News Alert

February 2021 Visa Bulletin – Minor Forward Movement; Predictions for Upcoming Months

The U.S. State Department has just released the February 2021 Visa Bulletin which is the fifth Visa Bulletin for the FY2021 fiscal year. The headline in the upcoming month’s Visa Bulletin is the slowing rate of forward movement [...]

By |2021-01-22T15:06:49-05:00January 22nd, 2021|Articles, I-485, News, News Alert, Visa Bulletin|

Biden Administration Blocks Implementation of Revised H-1B Specialty Occupation, DOL Wage Level Increase and H-1B Cap Wage Priority Rules

Among the many first-day actions taken by the new Biden administration was to immediately put a block (or delay) to some of the last-minute employment-based immigration rules which were sought to be rushed by the prior administration. In a January 20, 2021 memo, White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain directed in part, that (a) [...]

By |2021-01-21T08:48:11-05:00January 21st, 2021|Articles, Employers, H-1B, News, News Alert|

January 2021 Visa Bulletin – Not Much Movement to Open the New Calendar Year

The U.S. State Department has just released the January 2021 Visa Bulletin which is the fourth Visa Bulletin for the FY2021 fiscal year. The headline in the upcoming month’s Visa Bulletin is the slowing rate of [...]

By |2020-12-23T07:29:55-05:00December 23rd, 2020|Articles, EB-2, EB-3, I-485, News, News Alert, Visa Bulletin|

ASC Biometrics Backlog at USCIS Likely to Take Months to Clear

Like almost all aspects of life during COVID, USCIS operations have been impacted significantly and we have been seeing extreme delays especially with respect to ASC biometrics processing and, by extension, cases which require biometrics to be completed before adjudication. After a November 19, 2020 update in which USCIS has indicated that the ASC biometrics [...]

By |2021-03-18T12:50:36-04:00December 5th, 2020|Articles, News, News Alert, USCIS|

US District Court Blocks DOL Wage Levels and DHS H-1B Amendment Rules

In a December 1, 2020 opinion (PDF copy), a U.S. Judge in Northern California has blocked the implementation of both the DOL and DHS/USCIS Interim Final Rules (IFR) which were introduced in October seeking to substantially increase the [...]

By |2020-12-03T12:14:56-05:00December 2nd, 2020|Articles, H-1B, News, News Alert|

December 2020 Visa Bulletin – Tapering Forward Movement for EB

The U.S. State Department has just released the December 2020 Visa Bulletin which is the third Visa Bulletin for the FY2021 fiscal year. The headline in the upcoming month’s Visa Bulletin is the slowing rate of forward movement in most [...]

By |2020-11-20T15:10:38-05:00November 20th, 2020|Articles, News, News Alert, Visa Bulletin|

November 2020 Visa Bulletin – Minor Forward Movement for EB Cases; USCIS to Accept I-485s Based on Dates for Filing

The U.S. State Department has just released the November 2020 Visa Bulletin which is the second Visa Bulletin for the FY2021 fiscal year. The headline in the upcoming month’s Visa [...]

By |2020-10-29T11:49:26-04:00October 29th, 2020|Articles, News, News Alert, Visa Bulletin|

USCIS Increases I-907 Premium Processing Filing Fee Starting October 19, 2020

The Department of Homeland Security has substantially increased the I-907 premium processing service filing fee from $1,440 to $2,500 starting October 19, 2020.   Under the optional premium processing service USCIS is required to provide a response within 15 calendar [...]

By |2020-10-29T09:50:37-04:00October 20th, 2020|Articles, Fees, H-1B, News, News Alert|

New H-1B USCIS/DOL Rules to Increase Prevailing Wages, Tighten Specialty Occupation Definition and Make Third-Party Placements More Difficult

In a coordinated effort, both DHS/USCIS and DOL have just released two new rules which seek to introduce substantial changes to the H-1B program. DOL seeks to increase the prevailing wage levels by a substantial margin with immediate effective date of October 8, 2020. DHS/USCIS seeks to change the definition of specialty occupation and employer-employee [...]

By |2020-12-02T07:53:24-05:00October 7th, 2020|Articles, H-1B, News, News Alert|

USCIS Filing Fee Increase Blocked by Federal Court

On September 29, 2020, a district court blocked the effective date of the August 2020 Final Rule, which sought to increase the fees (significantly in many cases) for many immigration services in addition to requiring revised forms. See ruling. As a result, the current fee schedule and the current version of the relevant forms continue [...]

By |2020-10-01T13:53:26-04:00October 1st, 2020|Articles, EB-2, EB-3, Fees, News, News Alert|

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