The Department of Labor has provided some updates for the fourth quarter of the Fiscal Year 2014 (July 1, 2014 to September 30, 2014) on their processing of PERM, H-1B LCA and prevailing wage determination cases and we are happy to share them with our clients and readers. DOL Processing Statistics (Fourth Quarter, 2014 Fiscal [...]
Business or pleasure travelers to the United States from a number of visa waiver program (VWP) are already familiar with the requirements of the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) and specifically that the ESTA questionnaire must be completed, paid for and approved before visa waiver program travel to the U.S. On November 3, 2014, [...]
Immigration related compliance is an increasing concern for U.S. employers, who are often caught between two federal agencies with opposing interests: ensuring that all workers are authorized for employment in the U.S. and protecting those who are lawfully here from discrimination. Careful what you ask for The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (“IRCA”) [...]
Although the Form I-9 may on its face appear to be simple, it is imperative for employers and their human resource departments to ensure accuracy and full compliance with the Form I-9. Last year, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) inspected the I-9 Forms of 3,127 employers and issued over $15 million in fines. One [...]
The U.S. State Department has just released the November 2014 Visa Bulletin which is the second Visa Bulletin for the FY2015 fiscal year. The major headline in the upcoming month’s Visa Bulletin is the major retrogression in EB-2 India (February 2005) and the significant forward movement in EB-3 (except India). Summary of the November 2014 [...]
Our office handles a substantial number of H-1B work visa petitions for a variety of U.S. employers and we often share our direct experiences with the H-1B work visa program. This article is intended to share our experience and the current trends with respect to H-1B work visa petitions where there is a change in [...]
Our office just came back from a discussion session here in Washington, DC with Charles Oppenheim. Mr. Oppenheim is the Chief of the Visa Control and Reporting Division at the U.S. Department of State. For many, he is simply known as the person responsible for the monthly and annual visa number allocations for family- and [...]
While few, if any, of our clients and readers will be planning major celebrations, October 1st is an important date as it marks the beginning of the new government fiscal year. This has some immigration implications for many folks -- for example, H-1B cap petitions are becoming effective and the quotas for green [...]
The Department of State will open the DV-2015 Diversity Visa (a.k.a. “green card”) lottery on Tuesday, October 1, 2014. The entries for this year’s lottery must be submitted electronically between noon, Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) (GMT-4), Wednesday, October 1, 2014, and noon, Eastern Standard Time (EST) (GMT-5), Monday, November 3, 2014. Applicants may access [...]
Many U.S. lawful permanent residents ("green card holders") who have to or choose to reside abroad are (or should be) aware that there are rules and restrictions on the time they can be outside of the U.S. and maintain their green card status. Specifically, a stay outside of the U.S. of more than one [...]