March 2025 Visa Bulletin – Minor EB2/EB3 India and China Advancement
The U.S. State Department has released the March 2025 Visa Bulletin which is the sixth Visa Bulletin for the fiscal year. The headline in the month’s Visa Bulletin is the minor (1-1.5 months) forward movement in Final Action dates for India and China’s employment-based preference categories which will also allow a small number of new I-485 applications to be filed [...]
The F-1 OPT Cap-Gap Rule: Extension of Post-Completion OPT and F-1 Status for Eligible Students Applying for H-1B Cap
Spring and early summer are generally busy period for recent foreign college graduates as far as employment immigration is concerned. On one hand, foreign college graduates are either applying for their initial term OPT, their 24-month STEM extensions (if they qualify) or their H-1B work visas under the H-1B cap. Our office fields many questions from prospective or recent college [...]
Birthright Citizenship Executive Order – What Is It and What to Expect?
On January 20, 2025, President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14156, titled "Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship," aiming to redefine the application of birthright citizenship in the United States. Jan 23, 2025 Update: A judge has temporarily blocked the executive order, pending further litigation. Key Provisions of the Executive Order The executive order seeks to deny citizenship [...]
Edakunni Settlement Expiration on January 18, 2025: USCIS to End Bundling of H-4/L-2/EAD Applications – What It Means for Applicants
The Edakunni settlement pursuant to which USCIS agreed to bundle and approve at the same time concurrently-filed I-539/I-765 applications for H-4/L-2 and H-4 EAD with an underlying I-129 H-1B or L-1 petition is set to expire on January 18, 2025. We anticipate that USCIS will stop the bundling of concurrently-filed H-4/L-2/EAD applications with H-1B/L-1 petitions and, as a result, [...]
February 2025 Visa Bulletin – No Movement
The U.S. State Department has released the February 2025 Visa Bulletin which is the fifth Visa Bulletin for the fiscal year. The headline in the month’s Visa Bulletin is the lack movement in any of the preference categories with the exception of EB India which advances slightly in the Final Action chart. USCIS will use Final Action Dates for [...]
USCIS Final Rule: Changes to H-1B Programs Effective January 2025 – Key Updates for Employers & Workers
USCIS has just released the December 18, 2024 final rule “Modernizing H-1B Requirements, Providing Flexibility in the F-1 Program, and Program Improvements Affecting Other Nonimmigrant Workers” which seeks to “modernize” the H-1B program by introducing some improvements to the process and allowing certain flexibilities. While some of the changes are simply codification of existing policies, many of the upcoming changes [...]