The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that, beginning Tuesday, February 19, 2019, premium processing will resume for all H1B petitions filed on or before December 21, 2018. Premium processing provides a guarantee that the USCIS will take some adjudicative action on the...
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued the final rule on January 30, 2018 for H1B cap-subject petitions. The new regulation makes a procedural change for the USCIS, which should result in an increase in the percentage of foreign nationals selected in the lottery...
Based on information that the Murthy Law Firm has received in recent months, it appears that the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is now conducting site visits based on pending H1B petitions. While the site inspection program has been in place since 2009, until...
1) We have heard that there was a raid on students of a certain university called the University of Farmington in Michigan. What is the background on this university? The University of Farmington ("the University") was apparently set up by the U.S. federal government, in 2015,...
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) posted a final rule reversing the order by which the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) selects H1B petitions under the H1B regular cap and the advanced-degree exemption, and it introduces an electronic registration requirement for petitioners seeking to...
When a foreign national applies for U.S. citizenship, the individual typically must pass a civics test prior to approval of the application for naturalization (form N-400). There are 100 possible civics questions the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) officer may ask during a naturalization...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that, beginning Monday, January 28, 2019, premium processing will resume for all fiscal year 2019 (FY19) H1B cap cases, including the advanced degree exemption “master’s cap” cases. Premium processing provides a guarantee that the USCIS will...
A new online fee calculator has been added to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) website to help stakeholders properly calculate the amount owed when applying for certain immigration benefits. This calculator is designed to help reduce the number of applications and petitions the...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has released a policy memorandum that provides USCIS officers with guidance on when the in-person interview requirement may be waived for the beneficiary of a petition to remove the conditions on residency (form I-751). Background on I-751 Petition to...
In order for an L-1 petition to be approved, one of the basic requirements is that the beneficiary has worked abroad for a related entity for at least one year in the past three years. This is often referred to as the "one-in-three" rule. The...
