Back in 1986, Congress passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), which required all U.S. employers to verify their employees' eligibility to work legally in the United States, using Form I-9 and several forms of identification. For years, enforcement of these I-9 requirements usually...
Visa denials for H1B workers in the IT consulting industry continue to be commonplace. Many applicants arrive for their visa appointments at U.S. consulates fully prepared, with documents in support of their H1B visa applications, yet they still face administrative processing delays and refusals. For...
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is not issuing Prevailing Wage Determinations (PWDs) as of this writing. The PWD is a required step in the PERM labor certification (LC) process, and the DOL stopped issuing them in July 2011. Thus, the entire system for initiating...
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) recently conducted a second random lottery to select "winners" of the 2012 Diversity Visa (DV) lottery. The DV 2012 new "winners" have been finalized and posted. All DV 2012 applicants must check the official lottery website in order to...
The ever-present problems presented by the visa adjudications process at U.S. consulates around the world - and particularly in India - are well known to many of our readers. At these consulates, the issuance of section 221(g) visa refusals to those working as IT consultants...
As the European debt crisis deepens and U.S. markets continue their roller-coaster ride following the debt-ceiling debacle and the debt-rating downgrade, Washington policymakers are on the lookout for ways to stimulate a slumping economy. It's about time. Throughout the debt-ceiling standoff, many Americans wondered aloud...
Sheela Murthy met with Arun K. Singh, the Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM), and Datta Palsargikar, the Minister of Community Affairs at the Indian Embassy in Washington DC. The DCM shared updates the DHS had given the Indian government regarding the ICE raid on UNVA.Ms....
The Murthy Law Firm is proud to report a recent resolution in the long delay in the processing of a nonimmigrant visa application. This was a result of determined efforts by attorneys in our firm, who found a creative solution to a client's immigration problem....
Anyone who has dealt with immigration issues in connection with the H1B petition and status has likely heard references to a ten-day "grace period" afforded to H1B nonimmigrants at the conclusion of the authorized period of stay. There is no automatic ten-day grace period in...
Many observers have long since written off the possibility of comprehensive immigration reform, despite the President's hopeful pronouncements and sporadic attempts to revive the issue in Congress. That is not to say that immigration reform is a dead letter - just the comprehensive version. On...
