On May 16, 2019, President Donald Trump outlined, in broad strokes, his new immigration plan. The proposal delineates two primary goals: securing the U.S. border and protecting American workers....more
After a tumultuous filing period for the second half of fiscal year (FY) 2019, employers that rely on H-2B seasonal workers received some good news. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has agreed to issue up to...more
The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina has issued a nationwide preliminary injunction halting the enforcement of the Trump administration’s August 2018 policy memorandum that changed when “unlawful...more
After a seven-year hiatus, the Social Security Administration (SSA) has resumed the practice of sending no-match letters (officially called Employer Correction Request notices). These letters notify employers when the SSA has...more
President Donald Trump has nominated Mark Morgan to serve as the new director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Morgan spent 20 years in the Federal Bureau of Investigation before being appointed chief of...more
President Donald J. Trump has issued a memorandum aimed at reducing the number of visa overstays in the United States. The administration says those overstays undermine the integrity of the immigration system and harm the...more
The U.S. Department of State has released the Visa Bulletin for May 2019, which shows slight progress in most employment-based preference categories.
The Visa Bulletin provides monthly updates to foreign nationals waiting...more
4/24/2019
/ China ,
EB-1 ,
EB-2 ,
EB-3 ,
Filing Deadlines ,
India ,
Philippines ,
Retrogression ,
US Department of State ,
Visa Applications ,
Visa Bulletins ,
Visas
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has completed the selection process for H-1B cap subject petitions filed for fiscal year (FY) 2020. On April 10, 2019, the agency ran computerized lotteries for both regular...more
4/15/2019
/ F-1 Visa ,
Filing Requirements ,
Foreign Students ,
Foreign Workers ,
H-1B ,
Highly-Skilled Workers Visa ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Immigrants ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Lottery ,
Request for Evidence (RFEs) ,
Travelers ,
USCIS ,
Visa Caps ,
Visas
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has updated its premium processing schedule for fiscal year (FY) 2020 H-1B cap cases. The schedule will be implemented as follows...more
On March 28, 2019, President Trump extended the wind-down period for deferred enforced departure (DED) for Liberians through March 30, 2020. The extension delays the termination of DED for Liberia, which was scheduled for...more
There has been an increasing number of reports that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is refusing to process subsequent, or renewal, L-1 visa petitions presented by Canadian nationals at ports of entry (POEs) along the...more
The Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has published a bulletin highlighting the H-1B notice and posting procedures with which employers must comply if they elect to provide electronic notice of...more
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has published a breakdown of the top 10 reasons it issued requests for evidence (RFEs) for H-1B petitions in fiscal year (FY) 2018. The list lends some context to recent USCIS...more
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that premium processing will be available for the H-1B cap filing season for Fiscal Year (FY) 2020. The FY 2020 cap filing season will begin on April 1, 2019. ...more
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) has issued a fraud alert notifying the public of an ongoing phone scam whereby scammers dupe their victims into providing personal information...more
On April 1, 2019, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will begin accepting new H-1B petitions subject to the annual quota for fiscal year 2020 (FY 2020). With the filing window quickly approaching, employers now...more
Effective immediately, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has resumed premium processing for all H-1B petitions. The resumption applies to new petitions as well as those that are pending with USCIS. ...more
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) processing times continue to lag compared to previous years, according to data recently released by the agency. This is especially true for foreign nationals with pending...more
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that the agency is postponing the implementation of the revised Form I-539 and the new Form I-539A. USCIS will continue to accept the current Form I-539, with the...more
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has extended temporary protected status (TPS) through January 2, 2020, for nationals of El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Sudan. DHS provided the extension to comply with an October...more
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) released new data confirming that both requests for evidence (RFEs) and denials are on the rise for many nonimmigrant visa categories. The rates for RFEs and denials, which...more
Beginning February 19, 2019, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will resume premium processing for all categories of H-1B petitions that were filed on or before December 21, 2018. USCIS has been gradually...more
On January 28, 2019, E-Verify resumed operations after being offline for more than a month due to the government shutdown. The program, which allows participating employers to electronically confirm the work eligibility of...more
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is expected to advance its plan to rescind the H-4 employment authorization document (EAD) program before a March 18, 2019, deadline imposed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C....more
On January 31, 2019, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published its H-1B registration rule in the Federal Register, formalizing changes to the H-1B selection process. The new regulation, which will take effect on...more