The Department of Homeland Security ("DHS") Office of Inspector General ("OIG") has released a report on the L-1 visa program after a thorough analysis of the program, its weaknesses and opportunities for improvement. The report makes a number of recommendations to DHS on how to strengthen the L-1 visa program by making more robust review [...]
As many of our clients and readers are aware, unless Congress decides to act on a long-term federal deficit-reduction plan before March 1, the government will suffer automatic slashes under the looming "sequester" plan passed in 2011. It will cut 8 percent from U.S. military spending and 5 percent from other domestic spending budgets. The [...]
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service ("USCIS") has issued new guidance to employers regarding the employment verification and documentation process for employees with valid and pending Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (“DACA”) applications. According to recent USCIS figures, there have been approximately 420,000 DACA applications filed and as approvals are starting to be sent out, [...]
Almost all non-US nationals who have traveled to the U.S. at least once are familiar with the little white (or green) card inserted into one's passport upon admission into the U.S. (sample) Many people do not fully realize the significance of the Form I-94 -- most importantly, it records the entry date into the U.S. [...]
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secreatary Napolitano has just announced that DHS has designated Taiwan as a Visa Waiver Program (VWP). As a result, Taiwan passport holders will be able to travel visa-free to the United States starting on November 1, 2012. The VWP will enable citizens of Taiwan to travel to [...]
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has announced on May 11, 2012, that they have expanded the list of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) degree programs. New STEM-Designated Programs Until this revision, CIP degree codes ending in "99" were not designated as STEM degree programs. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is now proposing [...]
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has released its report on the numbers of unauthorized immigrants residing in the U.S. as of January 2011. The report makes a notable change in the methodology and also takes into consideration the 2010 Census data. The DHS report, perhaps unsurprisingly, indicates that an estimated 11.5 million unauthorized immigrants [...]
The USCIS Ombudsman office has released their 2011 report to U.S. Congress, as required by law. About the USCIS Ombudsman Office The USCIS Ombudsman office was created by the Homeland Security Act of 2002 and was tasked to assist individuals and employers in resolving problems with USCIS. The Ombudsman's office addresses individual case inquiries and [...]
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has announced that they have expanded the list of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) degree programs. The expanded list includes fields such as Neuroscience, Medical Informatics, Pharmaceutics and Drug Design, Mathematics and Computer Science. See the updated list of all STEM degree programs. New STEM-Designated Programs The new [...]
We have written in the past about the Tri-Valley University and how it affected a high number of F-1 international students by engaging in alleged unlawful practices and immigration fraud. The Tri-Valley University story is worth following because it highlights, from the perspective of the foreign students and nationals, the importance of maintaining good immigration [...]