The U.S. Department of State (DOS) released the June 2018 Visa Bulletin. As expected, there is virtually no movement in any of the employment-based categories. Cutoff Dates Virtually Unchanged In the employment-based, second preference (EB2) category, India's cutoff date inches forward to December 26, 2008. This is...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has adopted the Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) decision in Matter of S-P-, Inc. In adopting this decision, the USCIS also issued a policy memorandum clarifying that a beneficiary cannot qualify as an employment-based, first preference immigrant as a...
Most months, the U.S. Department of State (DOS) Chief of the Visa Control and Reporting Division, Charles Oppenheim, provides visa bulletin explanations and predictions. For the May 2018 Visa Bulletin, Mr. Oppenheim only provides some very minor, short-term predictions. Family-Based Preference Categories For most family-based (FB) preference...
On April 26, 2018, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that the temporary protected status (TPS) designation for certain nationals of Nepal will be terminated as of June 24, 2019. Since taking office in January 2017, President Trump has taken steps to terminate...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently announced that when its E-Verify Monitoring and Compliance (M&C) branch conducts a desk review, the employer will be asked to provide copies of the completed form I-9 and corresponding employment verification documents. A desk review is a...
The Trump Administration recently announced that a quota system will be incorporated into the individual performance evaluations for all immigration judges to require them to process cases more quickly. Immigration judges are responsible for presiding over cases such as removal (i.e. deportation) and asylum proceedings.This...
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) is proposing a number of changes to both the online application for a nonimmigrant visa (form DS-160) and the electronic application for an immigrant (form DS-260). The most significant changes to the forms would be to include requests for...
On April 6, 2018, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that the H1B cap for fiscal year 2019 (FY19) was reached. The USCIS then completed the H1B lottery selection process on April 12, 2017. Some 190,000 petitions were filed this year, which is...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has updated its STEM OPT webpage to reflect an apparent change in the agency’s interpretation of the 2016 STEM optional practical training (OPT) rule for F-1 students. Specifically, the USCIS now interprets the 24-month STEM OPT extension rule...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has adopted Matter of S- Inc. as a precedent decision, establishing new policy guidance for USCIS personnel. In this case, the AAO found that the absence of a legal relationship between two or more entities does not necessarily...
