The fiscal year 2013 (FY13) H1B cap-filing season began this week. April 2, 2012 was the first day for such filings at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Readers affected by this should regularly check MurthyDotCom and the MurthyBulletin as your reliable source of...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) launched its Entrepreneurs-in-Residence (EIR) initiative through an information summit on February 22, 2012. The EIR initiative is an important component of President Barack Obama's efforts to facilitate immigration benefits for foreign national entrepreneurs who will help to create...
As regular readers of MurthyDotCom and the MurthyBulletin are aware, the employment-based, second preference (EB2) cutoff dates in the U.S. Department of State (DOS) Visa Bulletin have advanced rapidly in recent months. Many individuals are closer to completion of the permanent residence (or "green card)...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is considering changes to the immigrant visa waiver process. These potential modifications are in response to recommendations for changes in processing Form I-601 applications made by the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman (CIS Ombudsman). While the changes are...
As the H1B cap filing season draws near, many F-1 students have concerns about how to best coordinate their eligibility for Optional Practical Training (OPT) with the timing of their employers' cap-subject H1B petitions. Our examination of this matter, as it applies to F-1 students...
As many MurthyDotCom and MurthyBulletin readers are aware, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will begin accepting H1B cap-subject filings for fiscal year 2013 (FY13) as of Monday, April 2, 2012. The significance of April 2nd is that it is the first business day...
Parts 1 and 2 of this article examine some of the major immigration developments in 2011, and analyze the potential impact of those developments for 2012. We previously discussed the forward movement of the EB2 India and China cutoff dates in the visa bulletin. Here...
This series of articles examines some of the key immigration developments of 2011. We discuss how these developments could affect MurthyDotCom and MurthyBulletin readers in 2012 and make recommendations for strategic planning on the U.S. immigration law front in 2012. Our focus here is the...
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) announced that the U.S. Consulate at Chennai, India stopped processing immigrant visa (IV) petitions as of January 1, 2012. The U.S. Embassy in New Delhi and U.S. Consulate in Mumbai are now the only locations in India conducting interviews...
As previously announced to MurthyDotCom and MurthyBulletin readers, the H1B cap for fiscal year 2012 (FY12) was reached November 22, 2011. Explained here is the process for cases filed on or before November 22, 2011, as well as procedures for initiating H1B cap cases for...
