Although opinion polls continue to show substantial majorities in favor of comprehensive immigration reform - essentially, enforcement plus a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants - Congress has yet to deliver the goods, and shows no sign of doing so in the coming months. There...
The U.S. Consulate in Mumbai, India, has announced the resumption of interviews for H and L visa applicants. The Consulate reopened the appointment schedule for all H and L applicants on August 26, 2011. The first appointments are being scheduled for September 6, 2011. Background: Temporary...
In Part I (26.Aug.2011) of this NewsBrief, MurthyDotCom and MurthyBulletin readers were informed of August 2, 2011 policy announcements from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), intended to facilitate immigration benefits for foreign national entrepreneurs. That article discussed the potential use of the H1B...
A foreign national is subject to specific, strict requirements as a condition of obtaining F-1 status as a full-time student. Failure to follow legal requirements can lead to status violations, which can have potentially devastating effects for many international students. Foreign national students must stay...
As we have revisit in this week's MurthyBulletin and reported in a prior NewsBrief, available on MurthyDotCom, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is taking steps to encourage immigrant entrepreneurs and start-up companies to come to the United States. (See USCIS Announcement to Encourage...
For almost a decade, foreign nationals and their employers have benefited from the provisions of the American Competitiveness in the 21st Century Act (AC21) in employment-based, permanent residence cases. These provisions allow for enhanced employment flexibility as part of the permanent resident (commonly referred to...
Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Janet Napolitano, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Alejandro Mayorkas recently announced policies intended to allow the utilization of current immigration categories by foreign national entrepreneurs in a more expansive manner. These announcements were...
Last week, the Obama administration announced a major policy shift that will focus more resources on its primary mission: removing dangerous criminals from the country. At the same time, the administration promised to stop pursuing low-priority removal (formerly, deportation) cases that are siphoning scarce enforcement...
The Murthy Law Firm has started to receive Prevailing Wage Determinations (PWDs) from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) as of August 24, 2011. This is newsworthy, as the DOL had ceased processing such requests in July, as explained in our NewsBrief, DOL Not Issuing...
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has issued the September 2011 Visa Bulletin. This is the final Visa Bulletin for the federal government's fiscal year (FY) 2011. The employment-based, second preference (EB2) category for India and China will remain unchanged in the month of September...
