In recent years, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has focused heavily on the issue of foreign nationals who have multiple H1B registrations filed in the annual H1B lottery. The USCIS continues to closely examine many of the previously approved H1B petitions, issuing notices...
A student in F-1 status, who is on Optional Practical Training (OPT), may have no more than a total of 90 days of unemployment during the regular one-year post-completion OPT period. A student eligible for an additional 24 months of OPT (for a total of...
The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) recently sent a comment to the U.S. Department of State (DOS) regarding the pilot domestic visa renewal program, which ran from January 29, 2024, through April 1, 2024. In its comment, AILA offers numerous suggestions on ways to improve...
When a PERM labor certification case is filed, the employer must state the minimum education and/or experience requirements for the sponsored position. If the employer requires a higher level of education and/or experience than what the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) considers normal for the...
This afternoon, the U.S. Department of State (DOS) released the June 2024 Visa Bulletin. There is little-to-no forward movement in any of the employment-based categories from the previous month. Worse still, the DOS warns of retrogression coming in the near future. All cutoff dates listed...
Although the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) primarily operates inside the United States, the agency has field offices abroad that provide limited services. At one time, the USCIS had as many as 24 overseas offices, until the Trump Administration began shutting them down, as...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently highlighted various key statistics related to the registrations submitted in this year's H1B lottery, arguing that the changes made to the program have succeeded in bringing greater integrity to the H1B program. As explained by the USCIS,...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently announced the incorporation of the U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL) definition of "science or art" into its policy manual for Schedule A, Group II cases. The policy change goes into effect immediately. Background An employer sponsoring a foreign national...
The Murthy Law Firm regularly assists foreign nationals in filing self-sponsored immigrant petitions under the EB2 national interest waiver (NIW) category. In one such case, the immigrant petition (form I-140) was filed for a public safety technology researcher focused in the areas of machine learning,...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) strictly enforces the requirement to file the optional practical training (OPT) application within 30 days of the date the designated school official (DSO) enters the OPT recommendation into the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) record, and...
