On July 2, 2019, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman is putting on a teleconference related to H1B enforcement issues. The following topics will be covered during the teleconference:Compliance and systematic review of H1B petitions...
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 July 2019 Visa Bulletin, Mr. Oppenheim explained the reasoning for making the family-based, second preference A...
In 2017, the Trump Administration began the implementation of an "extreme vetting" program for certain foreign nationals requesting admission to the United States. As part of this program, a foreign national applying for a visa at a U.S. consulate abroad may be asked to complete...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has updated the Adjudicators Field Manual (AFM) with regard to P1S essential support personnel for individual athletes. This update does not represent a substantive change, but instead is intended to prevent incorrect approval periods. More specifically, the update...
The focus of this teleconference is recent trends in requests for evidence (RFEs) for H1B petitions after cap season. Attorneys from the Murthy Law Firm discuss issues related to the right to control, specialty occupations, CPT & OPT, etc, and provide tips for preparing a...
The July 2019 Visa Bulletin has been released by the U.S. Department of State (DOS). There are some notable movements in family-based (FB) as well as employment-based (EB) categories. Most significantly, the F2A category becomes current for all countries of chargeability, as well as the...
On May 20, 2019, the Texas Service Center (TSC) began accepting certain cap-exempt H1B petitions for processing. Beginning July 19, 2019, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) may reject any petition not filed at the appropriate service center. General H1B Filing Address and Other Information Until...
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has issued new guidance regarding rejection criteria for the petition for a nonimmigrant worker (form I-129). Beginning August 5, 2019, the USCIS will reject any petition that does not include the petitioner's name and primary U.S. office...
Effective Monday, June 10, 2019, in addition to any cap-subject H1B petition filed for regular processing that requested a change of status, the USCIS will also accept filings of premium processing requests of all remaining cap-subject petitions. Those employers who elect to "upgrade" their pending...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has updated the Adjudicators Field Manual (AFM) with guidance regarding the processing of marriage-based green card applications that involve a U.S. sponsor or foreign national spouse under the age of eighteen (18). As of April 21, 2019, certain...
