The U.S. Supreme Court recently lifted a federal court injunction that had temporarily blocked the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from terminating the CHNV Humanitarian Parole Program, which allowed qualifying nationals...more
6/18/2025
/ Appeals ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Employment Authorization Documents (EAD) ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Foreign Workers ,
Form I-9 ,
Haiti ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Immigration Reform ,
Nicaragua ,
Parole ,
Popular ,
SCOTUS ,
Temporary Protected Status ,
USCIS ,
Venezuela ,
Work Permits
As the U.S. government heightens its focus on national security, international travelers—especially visa holders and lawful permanent residents—are experiencing increased scrutiny at ports of entry. U.S. Customs and Border...more
4/11/2025
/ Border Security ,
Customs and Border Protection ,
Data Collection ,
Data Privacy ,
Electronic Devices ,
Executive Orders ,
Immigration Procedures ,
National Security ,
Social Media ,
USCIS ,
Visas
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services recently announced that it will permanently dispose of E-Verify records that were last updated on or before December 31, 2014. Employers using E-Verify should be aware of these...more
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has issued a new fee rule that imposes significant increases, particularly for employment-based petitions. The rule, and the higher fees, will apply to any benefit request...more
The annual H-1B cap season has begun for Fiscal Year 2025. Once again, there will be a two-step process – the registration step and then, if the registration is selected in the H-1B cap lottery, the petition step. Now is the...more
1/17/2024
/ Beneficiaries ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Foreign Workers ,
H-1B ,
Immigrants ,
Immigration Procedures ,
NAFTA ,
STEM ,
USCIS ,
Visa Caps ,
Visas
The annual H-1B cap season has begun for Fiscal Year 2024. Once again, there will be a two-step process – the registration step and then, if the registration is selected in the H-1B cap lottery, the petition step. Now is the...more
For the last year, the fate of the Public Charge Rule, which expanded the ability of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to deny green cards to lower-income foreign nationals, has been uncertain. In addition to the...more
3/17/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Dismissals ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Green Cards ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Interim Guidance ,
Joe Biden ,
Low-Income Issues ,
Medicaid ,
Permanent Residence Cards ,
Public Charge ,
Request for Evidence (RFEs) ,
SCOTUS ,
SNAP Program ,
USCIS
Last week, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced changes that will be good news for foreign students seeking Optional Practical Training in areas related to their major areas of study.
First, the 14...more
3/8/2021
/ Colleges ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Employment Authorization Documents (EAD) ,
Foreign Students ,
Form I-765 ,
OPT ,
SEVIS ,
STEM ,
Universities ,
USCIS ,
Visas
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
On Monday, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued proposed regulations that would amend the H-1B cap registration selection process by replacing the current random process with one based on wage levels.
The proposed...more
As we reported previously, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services was due to increase filing fees by approximately 20 percent across many filing types, including new fees on asylum and additional fees for applicants...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 August 14, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services confirmed it had run a second H-1B lottery for fiscal year 2021 and sent out notifications regarding new H-1B registration selections. The USCIS had not yet met the...more
A federal judge in New York issued a nationwide injunction on Wednesday that temporarily blocks the Trump Administration from implementing or enforcing the “public charge rule” as long as the COVID-19 State of National...more
The U.S. Supreme Court blocked the rescission of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program on June 18, 2020, finding that the Department of Homeland Security’s actions in retracting the immigration relief program...more
6/22/2020
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Arbitrary and Capricious ,
Citizenship ,
DACA ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Department of Homeland Security v Regents of the University of California ,
Educational Institutions ,
Path To Citizenship ,
Rescission ,
SCOTUS ,
Trump Administration ,
Trump v NAACP ,
USCIS ,
Wolf v Vidal ,
Work Permits
Health care providers are struggling with an acute shortage of physicians in medically underserved areas. Foreign-trained doctors in the J-1 exchange visa program play a critical role in filling this gap. As a result, the...more
Yesterday the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services began phasing back in premium processing for eligible Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker and Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers. Premium...more
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services implemented a number of temporary policy measures to...more
Because of coronavirus, U.S. employers have had to grapple with quickly transitioning employees to remote work environments, advising essential workers on how best to report to work and stay safe, and implementing temporary...more
Last year, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security conducted an unprecedented number of Form I-9 audits, investigations, and raids across the country. Immigration and Customs Enforcement made headlines nationally and locally...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