The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently made it even more cumbersome to change status to F-1 full-time student status from within the United States. After implementing a revised policy in early 2017 that requires a B-1/B-2 visitor to maintain continuous B-1/B-2 status while...
In recent months, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) appears to have begun to take a far less favorable view of expert opinion letters submitted to evidence that a position indicated in an H1B petition qualifies as a "specialty occupation." There has not been...
The proposed rule to terminate the program that allows certain H-4 spouses to obtain employment authorization is not expected to be published until at least June 2018. The rule was previously slated for publication in February 2018. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is apparently...
On February 22, 2018, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) released a policy memorandum entitled Contracts and Itineraries Requirements for H1B Petitions Involving Third-Party Worksites. This policy memo revises USCIS policy related to H1B petitions filed for workers who will be employed at...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) issued a reminder to employers enrolled in the E-Verify program to properly and fully complete the E-Verify process. The bulletin explains the steps necessary for employers to complete the verification process and reminds employers of the importance in...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) released a memo yesterday that stresses the requirement for proper documentation when filing a petition for an H1B worker who will be placed at a third-party location. The policy memo states that petitioning employers that routinely place H1B...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is in the process of launching a pilot program related to the InfoPass system, according to the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA). InfoPass is an online system that allows a stakeholder to schedule an appointment to speak in-person...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that, effective immediately, the agency now accepts credit card payments for 41 fee-based forms. Some of the more prominent forms include immigrant petition for alien worker (form I-140), application to register permanent residence or adjust status...
In what has become almost routine, the federal government is teetering on yet another potential government shutdown. The deadline for passing a spending bill to extend government operations is midnight on Thursday, February 8, 2018. Failure to pass such a bill would result in the...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has confirmed to the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) that, for the upcoming fiscal year 2019 H1B cap season (i.e. H1B lottery cases to be filed starting in April 2018), no procedural changes from last year are anticipated....
