The U.S. Department of State (DOS) is proposing a number of changes to both the online application for a nonimmigrant visa (form DS-160) and the electronic application for an immigrant (form DS-260). The most significant changes to the forms would be to include requests for...
On April 6, 2018, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that the H1B cap for fiscal year 2019 (FY19) was reached. The USCIS then completed the H1B lottery selection process on April 12, 2017. Some 190,000 petitions were filed this year, which is...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has updated its STEM OPT webpage to reflect an apparent change in the agency’s interpretation of the 2016 STEM optional practical training (OPT) rule for F-1 students. Specifically, the USCIS now interprets the 24-month STEM OPT extension rule...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has adopted Matter of S- Inc. as a precedent decision, establishing new policy guidance for USCIS personnel. In this case, the AAO found that the absence of a legal relationship between two or more entities does not necessarily...
Today, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it has completed the randomized H1B cap lottery selection process. The USCIS reported that it received 190,098 petitions this year, which is a slight reduction from the 199,000 H1B petitions received last year, and is...
Today, the U.S. Department of State (DOS) released the May 2018 Visa Bulletin. In it, the cutoff date for the employment-based, third preference (EB3) category for India moves forward by a few months. Also, a cutoff date is established for the employment-based, fifth preference (EB5)...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently launched a pilot website to test a redesign of its processing time website, which now displays the data for all forms in an easier-to-read format. In the past, the published processing times of the USCIS have been...
Fifteen members of the U.S. Congress wrote a joint letter to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristjen Nielson in March 2018, urging her to reconsider the department's plan to terminate the program that allows certain H-4 spouses to obtain employment authorization documents...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that the H1B cap limit for fiscal year 2019 (FY19) has been reached. This applies to both the 65,000 regular H1B cap limit as well as the 20,000 advanced degree (masters) cap exemptions.As the H1B case...
On April 3, 2018, the U.S. Department of Education announced that the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS) is once again deemed a nationally recognized accrediting agency. Moreover, this decision applies retroactively to December 12, 2016, which is when the ACICS was stripped...
