The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is closing its field office, asylum office, and application support centers in Houston, Texas, through September 5, 2017. This move was made because of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Harvey. Details for rescheduling cancelled appointments at those offices...
Answer This RFE is extremely common at this time, and is being issued for the majority of cases filed with Level 1 wages. It is possible to respond to these RFEs. However, it is impossible to speculate on your chances of success without examining your case...
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has released a revised version of the employment eligibility verification form (I-9 form). Employers may start using the new I-9 now, and must use it beginning September 18, 2017. Background on Form I-9 U.S. employers and workers are likely familiar...
In a recent trend, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has begun to deny advance parole (AP) applications (form I-131) for applicants who have traveled abroad before their applications are approved. This is in stark contrast to the previous, longstanding policy, which allowed...
Answer It seems highly unlikely that the RAISE Act will pass in its present form. There appears to be very little support for the bill in the Senate, so it may not even ever be put forth for a vote. And, even if it is, the...
The L1A intracompany transferee classification is designed to allow a qualifying multinational company to transfer a foreign national executive or manager to a related entity in the United States. For an L1A petition, the employer typically must demonstrate to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services...
Today, President Trump announced his support for a bill proposed by Republican Senators Tom Cotton (AR) and David Perdue (GA) that, if passed, would make massive changes to the U.S. immigration system. The proposal would replace the current employment-based immigration system with a merit-based system....
As of Monday, July 24, 2017, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) resumed accepting requests for premium processing for certain cap-exempt H1B petitions. As explained in the USCIS news release:Premium processing will resume for petitions that may be exempt from the cap if the...
The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) has been advised by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) that during April 2017, a number of PERM filings were inadvertently denied for failure to respond to audit requests, even though the employers had actually submitted timely responses via...
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Wage and Hour Division is reinstating its policy of issuing opinion letters upon request to provide guidance to employers and employees on the Fair Labor Standards Act and other U.S. labor laws. Per a June 27, 2017 DOL announcement,...
