Today, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) proposed eliminating the D/S ("duration of status") designation routinely issued on I-94s for nonimmigrants in F, J, or I status. If the proposed regulation is enacted, I-94s for these categories would instead be issued with a set...
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has finally released the October 2020 Visa Bulletin, which is the first visa bulletin of fiscal year 2021 (FY21). The visa bulletin also includes some encouraging predictions for coming months. All cutoff dates listed refer to the dates in...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that, in light of the recent decision by a federal appeals court to lift the injunction on enforcement of the October 2, 2019 public charge rule, this public charge rule will be applied to all applications...
As part of his campaign for the White House, Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee, has detailed his vision for U.S. immigration policy, should he be elected president. On his campaign website, the former Vice President has posted a lengthy overview of his plan to reform...
A U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) final rule scheduled to go into effect on October 2, 2020, will increase most filing fees and provide the USCIS with several additional days to adjudicate cases filed under the premium processing program. In addition, the USCIS is...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is again extending the response time flexibility, initially announced on March 30, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This flexibility applies to applicants and petitioners responding to any of the following, issued from March 1, 2020 through January...
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has sent a proposed regulation to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) that, if implemented, would potentially make significant changes to the H1B program. The text of the rule has not yet been released but based on...
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) announced today that, in light of a federal court order issued on September 4, 2020, consulates may resume processing fiscal year 2020 diversity visa (DV) cases to the degree that "local health conditions and post resources allow." However, consulates...
The Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) has issued a new broadcast message advising designated school officials (DSOs) that it will soon begin issuing notices to F-1 students participating in optional practical training (OPT) if the student does not mention information on the employer in...
U.S. consular sections across India have resumed accepting drop box applications to renew F, M, J, H, and L visas from qualifying applicants. In addition to the standard drop box requirements, H and L visa applicants must qualify for one of the exceptions to the...
