The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) has issued a notice requesting amicus curiae (friend of the court) briefs on a topic that is of tremendous importance to many foreign nationals who are being sponsored for permanent residency (commonly, "green card") by...
On April 13, 2015, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced the completion of the H1B random lottery process for fiscal year 2016 (FY16). As previously noted, the total count of about 233,000 greatly exceeded the cap limits, and was substantially higher than the approximately...
This afternoon, the U.S. Department of State (DOS) released the May 2015 Visa Bulletin. As expected, the employment-based, second preference (EB2) category for people born in India and China continues to advance. EB2 India moves ahead by more than seven months, to April 15, 2008. EB2...
On April 13, 2015, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced completion of the H1B cap lottery selection processes. The USCIS reported receipt of almost 233,000 H1B petitions, well in excess of the limits of 65,000 for the regular cap and 20,000 advanced-degree exemptions...
The Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) released a precedent decision today, April 9, 2015, requiring employers to file amended H1B petitions for changes in employment location. The AAO determined that amended H1B petitions are required when employers move H1B workers to locations not listed in their...
From time to time, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) internally reassigns pending cases by moving them from one USCIS service center to another. These case transfers are an effort to balance workloads between service centers. Such a shift was announced at the end...
Historically, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has been available to make corrections on I-94s issued at U.S. ports of entry that contain errors. Many such requests for correction are addressed during in-person visits to CBP deferred inspection units (DIUs). Now, the Houston Field...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today, (April 7, 2015) that the H1B cap has been reached for fiscal year 2016 (FY16). The USCIS confirms receipt of filings in excess of both the 65,000 regular cap as well as the 20,000 advanced-degree exemptions...
As of March 30, 2015, the I-90 form, which is used to apply for a replacement permanent resident card (commonly, "green card"), can be filed online through the USCIS Electronic Immigration System (USCIS ELIS). This is part of the ongoing effort by the U.S. Citizenship...
President Obama has announced a program, known as TechHire, which will apply $100 million collected from the H1B training fees toward technical training for the U.S. workforce. As explained by the White House, the United States has "[o]ver half a million of those job openings …...
