March 2021 Visa Bulletin – Notable Forward Movement for EB India
The U.S. State Department has just released the March 2021 Visa Bulletin which is the sixth Visa Bulletin for the fiscal year. The headline in the upcoming month’s Visa Bulletin is the significant forward movement for EB-2 and EB-3 India. There is almost no movement in the Final Action for family-based categories. […]
Biden Administration Withdraws Plan to Rescind H-4 EAD Rule But Challenges Remain
The Biden Administration has withdrawn Trump's plan to rescind the H-4 EAD program. The proposed rule, “Removing H-4 Dependent Spouses from the Class of Aliens Eligible for Employment Authorization,” which was under review by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) has been withdrawn as of January 25, 2021. Challenges for H-4 [...]
USCIS: H-1B Cap Selection Continues to be Random Lottery (and Not Salary-Based)
As we are heading into the H-1B cap season this year, USCIS has just announced that a January 7, 2021 H-1B Selection final rule which sought to introduce salary-based selection will be delayed until at least December 31, 2021. As a result, this coming H-1B cap lottery will continue to be based on random selection as it was in prior [...]
February 2021 Visa Bulletin – Minor Forward Movement; Predictions for Upcoming Months
The U.S. State Department has just released the February 2021 Visa Bulletin which is the fifth Visa Bulletin for the FY2021 fiscal year. The headline in the upcoming month’s Visa Bulletin is the slowing rate of forward movement in most employment-based categories. There is almost no movement in the Final Action for family-based categories although Dates of Filing are advancing [...]
Biden Administration Blocks Implementation of Revised H-1B Specialty Occupation, DOL Wage Level Increase and H-1B Cap Wage Priority Rules
Among the many first-day actions taken by the new Biden administration was to immediately put a block (or delay) to some of the last-minute employment-based immigration rules which were sought to be rushed by the prior administration. In a January 20, 2021 memo, White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain directed in part, that (a) all rules pending at the [...]
January 2021 Visa Bulletin – Not Much Movement to Open the New Calendar Year
The U.S. State Department has just released the January 2021 Visa Bulletin which is the fourth Visa Bulletin for the FY2021 fiscal year. The headline in the upcoming month’s Visa Bulletin is the slowing rate of forward movement in most employment-based categories. There is almost no movement in the family-based categories. […]