Our office just learned that the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) has completed the intake and processing of all of the fiscal year (FY2016) H-1B cap petitions. According to USCIS, there were nearly 233,000 H-1B cap petitions filed during the April 1st-7th filing period. This marks a 35% percent increase in the number of [...]
Our office serves many first-time and returning reentry permit applicants and our clients and readers often want to know the options for extending (technically, obtaining a new) reentry permit if their circumstances require continued stay outside of the United States. We have addressed the renewal options and strategies in earlier articles; however, an additional follow-up [...]
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) announced that, as of today, April 7th, they have received a sufficient number of H-1B petitions to meet the annual H-1B cap for the 2015 fiscal year (FY2016). According to USCIS, they have received more than 20,000 H-1B petitions filed for beneficiaries with U.S. master’s degree and more [...]
On March 17, 2015 the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing to discuss the H-1B visa program, which allows U.S. employers to import foreign workers in specialty occupations. At the hearing Iowa Senator Chuck Grassly (R) challenged the H-1B visa program as being widely misused by employers to “undercut wages and offshore high-paying American jobs.” [...]
This week the House Homeland Security Committee will consider legislation to change background checks requirements of the Visa Waiver Program for individuals who come to the United States, amidst growing concerns about extremist groups like ISIS. What is the Visa Waiver Program? The Visa Waiver Program (VWP) has been in place since 1986, and allows [...]
A recent report by the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP) focused on the denial rates for the L-1B visas. In its March 2015 report NFAP analyzes denial rates over a number of years and for a number of different beneficiaries, from a variety of countries. The conclusion is that the denial rate for L-1B [...]
Our office closely monitors not only each monthly Visa Bulletin but also any developments and updates from here in Washington, DC which may give us some idea on upcoming movements and surprises. Our goal is to share any and all credible information with our clients and readers in order to allow proper planning and to [...]
The U.S. State Department has just released the April 2015 Visa Bulletin which is the seventh Visa Bulletin for the FY2015 fiscal year. The major headline in the upcoming month’s Visa Bulletin is the significant eight-month forward movement in EB-2 India and the seven-month forward movement in EB-2 China. EB-3 also moves forward nicely with [...]
As our office is gearing up for May 26, 2015 when the first H-4 Spouse EAD applications under the new rule can be filed, we are receiving many questions and concerns as to what kind of employment would be permitted by the H-4 Spouse EAD, once the actual work permit is approved. The quick answer [...]
As we are going into the peak of the H-1B cap season, our office receives many inquiries about the duration of the H-1B filing season this year or, in other words, when will the H-1B cap be reached? So far we have been able to compare demand with prior H-1B filing seasons and we knew [...]
