On 30 January 2024, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a final rule (Final Rule) increasing the premium processing fee from US$2,500 to US$2,805, increasing filing fees for I-129 and I-140...more
On January 30, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that the pre-registration filing period for the 2025 Fiscal Year H-1B cap submissions will take place from March 6, 2024, at noon ET to noon...more
On January 30, 2024, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that the initial registration period for the FY2025 H-1B Cap Lottery will open at noon Eastern Time (EST) on March 6, 2024, and run through noon...more
On January 31, 2024, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a final rule to adjust filing fees for most petitions and applications. The new fees take effect for petitions and applications filed...more
On December 27, 2023, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that premium processing fees related to employment-based visa and green card petitions will increase as of February 26, 2024. USCIS will reject...more
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has announced that fees will increase for all requests for Premium Processing. The increases will apply to all requests for premium processing that are postmarked on or after...more
Premium processing will become more expensive starting on February 26, 2024. According to USCIS, it is raising the fees to adjust for inflation. The newly generated income, estimated to be approximately $185 million, will...more
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has expanded premium processing to certain I-140 petitions, and premium processing of certain I-765 and I-539 applications is expected to be in place this spring....more
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking with fee increases for immigration filings. Under the proposed rule, the most dramatic increases would apply to employment-based...more
Beginning August 1, 2022, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will begin accepting Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing Service, for the following petitions which are pending with USCIS: ...more
When Ms. Ur M. Jaddou became the new US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director in August 2021, she inherited a huge backlog of visa and document applications. While the Biden Administration signaled early that...more
This week, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that it would soon expand the availability of premium processing for certain petitions that have already been filed. ...more
In March 2022, USCIS published a final rule expanding its premium processing service to include additional immigration petition and application types. This announcement was welcome news to businesses and foreign nationals...more
In a surprising and welcome development to U.S. employers, USCIS today announced that employers filing E-3 visa petitions on behalf of Australian nationals will have the option of requesting premium processing when requesting...more
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that it will increase the premium processing fee for all filings currently eligible for premium processing service effective October 19, 2020. - The I-907, Request for...more
Premium processing fees are going up (the bad news), but premium processing will be available for more types of cases (the good news) according to changes included in the recently passed Continuing Resolution (CR) that will...more
HEROES Act Passes the House. Again. On October 1, 2020, the U.S. House of Representatives narrowly passed a (somewhat) slimmed-down version of the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act - House...more
If you have applied for an immigration benefit lately (temporary visa, permanent residence), you know the indignities of the process - especially in recent times. Slower decisions, outlandish requests for evidence, and no...more
In this episode, Jamie Dietz and Tina Ho discuss the current business immigration landscape, from recent guidance and policy memos to practical insights for employers on understanding and preparing for this constantly...more
USCIS Begins Implementing Notices to Appear for Denied Petitions and Applications - As of October 1, 2018, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) has begun issuing Notices to Appear (“NTA”) in accordance with...more
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services indicated during a September 27, 2017, call with the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) that it is on track to resume offering its Premium Processing service on or...more
On Monday, September 18, 2017, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it would resume offering its 15-day Premium Processing service for any H-1B visa petition still pending that had been...more
USCIS announced that beginning July 13, 2015, the agency will resume accepting premium processing requests for H-1B extension of stay applications. This provides an early cancellation of the previous USCIS directive...more