The U.S. Department of State ("DOS") has amended a section of the Field Adjudicators Manual ("FAM") which pertains to government officials' determinations of misrepresentation by applicants and specifically with respect to activities permitted in the U.S. on nonimmigrant visas. 9 FAM 302.9-4(B)(3) has been amended to include a section called "Inconsistent Conduct Within 90 Days [...]
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) has issued a memorandum adopting the AAO decision in Matter of A-T-, Inc. and establishing policy guidance which will apply to and bind all USCIS adjudicators. USCIS clarifies that [...]
In the era of increased immigration enforcement under President Trump, our foreign national clients and readers are increasingly asking about the requirements on carrying specific immigration documents with them while they are in the U.S. – whether [...]
Many of our readers are aware of the University of Northern New Jersey story from early April 2016 where federal agents arrested and charged a number of individuals described as brokers, recruiters and employers with conspiracy [...]
With the approaching H-1B cap filing season, one of the most common concerns we are hearing from both prospective H-1B employers and candidates is about the H-1B cap lottery and the fact that the random lottery does not provide a great chance of an H-1B application being selected for review. Our office has handled thousands [...]
In a much-anticipated decision dated January 23, 2016, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia sided with the Department of Homeland Security's request for extension to extend the vacatur of the current STEM OPT rule which was struck down on August 12, 2015. The current STEM OPT rule continues to remain valid until [...]
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 [...]
In an opinion dated August 12, 2015, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia vacated the Department of Homeland Security’s 2008 rule which extended the post-graduation optional practical training (OPT) by 17 months for eligible [...]
Many of our readers are aware that as of April 7, 2015, USCIS had received a sufficient number of H-1B cap-subject petitions to fill the annual H-1B quota. This year's number of filings (233,000) is at an all-time high, meaning that about 1 in 3 H-1B cap applications will be selected for review. As USCIS [...]
Spring and early summer are generally busy period for recent foreign college graduates as far as employment immigration is concerned. On one hand, foreign college graduates are either applying for their initial term OPT, their 17-month STEM extensions (if they qualify) or their H-1B work visas under the H-1B cap. Our office fields many questions [...]
