Tag Archives: USCIS

Now that the FY 2019 H-1B cap has been reached, make sure you have a strong immigration compliance programs in place, particularly when it comes to Department of Homeland Security’s H-1B Site Visit program and Department of Labor H-1B/Labor Condition Application Audit program. As reported earlier this year, the government plans to step up targeted site visits and audits for H-1B cases in 2018.… More

Today, April 6, 2018, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) announced that it has received more H-1B cap petitions than the statutory available visas for both the general cap of 65,000 available H-1B visas and the additional 20,000 for U.S. advanced degree exemption, also known as the “master’s cap.” Therefore as mandated, USCIS will run a computerized random selection lottery to choose the petitions that will be selected for processing.… 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

It’s the time of year when U.S. employers are preparing for the upcoming H-1B cap petition filing season. While it appeared that USCIS was considering revising the H-1B lottery process for this fiscal year by adding a new online pre-registration step, USCIS recently confirmed that there are no changes to the process at this time. USCIS will begin accepting H-1B cap-subject petitions in the same manner as they have in years past,… 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

Based on President Trump’s Executive Order 13780, “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States,” USCIS has implemented a new policy to interview all employment-based adjustment of status applicants where the application was filed after March 6, 2017. For applications filed prior to that date, USCIS appears to be randomly selecting some applications for an interview.

USCIS Service Centers will continue to adjudicate the underlying I-140 Petition.… 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

As of Tuesday, September 19, 2017, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) resumed accepting requests for premium processing for cap subject petitions. The process is only available for pending petitions, not new submissions, since USCIS received enough petitions in April to meet the FY 2018 cap. Premium processing of H1B visas was suspended in April to handle the huge rush of new petitions. However,… More

US Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) has announced that beginning October 1, 2017, it will require far more people to appear at its offices for in-person interviews – a change that could potentially impact hundreds of thousands of people applying for permanent residence status.

Specifically, USCIS will be phasing in interviews for all employment-based green card applicants as well as asylees and refugees who are petitioning for a spouse or child to join them in the United States.… More

Late Friday, March 3, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it was indefinitely suspending premium processing for ALL H-1B petitions filed on or after April 3, 2017. This suspension would mean that no FY 2018 cap-subject H-1B petitions could be filed under premium processing.  The same exclusion would apply to H-1B extension petitions, H-1B Change of Employer amendment/extension petitions, and H-1B Cap exempt petitions filed on or after April 3.… More