Tag Archives: H-1B visa

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) hosted a DHS stakeholders call entitled “H-1B Cap and Filing Tips Stakeholder Engagement” that I participated in on March 6. It made me think about “merit-based” immigration and how we have not seen movement of any real proposals by the Trump administration – or his supporters in Congress.  I wondered what they have in mind for merit-based immigration and would it actually work for my clients,… More

On February 22, 2018, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a new policy memo making it more restrictive for H-1B employers who have their consultants work at third party work sites to fulfil client projects. The new policy memo updates the January 2010 agency memo that outlined the guidelines in determining “Employer-Employee Relationship for Adjudication of H-1B Petitions, Including Third-Party Site Placements,” which is also called Neufeld memo.… More

New changes to H-1B Lottery; H-4 EADs on the chopping block; AC 21 H-1B extensions in trouble; and how to plan for it all
Changes to the H-1B Program and the H-1B Visa Lottery

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) plans to revise the lottery process for the upcoming fiscal year. The announcement may come as early as next month. It proposes a pre-registration system for cap-subject H-1B visa applicants.… More

This year saw significant changes to immigration policy in the United States. Here is a brief roundup of recent developments that companies should continue to monitor in 2018.

The Travel Ban
BACKGROUND

President Trump issued the third revision of his travel ban entitled “Presidential Proclamation Enhancing Vetting Capabilities and Processes for Detecting Attempted Entry into the United States by Terrorists or Other Public-Safety Threats” on September 24,… More

On Monday, October 23, 2017, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reversed a long-standing policy regarding non-immigrant extension petitions. Historically, as memorialized in an April 23, 2004 USCIS policy guidance, USCIS officers adjudicating a non-immigrant H-1B, L-1, TN-1, or O-1 visa petitions were instructed to give deference to the findings of a previously approved petition, as long as the key elements underlying the petition were unchanged and there was no evidence of a material error or fraud related to the prior determination.… More

Within the next week, President Trump is expected to issue another Executive Order (“EO”) concerning high-skilled workers and foreign students, most likely to be titled “Protecting American Jobs and Workers by Strengthening the Integrity of Foreign Workers Visa Programs.” Unlike the EO that was signed last Friday, which imposed an immediate travel ban on foreign nationals from seven countries, it appears that this new EO is not expected to immediately terminate any individual’s work authorization or visa status,… More