The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) revises application and petition forms from time to time. These changes are often tied to new legal and procedural requirements, or efforts to enhance security and/or efficiency. A recent change was made to the application for naturalization (form...
Charles Oppenheim, Chief of the Immigrant Visa Control Unit at the U.S. Department of State (DOS), recently provided expectations for cutoff date movement for the remainder of fiscal year 2014 (FY14). There is no one better positioned than Mr. Oppenheim, as the chief of the...
Many F-1 students on optional practical training (OPT) are the beneficiaries of H1B petitions filed against the fiscal year 2015 cap. Some of these F-1 students have learned, or will learn shortly, that they are among the lucky ones whose H1B petitions were selected in...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that, as of January 2014, more than half a million employers are participating in the E-Verify program. E-Verify allows employers to verify online whether an individual is legally authorized to work in the United States. The increased...
On April 10, 2014, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) completed the fiscal year 2015 (FY15) lottery process for both advanced degree (or master's) cap and regular H1B cap cases. However, many employers, potential H1B workers, and family members are still anxiously awaiting the...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has begun issuing requests for evidence (RFEs) for updated medical examinations in connection with long-pending adjustment of status cases (I-485 forms). The reason for this development is that many medical examinations are set to expire on May 31,...
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) WebSite provides detailed and helpful information about the wait times at various U.S. ports of entry (POEs). While there can be considerable variation at any given port, the information provided by the CBP can be useful in making...
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has issued the May 2014 Visa Bulletin. There is little to cheer for in this month's bulletin, with no unexpected forward movement in any of the categories. Further, the DOS again warns that retrogression may be necessary for the...
The Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) recently released a quarterly report on the statistical data in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS). The report provides interesting and useful insight on the demographics of international students in the United States, and a comparison between...
On April 10, 2014, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced the completion of the random selection lottery of H1B cap subject petitions filed for fiscal year 2015 (FY15). The USCIS has completed both the lottery for selection of the 20,000 advanced-degree exemptions (or,...
