The Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) at the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has announced that, as of 12:00 EST on October 1, 2019, labor condition applications (LCAs) required for H1B, H1B1, and E-3 petitions must be submitted via the Foreign Labor Application Gateway...
Recent college graduates in F-1 status are sometimes able to bridge the time between the expiration of their optional practical training (OPT) and the October 1st start date of H1B status through a benefit known as "cap gap" OPT. This benefit extends the OPT period...
As announced in December 2018, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is in the process of implementing a registration system for employers seeking to file cap-subject H1B petitions. This system would replace the current H1B "lottery" system. Today, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced a change today in the direct mailing addresses for certain H1B petitioners.As has been USCIS policy since 2017, most H1B petitions must be filed at a designated service center based on the state where the petitioner's primary...
For the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to approve an application for naturalization (form N-400), the applicant for citizenship generally must first pass a U.S. civics and history test, and demonstrate the ability to read, write, and speak English. The USCIS has announced that...
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has released the September 2019 Visa Bulletin, which is the last visa bulletin of fiscal year 2019. There is some forward movement in several categories, due to an unexpected drop in usage. Meanwhile, a number of other categories retrogress,...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is scheduled to publish a final rule on August 14, 2019 that will greatly expand the categories of public benefits looked at to determine whether a foreign national may be deemed a public charge (i.e., a person who...
It is fairly common for dependents of a nonimmigrant worker to file an application to extend / change nonimmigrant status (form I-539) concurrently with the principal spouse's petition for a nonimmigrant worker (form I-129). Historically, if the I-129 was filed with a request for premium...
In a recent letter to Congress, several organizations, including the American Bar Association (ABA) and the National Association of Immigration Judges, called for the creation of immigration courts that are independent from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). These groups cited the conflict of interest...
In early June 2019, the Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) at the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) began rolling out the Foreign Labor Application Gateway (FLAG) system, a cloud-based system, which is replacing iCERT. On June 10th, OFLC started accepting applications for prevailing wage...
