On November 11, 2017, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a Policy Memorandum announcing that it has adopted the administrative appeals office (AAO) decision in Matter of V-S-G- Inc. The AAO decision recognized that, contrary to previous USCIS policy, a foreign national beneficiary, who...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is cautioning employers that official requests to review employment eligibility verification (form I-9) records are never sent by eMail. The USCIS reports that criminals are using a fraudulent eMail address - news@uscis.gov - to demand I-9 records from...
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. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a court order on October 27, 2017 to enjoin (i.e. prevent) the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) from refusing to certify requests for certification of military or naval service (form N-426) for MAVNI (Military Accessions...
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...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Texas Service Center (TSC) is still denying advance parole (AP) applications (form I-131) for applicants who travel abroad before their AP applications are approved. As previously reported, this is contrary to the longstanding practice by the USCIS to...
In August 2017, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced it would expand the use of in-person interviews for adjustment-of-status (form I-485) applicants in employment-based cases. Following the announcement, however, there remained a few lingering questions as to precisely whom this rule change would...
Form I-765, which is used to apply for an employment authorization document (EAD), now provides the option for the applicant to simultaneously apply for a Social Security number (SSN). In an announcement released on October 2, 2017, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) explains...
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...
