Recent news reports confirm that in fiscal year (FY) 2019, U.S. employers continued to face heightened scrutiny from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the area of worksite enforcement. According to statistics provided to The Wall Street Journal, ICE initiated…
An Oregon federal court has issued a preliminary injunction temporarily blocking the Trump Administration from requiring immigrant visa applicants to show that they will have unsubsidized health insurance within 30 days after entry to the United States or the financial…
If you are a foreign national planning to travel abroad this holiday season, please make sure you have the immigration documents and instructions you need to depart and reenter the United States in advance of your trip. Understanding your immigration…
The Departments of Homeland Security and State have announced their Fall 2019 regulatory agendas, which disclose each agency’s immigration rulemaking priorities for the coming months. When and if finalized, these rules could significantly impact the H-1B, L-1 and EB-5 programs,…
Congress has voted to temporarily extend federal government funding through December 20, 2019. The spending measure means that federal functions – including immigration operations – should continue uninterrupted through December 20, 2019, while FY 2020 budget negotiations continue. The bill…
The Department of State posted the visa bulletin for December today. USCIS advised that it will accept family and employment-based adjustment of status petitions for December based upon the filing date. See https://www.uscis.gov/visabulletininfo for the updated information. Immigrant Visa Availability…
The State Department has withdrawn blanket L visa guidelines that would have required applicants to show their eligibility by “clear and convincing evidence” and directed officers to deny applications where questions about the applicant’s eligibility could not be resolved quickly. Under longstanding…
A proposed DHS fee schedule would increase costs for most petitioners and applicants, and would impose new filing and fee requirements for many case types, according to a notice of proposed rulemaking set to be published in the Federal Register on November…
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has determined that an advocacy group representing U.S. technology workers has standing to challenge the Department of Homeland Security’s H-4 employment authorization document (EAD) program, overturning a lower court…
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is moving forward with plans to impose a $10 non-refundable fee for each H-1B registration submitted by petitioning employers in the forthcoming H-1B cap registration portal, according to a rule that will be published in the…