Immigration - Visas

USCIS has entered into a broad settlement agreement that requires it to withdraw certain H-1B policies. H-1B denials have skyrocketed since 2017 , especially following enactment of the “Buy American, Hire American” Executive Order. In February 2018, USCIS issued further guidance specifically placing

Premium processing will resume in stages according to USCIS . Cap-subject H-1B petitions will be included only in the last phase. June 1, 2020: USCIS will accept requests for premium processing for all eligible Form I-140 Immigrant Visa Petitions. EB1-C Multi-National Manager or Executive and EB2 Na

On May 29, 2020, the White House issued a new proclamation on the admission of certain nonimmigrant students and researchers from the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The proclamation took effect on June 1, 2020, and will remain in effect until terminated. The restrictions suspend the entry into th

In addition to the COVID-19-related travel restrictions and consular closures , Chinese graduate students and post-doctoral researchers will now face another hurdle in coming to the U.S. As of noon (EDT) on June 1, 2020, President Donald Trump’s “Proclamation on the Suspension of Entry as Nonimmigra

On May 29, 2020, President Donald Trump issued a proclamation suspending the entry of a small subset of Chinese nationals that seek to study or conduct research in the United States, citing a threat to the “long-term economic vitality” of the United States “and the safety and security of the

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it will resume premium processing via Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing Service for Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker and Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers, in phases during the month of June.

To support the Trump Administration’s COVID-19 reopening policies, Chad F. Wolf, the Acting Secretary of Homeland Security, signed an order exempting some foreign professional athletes (and their staff and dependents) who compete in certain leagues, from the COVID-19 travel restrictions that are in

Following the March 10, 2020, decision of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in ITSERVE Alliance, Inc. v. Cissna , U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) has agreed in a settlement to rescind the 2018 third-party worksites memorandum (PM-602-0157) in its entirety no later

On May 11, 2020, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a policy update in response to the COVID-19 pandemic that provides H-1B physicians holding J-1 foreign medical graduate waivers some limited flexibility in readjusting their hours and placement sites.

It has been five years since Save Jobs USA, a group of technology workers who claim to have been displaced by foreign nationals with H-4 EADs challenged the Obama Administration’s authority to enact the H-4 EAD Rule. In the years since that filing, the case has gone back and forth

The Department of Homeland Security announced that on May 14, 2020, a new temporary rule will go into effect giving employers in the food processing industry more flexibility to hire H-2B workers who are essential to maintaining the food supply chain . Work essential to the food supply chain include

There is no time to waste! If you are contemplating sponsoring a foreign worker for an H-1B visa, new procedures require you to register electronically starting March 1. Note this only applies to cap-subject applications. In other words, the registration requirement may not apply to an H-1B change o

In late 2019, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it would implement the registration process for the fiscal year 2021 H-1B cap. The H-1B visa is used by businesses that want to employ foreign nationals to work in a specialty occupation requiring theoretical or techn

Processing delays for immigration cases have increased by 46 percent in the past two fiscal years and 91 percent since FY 2014.

It is time to start preparing for the upcoming H-1B visa lottery, which begins April 1, 2020, and will be the first one to require an electronic registration for each case.

USCIS has announced that Iranians in the U.S. will not be eligible for extensions of E-1 or E-2 visa status or changes to that status from another visa classification. The announcement comes more than a year after the U.S. Department of State notified Iran on October 3, 2018, of the termination of t

Executive Summary: A new federal rule has created a new electronic registration process for the annual H-1B lottery. The new electronic registration system will significantly change the sequence of the H-1B lottery. There will no longer be a rush to file full H-1B petitions the first week of April.

The peak H-2B filing season opened on January 2, 2020, and by the next day the Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) in the Department of Labor (DOL) had received approximately 5,000 applications for 87,000 seasonal workers. Only 33,000 are available for the spring/summer period, which starts

Employers who seek highly skilled foreign professionals must use a variety of visas for their employees. One of those most frequently used is an H-1B visa, a temporary non-immigrant visa category that allows employers to petition the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for highly educa

After receiving several H-1B approvals for periods shorter than requested, IT consulting services company Flexera Global has sued USCIS in the federal court for the Southern District of Texas requesting an order directing USCIS to approve H-1B petitions for the periods requested.