ,
USCIS
President-elect Joseph R. Biden’s campaign website proclaims that “Immigration is essential to who we are as a nation, our core values, and our aspirations for our future… The United States deserves an immigration policy that...more
Recent developments which are likely to have a dramatic effect on certain foreign workers seeking entrance to the United States occurred earlier this week with the introduction of dual regulatory changes by the U.S....more
Immigration partner Roxanne Levine joined Litigation partner and host Rich Schoenstein to discuss the new filing process for H-1B visas, which provide a nonimmigrant temporary visa category for certain foreign nationals that...more
8/31/2020
/ Diversity Lottery ,
Filing Requirements ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Foreign Workers ,
H-1B ,
Highly-Skilled Workers Visa ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Non-Immigrant Visas ,
USCIS ,
Visa Caps ,
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
U.S. Department of Labor changes regulations relating to H-1B, H-1B1 and E3 workers transferred to locations outside the intended metropolitan statistical area ("MSA").
•In an unprecedented move, The U.S. Department of...more
On March 18, the President ordered that by mutual consent, with the government of Canada, our country will close its northern border to non-essential traffic. The President confirmed that trade will not be affected. Details...more
U.S. employers are gearing up for H-1B cap season, which has traditionally commenced on April 1 each year. This year, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has introduced an unprecedented procedure - an electronic...more
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a final rule requiring employers to pay a $10.00 non-refundable fee for each H-1B cap registration submitted, once the electronic system is implemented. This final...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 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released its Spring 2019 Regulatory Agenda, announcing the agency's priorities and how it plans to continue furthering the current administration's immigration-related goals....more
6/27/2019
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
F-1 Visa ,
H-1B ,
H-4 Spouses ,
I-485 Applications ,
Immigration and Nationality Act ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Non-Immigrant Visas ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Registration Fees ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Visa Waiver Program ,
Visas
Updated news from USCIS this spring includes final H-1B lottery selection news and a boon for Israeli investors who will be eligible to apply for E-2 treaty investor visas at the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv.
On April 11, USCIS...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
On March 19, USCIS made a surprise announcement - it will be phasing in a new two-tiered premium processing procedure and establishing a new H-1B data hub on its website.
On April 1, USCIS will commence accepting cap-subject...more
On March 11, USCIS announced that it would resume premium processing for all H-1B petition filings. Premium processing facilitates an expedited process for adjudication of nonimmigrant petitions including H1-B, L1, O1 and O2,...more
USCIS recently provided updated data showing there has been a decline in approvals and higher rates of requests for evidence (RFE) for several key employer-sponsored non-immigrant visa categories.
The newly released data,...more
USCIS announced that, as of Tuesday, February 19, it has resumed premium processing for all H-1B petitions filed on or before December 21, 2018.
An expedited process for facilitating swift adjudication of non-immigrant...more
Changes in the business immigration arena continue to affect non-immigrants in significant ways.
Rescission of H-4 Dependent Visa Holder Employment Authorization-
By March 18, 2019, the Department of Homeland Security...more
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has updated its H-1B pre-registration policy for the upcoming cap season and clarifies new developments related to H-1B processing. In this alert, we explore how each of these...more
We welcome 2019 with the anticipation of yet another H-1B lottery filing season, this one filled with some major changes. Traditionally, the H-1B visa category has been utilized by U.S. companies to hire international talent...more
On December 3, 2018, USCIS proposed a rule removing the current requirement for U.S. employers to file cap-subject H-1B petitions commencing April 1 each year.
What is changing?...more