On October 20, 2017, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General (OIG) released a report criticizing the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Administrative Site Visits and Verification Program (ASVVP) and the use of targeted site visits. The report, entitled "USCIS Needs...
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recently announced that they have formalized a partnership to facilitate information sharing between the agencies. This interagency cooperation is being undertaken with the stated goal of protecting U.S. workers and combating fraud...
Answer Virtually any employer can file an H1B petition, assuming that they have specialty occupation work available and have an IRS employer identification number. (06.Nov.2017)In frequent sessions of our Chat, Sheela Murthy and other senior attorneys provide guidance that clarifies the law in real time. For...
On October 23, 2017, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a policy memorandum affecting most nonimmigrant workers. This new policy memorandum rescinds a 2004 policy memo and portions of a 2015 policy memo that gave deference to previously approved petitions. The new policy...
Effective immediately, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) filing address for a petition for a nonimmigrant worker (form I-129) will be determined based on the state where the petitioning employer's primary office is located. This is a change from the previous policy, which required...
A key requirement of the employment-based, fifth preference (EB5) immigrant visa category is that the foreign national investor be able to clearly and thoroughly document the lawful source of the investment funds. The sourcing of the investment funds can be quite tedious, and is oftentimes...
Answer No, not all nonprofits qualify to hire cap-exempt H1B workers. In general, nonprofit and government research organizations qualify. Not-for-profit universities and their nonprofit affiliates are also cap exempt. (23.Oct.2017)In frequent sessions of our Chat, Sheela Murthy and other senior attorneys provide guidance that clarifies the...
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a new policy memorandum regarding the definitions of affiliate and subsidiary for the purposes of H1B filing fee determinations. The policy is being instituted to clarify a previously ambiguous portion of the American Competitiveness and Workforce...
Following the release of a memorandum in March 2017 related to H1B petitions filed for computer programmers, the United States Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) has been issuing requests for evidence (RFEs) on the majority of H1B petitions accompanied by labor condition applications (LCAs) that...
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is considering regulatory changes to form ETA-9035, which is the labor condition application (LCA) used in the H1B petition process. Included in the proposal are significant changes that address offsite placement and H1B dependency. The proposed changes were issued...
