The H-1B cap season is here for Fiscal Year 2023. Once again, there will be a two-step process – the registration step and then, if the registration is selected, the petition step.
This will be the third year that the...more
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has agreed to make policy changes that will benefit L-2 spouses and certain H-4 nonimmigrants filing renewal applications for Employment Authorization Document cards...more
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services recently took action to update some of its policies. The changes evidence the Biden Administration’s positive view of immigration and its plans to make the operation of the...more
Last year, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services rolled out for the first time a new electronic registration tool for H-1B cap cases as part of its implementation of regulations issued in January 2019. The 2019...more
In filing an H-1B petition, employers must select one of four wage levels for the applicable occupational title in preparing the required Labor Condition Application. (There is an exception when a private wage survey is...more
The U.S. Department of Labor has again issued a final rule on the computation of prevailing wage levels for high-skilled foreign workers. The rule is intended to replace a prevailing wage rule issued in October that was...more
We reported in October about two new rules that were issued by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of Labor that would affect H-1B specialty occupation visas. The DOL rule significantly raised...more
The U.S. Department of State recently released its October 2020 Visa Bulletin reflecting an all-time high allocation of approximately 261,500 employment-based immigrant visas and signaling an unusually quick advancement of...more
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is poised to implement new filing fees on October 2, under regulations published in the Federal Register on August 3. However, two lawsuits were filed in federal court about a...more
On June 22, as we expected, President Trump issued “Proclamation Suspending Entry of Aliens Who Present a Risk to the U.S. Labor Market Following the Coronavirus Outbreak.” The Proclamation temporarily suspends the entry of...more
The President has issued a new “Proclamation on the Suspension of Entry as Nonimmigrants of Certain Students and Researchers from the People’s Republic of China.” The Proclamation, which took effect on Monday, effectively...more
Last week, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that it had completed pilot testing of its new electronic registration tool and would implement it for the H-1B cap season in 2020. The new electronic...more
As we previously reported, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services issued proposed regulations in December that would change the way that H-1B cap petitions were filed and selected.
In general, the agency proposed to...more
Starting Monday, April 1, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will begin accepting H-1B visa petition filings – subject to the annual cap – for the 2020 fiscal year, which begins October 1, 2019.
To maximize the...more
For many years, on the first business day of April, 200,000 or more H-1B cap petitions were filed with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for approximately 85,000 available spots. H-1B petitions for individuals with...more
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services issued a new Guidance that will make it easier for the government to summarily deny petitions and applications. The Guidance will take effect on September 11.
The Guidance will...more
Immigration lawyers are gearing up for April 2, the first day that employers can file their fiscal year 2019 H-1B petitions that are subject to the annual cap.
On Tuesday, the public received an unsurprising, but still...more
Starting Monday, April 2, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will begin accepting H-1B visa petition filings – subject to the annual cap – for the next fiscal year, which begins October 1, 2018.
To maximize the...more
On Sunday, the day that most of President Trump’s March 6 revised travel ban expired, he issued a broader, more nuanced Proclamation as a travel ban. The Proclamation applies to eight nations - Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and...more
On Tuesday, President Trump signed an Executive Order entitled “Presidential Executive Order on Buy American and Hire American.” Section 5 of the EO directs the Attorney General, and the Secretaries of State, Labor, and...more
Like the first Executive Order, President Trump’s latest “travel ban,” which was to take effect today, has been blocked nationwide by federal judges in Hawaii and Maryland.
Although both court orders are intended to...more
As we reported Monday, President Trump has signed a new “travel ban” Executive Order that revokes the one he issued on January 27. The new EO will take effect at 12:01 a.m. EDT on March 16. We promised on Monday to provide a...more
As expected, President Trump today signed a new “travel ban” Executive Order that revokes the EO he issued on January 27. The new EO will take effect at 12:01 a.m. EDT on March 16.
The original EO (Executive Order...more
As most people have heard by now, a federal judge in Seattle issued a nationwide temporary restraining order on Friday that prohibits the federal government from enforcing portions of President Trump’s "travel ban" Executive...more
On Friday, President Trump signed the Executive Order “Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States.” A weekend of chaos at the nation’s airports ensued, at least four courts enjoined parts of the...more
1/31/2017
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