The EB-3 and EB-5 Unreserved immigrant visa categories are immediately unavailable and will remain so through the remainder of fiscal year 2024, which ends September 30, 2024. USCIS should nevertheless continue to accept EB-3 and EB-5 Unreserved adjustment of status…
As of August 1, 2024, the Department of Labor (DOL) was conducting analyst review for PERM applications filed in July 2023 or earlier, and processing audited cases with priority dates of December 2022 or earlier. DOL is working on standard…
The Final Action date for EB-3 Professionals and Skilled Workers will retrogress by one year, to December 1, 2020, for all countries, except for EB-3 China and India, which are unchanged. The Final Action date for EB-3 Other Workers will…
USCIS selected an additional 13,607 unique beneficiaries in the second round of the FY 2025 H-1B cap lottery. As a result of the second drawing, the overall selection rate of unique beneficiaries increased to approximately 29%, from approximately 26% after…
USCIS announced today that it has completed a second lottery of properly submitted FY 2025 H-1B cap petitions to meet the regular cap of 65,000. Employers and their counsel should review their H-1B registration accounts to determine whether they have received any…
Today USCIS announced that it plans to run a second lottery of properly submitted FY 2025 H-1B cap registrations to select additional unique beneficiaries. The additional lottery is taking place because USCIS did not receive enough H-1B cap petitions during…
The White House has designated Lebanese nationals for Deferred Enforced Departure (DED). The DED order blocks removal of certain Lebanese nationals from the United States for 18 months, and instructs the Department of Homeland Security to provide employment authorization to…
Consistent with the Venezuela National Assembly decree of June 25, 2024, the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) webpages have been updated to reflect DHS recognition of a new ten-year auto-extension of…
The Department of Homeland Security has added an additional field to the list of academic degrees eligible for the F-1 STEM optional practical training (OPT) program. The STEM OPT program, which allows F-1 students with a qualifying STEM degree to hold…
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has extended and redesignated Somalia for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 18 months, from September 18, 2024 through March 17, 2026. The registration period for eligible individuals to submit initial TPS applications under the…