Earlier this month, USCIS, in coordination with the Department of State (“DOS”), announced that it was revising the procedures for determining visa availability for applicants waiting to file for employment-based or...more
Effective September 24, 2015, USCIS will suspend final adjudication of employment-based Adjustment of Status Applications. Cited as the reason is the Department of State’s report that the statutory cap has been reached for...more
Despite the fact that parts of President Obama’s executive actions on immigration currently are being challenged in court, the administration is moving forward with its promise to modernize our antiquated immigration system....more
On August 12, 2015, Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia dealt a blow to employers by vacating the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) 2008 interim rule expanding the...more
8/19/2015
/ AFL-CIO ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
E-Verify ,
Employment Authorization Documents (EAD) ,
Form F-1 ,
H-1B ,
Hiring & Firing ,
OPT ,
Popular ,
Stays ,
STEM ,
USCIS
Due to a contempt hearing scheduled for August 19, 2015 in the case of the State of Texas v. United States, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is taking radical measures to recover all three-year Employment...more
Most business immigration practitioners tell H-1B employers an amended or new H-1B petition, along with a corresponding Labor Condition Application (LCA), is required whenever there is a material change in the terms and...more
It is no surprise that the implementation of this administration’s executive actions has run into a series of political and legal snags. But what is surprising is the administration’s response or overall handling of the...more
U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (“USCIS”) recently released an alert advising employers that green cards do not always have a signature. For example, USCIS will waive the signature requirement for children under the...more
While the lawsuit challenging President Obama’s executive action continues to garner headlines, an additional lawsuit has been filed contesting another part of the executive actions that DHS is attempting to implement. This...more
Today, after receiving nearly 233,000 petitions, United States Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it conducted its lottery (a computer-generated random selection process) to select the H-1B petitions...more
United States Citizenship & Immigration Services (“USCIS”) announced today that it has reached the congressionally mandated H-1B cap for fiscal year 2016....more
While a lawsuit challenging President Obama’s executive action has garnered headlines recently, another lawsuit that could negatively impact the labor supply and increase the cost of doing business for employers has largely...more
As reported on March 10, 2015, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) suffered a setback as result of a ruling by a federal district court in the Northern District of Florida on March 4, 2015. Essentially, in Perez v. Perez, No....more
Last Thursday, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed an emergency motion with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to lift a preliminary injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen last month in lawsuit filed by...more
On March 4, 2015, the Department of Labor (DOL) suffered a major blow as result of a ruling by a federal district court in the Northern District of Florida. Specifically, in Perez v. Perez, No. 3:14-cv-682 (N.D. Fla. Mar. 4,...more
On January 30, 2015, Los Angeles Dodgers relief pitcher Joel Peralta faced what many business immigration practitioners would refer to as an avoidable immigration nightmare....more
To obtain an H-1B visa, a petitioner must establish that it will have an employment relationship with the beneficiary. While this seems like a very simple and easy enough thing to do, the problem is that in an employment...more
While many immigration practitioners wait anxiously for a resolution to the judicial challenges faced by DAPA and expanded DACA, others let out a sigh of relief at the announcement made today by U.S. Citizenship and...more
Over the last few years, U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) has made a concerted effort to restrict the number of L-1B visas being issued. And, without much oversight, USCIS has managed (almost unfettered) to do...more
As a reminder to all U.S. employers, H-1B season is on the horizon! United States Citizenship & Immigration Services (“USCIS”) will start accepting new H-1B petitions for fiscal year 2016 on Wednesday, April 1, 2015. As such,...more
Last October, we advised our readers that U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) had sent out several Notices of Intent to Terminate (NOITT) regional center designation to various regional centers around the nation....more
While many of the specific details of President Obama’s Immigration Accountability Executive Actions are still being worked on, one of its most significant components will be the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and...more
As part of an effort to educate the public, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) released two fliers regarding President Obama’s executive actions. USCIS is encouraging the use of these fliers when...more
When President Barack Obama first addressed the nation to unveil his Immigration Accountability Executive Actions, the media and the internet were in a frenzy to see who could get the story out first. Despite the fact that...more
1/12/2015
/ Barack Obama ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Executive Orders ,
Highly-Skilled Workers Visa ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Immigration Reform ,
OPT ,
PERM ,
Popular ,
USCIS ,
Visas
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today announced changes to the Cuban Family Reunification Parole (CFRP) Program. Currently, no form or fee is required for the CFRP Program. This will no longer be the case....more