FY 2021 Diversity Visa Lottery Registration Opens October 2
The State Department will begin accepting online registrations for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 Diversity Visa (DV) lottery starting Wednesday, October 2, 2019 at noon EDT. Foreign nationals who wish to enter the lottery have until Tuesday, November 5, 2019 at…
Syria TPS Re-Registration Period Opens
The Department of Homeland Security has extended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Syria for 18 months, through March 31, 2021. Current Syrian TPS beneficiaries will have until November 22, 2019 to request an 18-month extension of status and work authorization,…
Visa Bulletin – October 2019
The Department of State posted the visa bulletin for October today. USCIS advised that it will accept family and employment-based adjustment of status petitions for October based upon the filing date. See https://www.uscis.gov/visabulletininfo for the updated information. In recent Visa Bulletins,…
H-4 EAD Rescission Proposal Unlikely Before Spring 2020
The Department of Homeland Security has informed a federal appeals court that a proposed regulation to rescind the H-4 employment authorization program is not likely to be published before Spring 2020 and indicates that even this estimate is “aspirational.” The…
DHS Proposes to Collect Social Media Information from Adjustment Applicants and Other Immigration Benefits Applicants
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is seeking to collect five years of social media history from applicants for certain immigration benefits, including Visa Waiver Program travelers and, adjustment of status and naturalization applicants, according to a Federal Register notice published today. If…
DHS Proposes H-1B Cap Registration Fee
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is proposing to impose a fee on employers who file H-1B cap registrations under the forthcoming online registration system. Employers would be required to pay a $10 fee per registration. The proposed rule will be…
Current Form I-9 to Remain in Use After August 31st Expiration Date
The current version of the I-9 employment eligibility form will remain in use beyond its August 31, 2019 expiration date. USCIS announced that employers should continue to use the current version of the form – which bears an edition date of July 17, 2017…
U.S. Customs and Border Protection experiences computer outage
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is experiencing a temporary outage with its processing systems at various air ports of entry and is taking immediate action to address the technology disruption,” the Department of Homeland Security agency said in a statement.…
EB-3 Unavailable Through September 30
The State Department has notified the American Immigration Lawyers Association that all EB-3 categories are now immediately unavailable and will remain so through September 30, the end of FY 2019. The annual immigrant visa quotas have been reached on all…
USCIS Completes Return of Unselected FY 2020 H-1B Cap Petitions
USCIS announced today that it has finished returning H-1B petitions that were not selected in the FY 2020 cap lottery. Employers with cases not chosen for processing should receive their returned petition packages and fee checks by August 29, 2019.
Visa Bulletin – September 2019
The Department of State posted the visa bulletin for September today. See https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/visa-bulletin/2019/visa-bulletin-for-september-2019.html for the visa bulletin for September 2019. USCIS advised that it will accept adjustment of status petitions for employment-based adjustment of status petitions for September based upon…
DHS issues New Public Charge Rule Subjects Adjustment Applicants and Non-Immigrants to Higher Scrutiny
On August 14, 2019, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a final rule related to public charge in the Federal Register. According to DHS, the rule will not take effect until October 15, 2019. Additionally, many organizations have indicated…
DHS to Extend TPS for Syria
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has determined that conditions in Syria warrant continued Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for the country’s citizens. Acting Secretary Kevin K. McAleenan announced that the ongoing armed conflict and other extraordinary conditions that prompted Syria’s initial TPS designation continue to pose a serious threat to the personal…
New STEM OPT Worksite Inspections
The Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) unit of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has launched on-site inspections of the STEM Optional Practical Training (OPT) employment of certain F-1 trainees. The purpose of the inspections is to review employer…
New EB-5 Regulations Take Effect November 21
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has released a long-awaited final regulation that will make significant changes to the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program, including an 80% increase in investment minimums and restrictions that will limit EB-5 projects in urban areas. The new rules will…
USCIS Data Confirm Continued High Rates of Nonimmigrant RFEs and Denials in FY 2019
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services data for the first three quarters of fiscal year (FY) 2019 continue to show high rates of requests for evidence (RFE) and denials in several key employer-sponsored nonimmigrant categories. This trend remains consistent with the Trump…
House Passes Bill to Eliminate Per-Country Limits on Employment-Based Green Cards
The U.S. House of Representatives yesterday passed the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act (H.R. 1044), a bill that would change the way employment-based (EB) immigrant visas are allocated by eliminating country-specific quotas. The bill would also raise the per-country quota…
Visa Bulletin – August 2019
The Department of State posted the visa bulletin for August today. See https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/visa-bulletin/2019/visa-bulletin-for-august-2019.html for the visa bulletin for August 2019. USCIS advised that it will accept adjustment of status petitions for employment-based adjustment of status petitions for August based upon…
Supreme Court to Take Up DACA Termination Cases Next Term
During its next term starting October 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether the Trump Administration had the authority to terminate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. The Court announced that it will consolidate review of three…
Visa Bulletin – July 2019
The Department of State posted the visa bulletin for July today. See https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/visa-bulletin/2019/visa-bulletin-for-july-2019.html for the visa bulletin for July 2019. USCIS advised that it will accept adjustment of status petitions for employment-based adjustment of status petitions for July based upon…
Cuccinelli Named Acting Director of USCIS
Department of Homeland Security Acting Secretary Kevin McAleenan today announced that Kenneth T. (Ken) Cuccinelli will serve as the new acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), effective June 10, 2019. Cuccinelli previously served as Virginia’s attorney general…
Applicants May Need to Travel Farther for Personal Interviews
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) plans to reassign some green card and naturalization cases from local field offices with large backlogs to those with fewer cases. According to the agency, the change is intended to decrease the disparity in case…
USCIS Will Begin to Accept Premium Processing for Remaining H-1B Cap Petitions on June 10th
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that starting June 10, it will accept premium processing requests for all remaining FY 2020 H-1B cap cases (including consular notification cases which were previously ineligible for premium processing). Please seehttps://www.uscis.gov/news/alerts/premium-processing-begins-remaining-h-1b-cap-subject-petitions-june-10 for more…
House of Representatives Passes Bill for Dreamers and Others
Late Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 6, the American Dream and Promise Act. H.R. 6 would provide a path to permanent residence and U.S. citizenship for certain foreign nationals who entered the United States before the age of…
E-1 (Treaty Trader) and E-2 (Treaty Investor) Visas Available for New Zealand Nationals Starting June 10th
Starting June 10, 2019, eligible New Zealand companies and nationals will be able to apply for E-1 treaty trader and E-2 treaty investor temporary visa status. The Embassy in New Zealand announced the upcoming availability of the E visa categories this week,…