The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced via "Twitter" that it has placed on hold a rule, initially released at the beginning of March 2020, that would have increased this year's cap on H2B nonagricultural workers by 35,000. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, which...
Answer The American Immigration Lawyers Association reports that there appears to be an issue in the H1B registration system that resulted in some registrations being incorrectly denied as duplicate registrations. Given that the lottery has already taken place, it is not clear whether the USCIS will...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that in-person services at its field offices, asylum offices, and application support centers (ASCs) will remain suspended until at least May 3, 2020. In-person services may resume on May 4, 2020, depending upon what transpires with...
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has announced that, from March 25, 2020, through June 30, 2020, the Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) generally will be sending certified labor certifications (LCs) (i.e., form 9089) by eMail, instead of through the U.S. Postal Service, or...
Note that this page has been updated from the original post. At this time of uncertainty, health and safe practices to avoid spreading or contracting COVID-19 are paramount for our families and the wider community. The State of Maryland considers law practices and law firms to...
On March 30, 2020, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that the list of eligible case types for the 60-day extension of the deadline for response has been expanded. Based on the March 27, 2020 announcement, such eligible cases included requests for evidence...
This afternoon, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that enough initial registrations were submitted to the fiscal year 2021 (FY21) H1B cap. By March 31, 2020, the online accounts will be updated to show one of the following for each registration:Submitted -...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that, because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it will extend the deadlines for responding to requests for evidence (RFEs) and notices of intent to deny (NOIDs). For RFEs and NOIDs dated between March 1 and May...
Most months, Charles Oppenheim, the U.S. Department of State (DOS) Chief of the Visa Control and Reporting Division, provides visa bulletin explanations and predictions. Following the release of the April 2020 Visa Bulletin, Mr. Oppenheim provides some updates in light of the unprecedented situation that...
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia recently ruled in IT Serve Alliance v. L. Francis Cissna that the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) overstepped its authority in issuing its February 2018 memorandum heightening the evidentiary requirements for H1B petitions filed by...
