With the arrival of fiscal year 2022 (FY22) H1B cap season, foreign nationals and employers should be aware of some important nuances of the H1B advanced-degree exemption, often referred to as the "master's cap." Clearly, the 20,000 H1B cap exemptions can be quite valuable for...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is providing additional flexibilities to qualifying F-1 students filing form I-765 based on OPT. These flexibilities are being provided because of ongoing processing delays at the USCIS and are available only to I-765 applications submitted to the USCIS...
On February 18, 2021, the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021 (USCA) was introduced in both houses of Congress. This bill, which is modeled after a proposal laid out by President Joe Biden, would fundamentally transform the U.S. immigration system. However, this bill has a long...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that, effective immediately, petitioners may request premium processing service for E-3 petitions. The request for premium processing can be made by submitting form I-907 along with the filing fee of $2,500.The E-3 visa category is a...
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has released the March 2021 Visa Bulletin. All cutoff dates listed refer to the dates in the final action chart (i.e., Chart A), unless otherwise specified. Visa Bulletin Summary Employment-Based, First Preference (EB1) Category The cutoff dates for EB1 China and India...
Foreign nationals requesting admission (or readmission) to the United States in H1B status, especially those serving as consultants in the IT industry, continue to face scrutiny from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers stationed at U.S. ports of entry. One tool CBP officers frequently...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will be hosting two webinars next week related to the H1B electronic registration process for fiscal year 2022 (FY22). The first webinar will take place on February 23, 2021, and will provide an overview of the process for...
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...
H1B cap filing season is nearly upon us, and the USCIS again will use the electronic registration system, which was first implemented in March 2020. Below are answers to a number of frequently asked questions sent by both foreign nationals and H1B employers. 1. What...
This afternoon, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that the H1B registration period for the fiscal year 2022 (FY22) will run from noon Eastern Time (ET) March 9 through noon ET on March 25, 2021. As discussed in yesterday's MurthyDotCom NewsFlash, USCIS Will...
