The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that, effective October 19, 2020, the filing fee for premium processing is increasing to $2,500. The only exception to this is for I-129 petitions being filed requesting H2B or R-1 status, the fee is increasing to...
Answer UPDATE: The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) reports that some members have successfully made premium processing requests with I-140 downgrade petitions. However, many others have reported that their premium processing requests were rejected, and some even had their entire petitions rejected because of the accompanying...
Answer For our clients who are on H1B, we normally recommend that they remain on H1B until the green card is issued, if possible. The main reason for this is as a simple precaution in case the I-485 is denied. (i.e., If an I-485 applicant maintains...
The October 2020 Visa Bulletin, future predictions for the Visa Bulletin, and documentation required to file an I-485 application are the topics of discussion for this podcast, recorded 07.Oct.2020. Employer specific issues such as I-140 EB2 to EB3 downgrade cases and future employment also are...
Today, Thursday, October 8, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published an interim final rule, entitled "Strengthening Wage Protections for the Temporary and Permanent Employment of Certain Aliens in the United States," that changes how prevailing wages are calculated. This applies to foreign national...
Answer There is no rule that specifically prohibits this. We have done this successfully in the past. But, depending on the circumstances, there may be risks in doing so. (08.Oct.2020)Sheela Murthy and other senior attorneys provide guidance that clarifies the law. For information on our FREE...
Answer The latest predictions are that the final action date for EB2 and EB3 India will continue to advance. But, it remains to be seen whether the USCIS will continue to allow for use of the dates for filing chart next month. (08.Oct.2020)Sheela Murthy and other...
Update: The unpublished version of the DOL rule can be found here, and the unpublished version of the DHS rule is available here. It has been reported that on October 6, 2020, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that it will issue two rules by...
Today, a federal district court in California issued a preliminary injunction, blocking the enforcement of President Trump's June 22, 2020 executive order that bans entry of certain nonimmigrants in H, L, or J status. However, this injunction only applies to the plaintiffs in the pending...
On September 30, 2020, the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2021 and Other Extensions Act was signed into law, funding the federal government through December 11, 2020. Included in the bill is a provision that dramatically changes the premium processing service offered by the U.S. Citizenship and...
