News, Alerts and Analysis

Premium Processing Reinstated for All H-1B Petitions

USCIS has announced that starting March 12, 2019, they will accept requests for premium processing “upgrades” for all H-1B petitions.  This includes upgrades for pending H-1B petitions and premium processing requests as part of new petitions.    USCIS will announce soon whether they [...]

By |2019-03-14T08:52:14-04:00March 14th, 2019|Articles, H-1B, News, News Alert|

Last Call for H-1B Cap: Very Short and Busy H-1B Cap Filing Season Expected – April 1-5 (Five Business Days); H-1B Lottery Likely

As we are going into the peak of the H-1B cap season, our office receives many inquiries about the duration of the H-1B filing season this year [...]

By |2019-03-07T11:10:07-05:00March 7th, 2019|Articles, H-1B, News, News Alert|

Premium Processing Reinstated for H-1B Petitions Filed On or Before December 21, 2018

USCIS has announced that starting February 19, 2019, they will accept requests for premium processing “upgrades” for pending H-1B petitions which were filed on or before December 21, 2018.   As a result, at this time, the only [...]

By |2019-02-18T21:33:36-05:00February 18th, 2019|Articles, H-1B, News, News Alert|

March 2019 Visa Bulletin – Slow Forward Movement Across Almost All Employment-based Categories

The U.S. State Department has just released the March 2019 Visa Bulletin which is the sixth Visa Bulletin for the FY2019 fiscal year. The headline in the upcoming month’s Visa Bulletin is the extremely slow forward movement [...]

By |2019-02-15T10:47:14-05:00February 15th, 2019|Articles, EB-3, I-485, News, News Alert, Visa Bulletin|

USCIS Makes Substantial Changes to I-539 Application Process Starting March 11, 2019

USCIS has announced that it is making changes to Form I-539, Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status and that the new revised form will be the only version allowed starting March 11, 2019.  Unfortunately,  USCIS has also indicated that the form itself will only be available on USCIS website on March 11, 2019 - the same [...]

By |2023-09-26T11:20:55-04:00February 14th, 2019|Articles, Fees, News, News Alert, Policy|

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, [...]

By |2022-01-30T11:53:28-05:00February 6th, 2019|Articles, F-1, News, News Alert, Students|

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 [...]

By |2020-02-18T21:25:36-05:00January 31st, 2019|Articles, H-1B, News, News Alert|

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 [...]

By |2019-01-29T17:53:41-05:00January 29th, 2019|Articles, Employers, H-1B, News, News Alert|

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 [...]

By |2020-02-18T21:24:32-05:00January 24th, 2019|Articles, H-1B, News, News Alert|

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 [...]

By |2019-01-17T21:47:13-05:00January 17th, 2019|Articles, I-485, News, News Alert, Visa Bulletin|

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