Immigration - Visas

Many employers cannot find enough professional U.S. workers to meet their needs, especially in today’s tough hiring market. Many competitive applicants indicate that they need visa support on their employment applications.

On May 24, 2022, USCIS announced implementation of premium processing for certain work visa petitioners who have pending EB-11 and EB-22 petitions. This announcement is part of a USCIS’ plans to expand its premium processing scheme. Premium processing provides expedited processing for certain USCIS

Employers searching for skilled workers should not overlook the powerful, but somewhat obscure immigration tool–the E visa. While use of this visa is dependent on certain treaty laws, qualifying organizations may employ the E visa to hire employees which can provide needed options for companies to r

The U.S. Department of State’s June 2022 Visa Bulletin reflects a significant advancement in the EB-2 India category. This has provided an opportunity for many applicants for permanent residence to move forward with the filing, adjudication, and approval of their I-485, Application[s] to Register Pe

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 dealing with extensive delays in the processing of immigration benefits. On Ma

On May 3, 2022, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced a temporary final rule (TFR) that increases the automatic extension period for expiring employment authorization documents (EAD) for renewal applicants in certain categories for up to 540 days.

Congress recently passed Omnibus spending legislation that includes reauthorization of the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Regional Center Program which has been suspended since June 2021.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently published fiscal year (FY) 2023 H-1B cap registration statistics, confirming that more than 48,000 prospective petitioners submitted 483,927 registrations—an approximate 57 percent increase over the number of registrations submitted in the F

An accounting firm hires a new graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting degree from a local university for its audit team. This new graduate is a foreign student utilizing the one-year Optional Practical Training (“OPT”) Employment Authorization offered to all F-1 students upon graduation.

On April 18, 2022, USCIS announced that it had received 483,927 registrations for the FY 2023 H-1B Cap. This is the largest number ever received – almost 200,000 more than the total count of 308,613 for FY 2022. Out of the 487,927 registration applications, USCIS selected 127,600 to fill the

On March 29, 2022, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it would implement three new actions to reduce lengthy processing times that resulted from COVID-19–related delays.

Foreign students studying towards a degree program in the U.S. and maintaining a valid F-1 status can apply their theoretical knowledge and gain invaluable experience in their respective fields/major of study through training periods both during and after completion of their studies. These opportuni

Starting May 2, 2022, foreign nationals who are citizens of the 40 Visa Waiver Program (VWP) countries will have to use the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) to enter the United States at land ports of entry . The paper Form I-94W, Nonimmigrant Visa Waiver Arrival/Departure Record, t

As they did for last summer , the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Labor (DOL) will make available an additional 35,000 H-2B temporary nonagricultural worker visas for the second half of FY 2022. This more than doubles the usual 33,000 allocation or cap for the summer. Of

On March 29, 2022, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it had completed the initial H-1B regular cap and master’s cap selection process for fiscal year (FY) 2023. Continuing its use of an electronic preregistration system to conduct the random selection lottery, USCIS co

Just as the Biden Administration is proposing increased funding for USCIS to help reduce the agency’s backlog, USCIS is announcing future new actions to improve processing times. USCIS: Plans to expand staffing, improve its technology, and establish new internal cycle time goals (the amount of time

Recognizing the importance of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) graduates to the U.S. economy, the Biden Administration has made three policy changes that expand eligibility . The changes are as follows: Adding 22 new degree fields to the STEM list so that more F-1 graduates can qual

When filing for an adjustment of status (AOS), which enables individuals to apply for a Green Card while still present in the United States, applicants may simultaneously apply for an employment authorization document (EAD) and advance parole (AP), which allows individuals to travel back to the Unit

On March 18, 2022, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it would update the USCIS Policy Manual to address acceptable evidence of work authorization for E and L nonimmigrant spouses. The updates, provided in response to the settlement agreement reached in the class action

As the cap H-1B registration process for fiscal year (FY) 2023 closes, and the lottery is about to begin, this might be a good time to look back at the results of the cap registrations from past fiscal years. In FY 2020, 274,237 H-1B registrations were filed and 124,415 were