21 Apr 2020

NewsFlash! Trump Claims He Will Temporarily Suspend Immigration

President Donald Trump said late Monday night he will sign an executive order temporarily suspending immigration to the United States as the nation battles the health and economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic.---Posted 21 Apr 2020 [updated*]The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/21/us/coronavirus-updates.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage#link-49e269e1"...

21 Apr 2020

NewsFlash! USCIS Waiving In-Person Interview Requirements for Some Cases

The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) has received numerous reports of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) sporadically waiving the in-person interview requirement during the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of the reports are related to family and employment-based adjustment-of-status (form I-485) cases. The USCIS suspended...

16 Apr 2020

I am in H1B status and have a Social Security Number; my wife is in H-4 status and has an ITIN. We filed U.S. taxes jointly last year. Do we qualify for the stimulus check?

Answer - Updated 17.Apr.2020 We previously indicated that if taxes were filed jointly, where one spouse had a Social Security Number and the other had an ITIN, this should not prevent the spouse with an SSN from receiving the stimulus tax rebate. However, the IRS has...

16 Apr 2020

My H1B registration was selected in this year’s lottery. However, when my employer submitted the registration for me, they misspelled my name. Can I get this corrected?

Answer It does not appear to be possible to correct a registration at this point. The recommendation at this stage typically would be to file the petition with the correct information. Assuming the error in the registration was relatively minor (e.g., a minor typo in the...

16 Apr 2020

Earlier this week, the USCIS posted on its website an announcement about delays in extension / change of status filings. The announcement also talks about the ability to file late. Does this provide any protections to H1B workers who are laid off?

Answer This announcement by the USCIS is not a new policy, or any type of new benefit for foreign nationals in the U.S. It is merely pointing to provisions that already exist in the law. There has been a push to get the USCIS to provide...