The University of Farmington – Key Points and Lessons for F-1 CPT Students
Many of our readers are aware of the University of Farmington story from earlier this year when federal agents arrested and charged a number of individuals described as brokers, recruiters and students with a number of violations, including conspiracy to commit visa fraud and overstaying lawful status. The university, which turned out to be a fake institution set-up by federal [...]
USCIS Final Rule Changes US Master’s Degree Lottery and Adds Future Cap Year Preregistration
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (“USCIS”) has finalized and published the final rule which seeks to amend in substantial ways the way the annual H-1B “cap” work visa applications and lottery are being filed and how the U.S. master’s degree applications are being allocated under the H-1B cap lottery. It is important to note that the major change in the rule [...]
Premium Processing for Pending H-1B Cap Cases Reinstated
USCIS has announced that starting January 29, 2019, they will accept requests for premium processing "upgrades" for pending H-1B cap cases which were filed in April 2018. This reinstatement of premium processing applies only to "regular" and "master's" cap cases which are still pending at this time. Premium processing remains available for H-1B extensions with the same employer which are [...]
H-1B Cap 2019 Work Visa Season Is Underway – Opens for New Filings on Monday, April 1, 2019
On April 1, 2019 the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will start accepting applications for one of the most popular U.S. work visas, H-1B, for fiscal year (FY) 2020. Our intelligence and past experience suggest that the H-1B cap 2019 season will be very short — five business days. Our office is already preparing a number of H-1B [...]
USCIS To Use “Final Action” Dates for I-485 Filings from February 1st
USCIS has just announced that as of February 1, 2019, they will use the “Final Action” dates in the February 2019 Visa Bulletin for accepting new I-485 adjustment of status applications. This means that applicants who have a current priority date under the January 2019 Visa Bulletin may need to rush and file I-485 immediately and before February 1, 2019 [...]
February 2019 Visa Bulletin – EB-1 Dates Advance Slowly; (Almost) No Forward Movement in Filing Dates
The U.S. State Department has just released the February 2019 Visa Bulletin which is the fifth Visa Bulletin for the FY2019 fiscal year. The headline in the upcoming month’s Visa Bulletin is the gentle forward movement in EB-1 contrasted with the lack of almost any movement in the Filing Dates. EB-3 India Filing dates do not advance at all but [...]