Visa Interview Waiver Program at U.S. Consulates in India
With the end of the year quickly approaching, many of our clients will travel abroad during the Holiday season to visit their homelands and will need to renew their current U.S. visas. We would like to remind our Indian clients and friends about the Interview Waiver Program (IWP) which allows some qualified individuals to apply [...]
January 2016 Visa Bulletin – Filing Cutoff Dates Remain Largely Unchanged; Very Gradual Movement in the Approval Dates; EB-2 India Advances by Eight Months GalleryJanuary 2016 Visa Bulletin – Filing Cutoff Dates Remain Largely Unchanged; Very Gradual Movement in the Approval Dates; EB-2 India Advances by Eight Months
January 2016 Visa Bulletin – Filing Cutoff Dates Remain Largely Unchanged; Very Gradual Movement in the Approval Dates; EB-2 India Advances by Eight Months
The U.S. State Department has just released the January 2016 2015 Visa Bulletin which is the fourth Visa Bulletin for the FY2016 fiscal year. The major [...]
Class Action Lawsuit – Parity of Wages and Benefits for H-1B and U.S. Workers
A recent class action lawsuit serves as a reminder that employment policies for H-1B workers must comply not only with Federal immigration laws, but also state and local labor rules. On November 9, 2015, Accenture PLC, a global professional services company, became the defendant in a class action lawsuit filed in New York State. The [...]
New California Law Authorizes Hefty Fines for Improper Use of E-Verify
On October 9th 2015, California Governor Jerry Brown approved Assembly Bill No. 622 (AB 622). AB 622 is intended to prevent employment discrimination effected through improper use of the federal E-Verify system – the mostly voluntary online program allowing registered employers to check the employment authorization of new employees. AB 622 does not mandate or [...]
The Automatic Visa Revalidation Program Allows Travel to Contiguous Territories Without Needing a Visa Stamp
Foreign nationals who are in the U.S. on a nonimmigrant status are aware (we hope) that normally they need to have a valid U.S. visa stamp in order to reenter the U.S. after a trip [...]
December 2015 Visa Bulletin – Filing Cutoff Dates Remain Unchanged; Very Gradual Movement in the Approval Dates
The U.S. State Department has just released the December 2015 Visa Bulletin which is the third Visa Bulletin for the new FY2016 fiscal year. The major headline in the upcoming month’s Visa Bulletin [...]
US Elections – How Can Foreign Nationals Be Involved in the Political Process?
As we are about to get into the peak of the U.S. election season, some of the U.S. presidential candidates have expressed opinions on immigration, in connection with the campaign, or previously, and it is natural for some foreign citizens, both living in the U.S. and abroad, to be interested in contributing money and/or services [...]
Proposed STEM OPT Rule Expands Scope and Validity; Adds Employer Requirements
Many employers and F-1 STEM students have been anxiously expecting a draft of the proposed STEM OPT extension rule which had to be rushed as a result of the August 2015 District Court decision invalidating the existing 2008 STEM [...]
USCIS to Start Monthly Determination on Filing Date Eligibility for I-485
The last few weeks have brought a lot of attention to the way the Visa Bulletin cutoff dates are allocated and how USCIS uses the dates to accept I-485 filings. Starting with the initial version of the October 2015 Visa Bulletin in early September, and throughout the subsequent October 2015 Visa Bulletin revision and litigation, [...]