The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has temporarily suspended offering in-person service at passport agencies during the COVID-19 epidemic. The only exception for this is if the applicant needs a U.S. passport due to a "qualified life-or-death emergency."U.S. citizens may still apply in person at...
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced via "Twitter" that it has placed on hold a rule, initially released at the beginning of March 2020, that would have increased this year's cap on H2B nonagricultural workers by 35,000. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, which...
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Department of State (DOS) National Visa Center (NVC) has temporarily reduced its staff. This has hampered the ability of the NVC to respond to queries submitted via the Ask NVC form. Accordingly, the NVC is instructing stakeholders to...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that in-person services at its field offices, asylum offices, and application support centers (ASCs) will remain suspended until at least May 3, 2020. In-person services may resume on May 4, 2020, depending upon what transpires with...
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has announced that, from March 25, 2020, through June 30, 2020, the Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) generally will be sending certified labor certifications (LCs) (i.e., form 9089) by eMail, instead of through the U.S. Postal Service, or...
Note that this page has been updated from the original post. At this time of uncertainty, health and safe practices to avoid spreading or contracting COVID-19 are paramount for our families and the wider community. The State of Maryland considers law practices and law firms to...
The U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on March 30, 2020, that previously submitted biometrics will be reused to process applications for employment authorization (Form I-765), submitted by any applicant who had an appointment scheduled with an application support center (ASC) on or...
On March 30, 2020, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that the list of eligible case types for the 60-day extension of the deadline for response has been expanded. Based on the March 27, 2020 announcement, such eligible cases included requests for evidence...
The Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP), which is part of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), recently issued a broadcast message to advise SEVP-certified schools that they may need to adapt procedures and policies to alleviate health concerns associated with the COVID-19 epidemic....
This afternoon, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that enough initial registrations were submitted to the fiscal year 2021 (FY21) H1B cap. By March 31, 2020, the online accounts will be updated to show one of the following for each registration:Submitted -...
