Charles Oppenheim, Chief of the Visa Control and Reporting Division for the U.S. Department of State (DOS), supplies visa bulletin explanations nearly every month. This month's update regarding the February 2017 Visa Bulletin provides insights and predictions related to several backlogged categories; unfortunately, many of...
After years of having to overcome various bureaucratic hurdles, it appears that Israeli citizens are on the verge of being granted access to the E-2 (treaty investor) visa. According to the Israel-America Chamber of Commerce, the U.S. and Israeli governments at last have reached a...
On December 27, 2016, the Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) issued a precedent decision in Matter of Dhanasar that modifies the framework for how the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will now adjudicate national interest waiver (NIW) petitions. On its face, the new three-prong test...
Today, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released an advance copy of the final international entrepreneur rule. It will be published in the Federal Register on Tuesday, January 17, 2017, and is scheduled to go into effect 180 days from the date of publication. However,...
On January 17, 2017, a final immigration rule, primarily impacting high-skilled workers, goes into effect. The rule is intended to "improv[e] the ability of U.S. employers to hire and retain high-skilled workers … [and] increase[e] the ability of those workers to seek promotions, accept lateral...
Each quarter, the Student Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) releases a report that provides key data from the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) on the makeup of international students who choose to study in the United States. A look at these quarterly reports can...
There is virtually no movement of significance in the employment-based categories of the February 2017 Visa Bulletin, which was released by the U.S. Department of State (DOS) earlier today. The few advances that do occur are all in the final action (FA) chart; the dates...
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) adjudicates visa applications for aspiring immigrants whose cases will be processed at a U.S. embassy or consulate overseas - that is to say, foreign nationals applying for lawful permanent residency (i.e. "green cards") at an embassy or consulate, rather...
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently clarified that original signatures are still required for nearly all USCIS forms. This notice comes following the release of an interim policy memorandum in June 2016 that seemed to signal original signatures would no longer be...
The Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC), which is part of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), has notified the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) that it has suspended issuing PERM denials based on recruitment efforts that use terms such as "depends on experience," "competitive,"...
