USCIS released an update, dated November 24, 2008, of the number of H-2B petitions received and counted towards the H-2B cap. As of November 21, 2008, 10,265 petitions have been counted towards the 33,000 cap for the second half of Fiscal Year 2009.
The Nebraska Service Center (NSC) announced updated I-765 expedite policy pursuant to which NSC will accept requests to expedite processing of Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, if the application has been pending for 75 days or more. NSC had previously announced that it would accept an expedite request for an I-765 that was pending [...]
Some US Consulates abroad are requiring the use of the DS-160 form. For Non-Immigrant Visas, the Consulates in Nuevo Laredo, Monterrey, Montreal, and Vancouver require the DS-160 online form. As of November 24, 2008, the U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong will require the use of the DS-160 form for petition based applicants (H, [...]
We have been receiving many inquiries about the status of the H-1B processing. It is our practice to post updates as soon as we receive them. The latest update is dated November 19, 2008. According to the California Service Center (CSC), as of November 19, 2008, there were 10 premium processing and 151 non-premium processing cases [...]
The USCIS has released a chart describing its progress towards meeting the fiscal year (FY) 2008 and FY 2009 processing time goals. Attached is a PDF of the chart with a couple of annotations highlighting some important lines that are generally of high interest to our clients and readers. What may be of the greatest interest [...]
The U.S. Department of State reported yesterday that it has issued a record high number of F, J and M visas for the fiscal year 2008 - 710,631 in total. This represents a 9.1 percent increase in comparison to fiscal year 2007 and a 26 percent increase in comparison to fiscal year 2001. Among some of [...]
The Texas Service Center (TSC) has introduced a new email procedure that which is available to attorneys who are AILA members and allows the Texas Service Center to identify I-485s and I-140s which have remained pending beyond TSC processing times posted on USCIS’S website. According to the new procedure, which is effective immediately, I-485s are subject [...]
The visa-free travel to the U.S. for certain nationals of Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and South Korea is now effective. The final rule admitting these countries to the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) has been published. One note for nationals of these seven countries who wish to travel to the U.S. under VWP - [...]
We have written about this requirement in the past, but it is now a final rule. Starting January 15, 2009, federal contractors and subcontractors will be required to begin using the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ E-Verify system to verify their employees’ eligibility to legally work in the United States. Federal contracts awarded and solicitations issued [...]
We have spoken to clients and written about the slim chances of having an immigration reform early into the upcoming Obama administration. The Wall Street Journal has an article which analyzes the consequences of the changes in Congressional seats as a result of the recent election and how it may affect the immigration reform. Some of [...]