Starting October 1, 2023 USCIS is removing the biometrics requirement (and fee) for all I-539 applications seeking to change of extend status. As a reminder, the biometrics requirement and fee were created in 2019 and in 2021 USCIS removed [...]
Unlawful presence is defined in Section 212(a)(9)(B)(ii) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) to mean that an alien is deemed to be unlawfully present in the U.S. if the alien is (1) present after the expiration [...]
Many of our clients and readers have been anxiously awaiting news from Washington, DC regarding the funding of the federal government and the threat of shutdown and how it would impact immigration processing. We are providing an overview [...]
The U.S. State Department has released the October 2023 Visa Bulletin which is the first Visa Bulletin for the new fiscal year. The headline in the upcoming month’s Visa [...]
With the recent increase of remote or hybrid work arrangements, and the return to office to third-party client sites, we would like to provide a reminder of the relevant H-1B rules for compliance when changing (or having already [...]
Many of our readers are aware of the extraordinary demand for first-time H-1B "cap" registrations over the past few years and especially after USCIS introduced a pre-registration system during the 2021 fiscal year. Under the previous H-1B "cap" filing system, a petition would have to prepare and submit a full H-1B petition (with [...]
USCIS has just completed the second round of the H-1B cap selection lottery and notified the selected applicants. The August 2023 selection round was due to the fact that a (significant) number of H-1B cap registrations [...]
This year’s busy H-1B cap season included many H-1B employee candidates who hold F-1 status and who are employed in the U.S. pursuant to F-1 optional practical training (OPT) status. Out of these F-1 visa holders, many [...]
The U.S. State Department has released the September 2023 Visa Bulletin which is the twelfth and final Visa Bulletin for the fiscal year. The headline in the upcoming month’s Visa Bulletin is the fact that [...]
The U.S. State Department has just released the August 2023 Visa Bulletin which is the eleventh Visa Bulletin for the fiscal year. The headline in the upcoming month’s Visa Bulletin is cutoff date introduction for EB-1 Rest [...]
