Immigration
USCIS has indicated that some local USCIS office personnel are being pulled out of the local offices to go to US Military bases to help process the incoming Afghan Refugees. In the local DC Field Office all September (or, at least, many) appointments have been cancelled so that personnel can
Biden
While President Biden submitted his legislation to overhaul the US Immigration system to Congress on his first day in office, the actual text of the bill was not released initially primarily because Congress has not actually introduced the bill in Congress as of yet. At this time, even thought the
H-1B
For those interested in the difficulties that companies and individuals went through over the past 4 years in terms of getting and renewing H-1Bs, a good article has come out on Forbes Magazine and on its website (link here). First, why are H-1Bs important and how do they
Covid-19
The incoming administration has issued an order halting the implementation of all proposed rules that are not yet final for 60 days (so until March 20, 2021). This includes the DOL wage change rules as well as the USCIS changes to the H-1B process (see a description of these
DOL
Just this week, USICS and DOL issued new final rules that will take effect in 60 days. Before getting into the details of the rules, it is important to note that the new Biden administration has stated that it will halt implementation of new rules for at least 60 days
Executive Orders
Yesterday, on the last day that the executive orders limiting the entry of Immigrants and Non-immigrants were in force, the President extended both orders through March 31, 2021. The orders limited US Consulates and Embassies' ability to issue immigrant visas and certain non-immigrant visas, including H-1Bs,
F-1
There are many pitfalls for those in F-1 status. Some of which I have talked about before. I want to discuss two potential pitfalls that have been in the news recently: The creation of a fake University by ICE to ensnare F-1 violators; and, Day 1 CPT. First,
H-1B
Recently USCIS issued a new proposed regulation seeking to change how the H-1B registration and selection process is carried out for H-1B Cap Cases. Currently, USCIS accepts registrations through a certain date and performs a random selection process to determine which applications will be selected and not accepted.
DOL
Recently both the DOL and USCIS adopted new rules regarding H-1bs. We reported on them here. Just this week a US District Court in California found that USCIS and DOL violated the Administrative Procedures Act in promulgating these rules without allowing time for the public to comment on the
Citizenship
Many of you may be wondering why it is taking so long to get your Citizenship approved. Many people who filed a year ago, or more, were not naturalized prior to this year's election, so were unable to vote. What happened? If you thought it was due to
DOL
As you may know, USCIS implemented new regulations on the H-1B process, and the DOL implemented new regulations on the Prevailing Wage process. While there is at least one Court Case pending seeking an injunction on both of these regulations, it is still worthwhile going through the major changed
Fees
Today the US District Court for the Northern District of California enjoined DHS and USCIS from putting their new Fee rule into effect on October 2, 2020. The Court agreed with the plaintiffs that it was more likely than not that they would succeed plaintiffs their case showing that the