The U.S. Department of State (DOS) Chief of the Visa Control and Reporting Division, Charles Oppenheim, provides visa bulletin explanations and predictions. This month, Mr. Oppenheim provides some updated predictions regarding the employment-based categories, including a sobering long-term prediction for the employment-based, second preference (EB2)...
As stakeholders are no doubt aware, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) under the Trump Administration has taken a narrow view of the educational requirements that are permitted for a position to be considered a specialty occupation for H1B purposes. Specifically, the USCIS has...
The dates for filing (DF) chart is to be used for all family- and employment-based categories in the December 2018 Visa Bulletin, per the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) update to its adjustment-of-status filing charts webpage. This is the third month in a row...
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has released the December 2018 Visa Bulletin. There is a bit of movement for most of the oversubscribed categories, including in the employment-based, first preference (EB1) category. All cutoff dates referenced refer to the dates in the final action...
President Donald Trump recently announced that he intends to revoke birthright citizenship through an executive order. However, this appears to be little more than political posturing, as legal experts nearly all agree that the President has no ability to alter this legal right provided by...
This evening, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that, effective November 19, 2018, implementation of the policy memorandum on the issuance of notices to appear (NTAs) is being expanded to include various additional categories of foreign nationals. More specifically, the NTA memo may...
This afternoon, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld a lower court's decision to block the Trump Administration from ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. For the time being, the DACA program remains in place. The Administration is expected...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) policy manual has been updated with regard to marriage and cohabitation requirements for those applying for citizenship based on marriage to a U.S. citizen (USC). As summarized in the USCIS policy alert, the policy update clarifies how long...
Canada and the United States have reached an agreement to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with a new trade deal, the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). Mexico had reached an agreement with the U.S. earlier on the matter. Congress must agree to the changes...
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released updated instructions for civil surgeons regarding medical screening for tuberculosis (TB) for applicants for permanent residency, otherwise known as green card applicants. The new instructions replace the tuberculin skin test (TST) as the initial tuberculosis...
