The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a news release on April 3, 2017, announcing "multiple measures to further deter and detect H1B visa fraud and abuse." Per the release, the USCIS will use new criteria to determine which H1B employers and worksites to...
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is "actively reconsider[ing] whether to revise …" the regulation that allows certain H-4 spouses to apply for employment authorization documents (EADs). This news comes via a DHS court filing, which asks the court to suspend any action on...
On March 31, 2017, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) released a policy memorandum that may affect the ability of some persons employed as computer programmers to obtain H1B status. The new memorandum specifically revokes a December 22, 2000 memo that had been issued ...
The Nebraska Service Center (NSC) advised the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) today that it is taking longer than normal to issue receipt notices via eMail for petitions filed requesting premium processing. The NSC provided AILA with the following statement: "NSC is receiving record high volumes...
Late last night, the same federal judge in Hawaii who issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) that blocked the Trump Administration's March 6, 2017 travel ban from taking effect, agreed to convert the TRO into a preliminary injunction. A preliminary injunction is similar to the...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will reject any H1B cap case filed with a fee payment that is "… not honored by the bank or financial institution," (e.g., a check 'bounced' for insufficient funds). This is a change from prior years, when the...
Charles Oppenheim, Chief of the Visa Control and Reporting Division for the U.S. Department of State (DOS), provides visa bulletin explanations and predictions almost every month. The update this month for the April 2017 Visa Bulletin provides predictions related to most employment-based categories, as well...
Earlier today, it was revealed that the U.S. Department of State (DOS) has issued several "cables" (i.e. memos) over the past two weeks related to the latest travel ban executive order (EO), which was signed by President Trump on March 6, 2017, but has yet...
The Nebraska Service Center (NSC) is taking longer than normal to adjudicate H-4 I-539 applications and I-765 applications for H-4 employment authorization documents (EADs) that are filed concurrently with H1B petitions for premium processing.While there is no premium processing available for H-4 or EAD applications,...
The Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) recently decided in a non-precedent decision that a provisional certificate from an Indian university was the equivalent of a degree. This favorable decision hopefully will lead the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to institute a formal policy of recognizing...
