The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) implemented an increase in application fees charged by the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) for both students and schools. The changed fees relate to the payments students must submit with the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System...
Answer An H1B employee MUST be paid pursuant to the terms of the approved H1B petition and LCA. Failure to provide the required salary is a violation of DOL regulations by the employer, and may mean that the H1B worker is "out of status." To discuss...
Answer The Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act of 2019 (i.e., H.R.1044) is a bill that was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, but it is not law. To become law, the U.S. Senate would need to pass the bill, and then it would need to...
Answer There is no legal prohibition on doing this. However, one in this situation would need to convince a consular officer (if one requires a B-2 visa "stamp") or a CBP officer at the airport (if one already has a B-2 visa) that the purpose in...
Answer One MUST be in the United States to file an I-485. If one is not, s/he must apply for a green card through consular processing with the U.S. Department of State at a U.S. consulate. The employer may need to file form I-824 to convert...
An overview of immigration issues related to employees traveling to the United States from abroad is provided in this teleconference from July 3, 2019. Discussed are situations employees may face, including extreme vetting, visa processing, and what happens during the immigration inspection process by U.S....
On July 10, 2019, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R.1044, the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act of 2019. If passed into law, the bill would eliminate the per-country cap on employment-based green cards, and increase the per-country limit for family-based categories. While this news...
The August 2019 Visa Bulletin has been released by the U.S. Department of State (DOS). There are some notable retrogressions in employment-based (EB) categories, with EB3 India moving to January 1, 2006 and EB2 and EB3 all other countries retrogressing to January 1, 2017 and...
Answer In order to reenter in H-4 status, one generally would need a valid H-4 visa "stamp." It would not be necessary to wait for the approval of the H-4 extension. To apply for an H-4 visa stamp (or be admitted in H-4 status based on...
Answer In general, if the I-485 was filed before the child turned 21 years of age, and within one year of the priority date becoming current, the child would be protected by the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA). However, there are a number of additional factors...
