The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has created an assistance desk for employment-based, fifth preference (EB5) investors. This effort to improve service for EB5 cases was launched by the National Visa Center (NVC) on February 22, 2016. An overview of the EB5 program is available...
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published the final STEM optional practical training (OPT) rule on March 11, 2016. In order to facilitate the transition to the new regulation, the DHS has added a STEM OPT hub to its Study in the States web portal. Transition Guidance...
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) April 2016 Visa Bulletin is now available. The backlogged employment-based, second preference (EB2) and employment-based, third-preference (EB3) categories for India and China have minimal advancement in the final action (FA) charts. There is no movement in the dates for filing...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has released the latest charts detailing the number of employment-based (EB) adjustment-of-status applications (form I-485) that are pending with the agency. The charts break down the number of pending I-485s by country of chargeability, EB category, and priority date...
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) released the April 2016 Visa Bulletin this afternoon. In the employment-based categories, there is no change from last month in the dates for filing (DF) chart. As for the final action (FA) chart, the movement is extremely limited.The employment-based, second...
This morning, the final version of the revised STEM optional practical training (OPT) rule was unveiled. It will be published in the Federal Register on Friday, March 11, 2016 and will go into effect on May 10th. The rule will allow STEM OPT extensions of up...
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a proposed rule in December 2015, entitled Retention of EB1, EB2, and EB3 Immigrant Workers and Program Improvements Affecting High-Skilled Nonimmigrant Workers. As indicated in our January 8, 2016 NewsBrief, I-140 EAD Proposal is Limited and Restrictive,...
Each year, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is responsible for setting federal poverty guidelines, which are used to determine whether an individual or family qualifies for certain government benefits. These guidelines are important in the immigration context, particularly with respect to...
On February 9, 2016, New York City (NYC) Mayor Bill de Blasio and Commissioner of the NYC Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), Carmelyn P. Malalis, announced that the CCHR has been designated as an agency authorized to provide U and T visa certification. This makes the...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a final rule that became effective on February 16, 2016, which provides a few revisions to several nonimmigrant visa categories and one immigrant visa category. More specifically, the revisions impact the H1B1 (specialty occupation professionals who are citizens...
