Happy Holidays from CILG!
January 2014 Visa Bulletin – EB India No Movement; EB-3 ROW, China and Mexico Advance Significantly Again; No Movement in FB-2A
The U.S. State Department has just released the January 2014 Visa Bulletin which is the fourth Visa Bulletin for the FY2014 fiscal year. The major headline in the upcoming month’s Visa Bulletin is the expected lack of movement in EB India, the significant (six months) forward movement in EB-3 ROW, China and Mexico and the [...]
I-9 Compliance – Best Practices for 2014
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) pursuit of employers who violate federal immigration compliance laws is expected to be moving full speed ahead in 2014, and in some instances accelerating in comparison to prior years. As a result of both substantially increased funding for enforcement actions and an outcome of the public debate about illegal [...]
Paper or Electronic I-9s? Considerations for Both Approaches to your I-9 Process
Are you looking to replace your error-prone I-9 paper process with an electronic system in 2014? Companies that are considering transitioning to electronic I-9s should be aware that there are significant issues related to legal liability, security, functionality, and cost. There are benefits and disadvantages to both approaches. Some advantages of using electronic I-9 [...]
IMAGE Best Employment Practices
IMAGE (the ICE Mutual Agreement Between Government and Employers) is a voluntary partnership initiative between the federal government and private sector employers. The initiative is designed to foster cooperative relationships and to strengthen overall hiring practices. ICE developed the program as a new concept for employer self-compliance within the worksite enforcement program, through which employers can [...]
December 2013 Visa Bulletin – EB-2 India Major Retrogression; EB-3 ROW Moves Forward by a Year; No Movement for FB-2A
The U.S. State Department has just released the December 2013 Visa Bulletin which is the third Visa Bulletin for the FY2014 fiscal year. The major headline in the upcoming month’s Visa Bulletin is the major (over 3.5 years) retrogression in EB-2 India, the significant (1 year) forward movement for EB-3 ROW and the fact that [...]
CILG In the News: Bad Credit and Immigration
A recent article for Yahoo Finance entitled, Can a Bad Debt Get You Deported? discusses the implications of bad credit or unpaid bills to the immigration process. Founder and principal attorney Dimo Michailov was consulted for article and quoted throughout the article. “Normally, the United States does not look at credit” when considering visa applications, [...]
USCIS Redesigns and Proposes Revisions on Form I-129 – Public Comment Period Open
USCIS has circulated a proposed draft of a redesigned and revised Form I-129 and has opened a public comment period on the proposed changes. The new form features a new design layout where most of the questions are the same but laid out slightly differently. There are some changes to the wording of some questions, [...]
USCIS Processing Times Reports – How to Interpret and Are They Reliable?
Anyone who has ever filed a petition of some sort with USCIS has wondered, "How long would I have to wait to get a response from USCIS on my application?" Chances are that such an applicant has used the online status check and has also checked the “normal” processing times for the type of a [...]
Infosys In $34 Million Settlement for U.S. Immigration Violations
The large Indian technology company Infosys has agreed to pay $34 million in a civil settlement after federal prosecutors in Texas alleged it had committed "systemic visa fraud and abuse" when bringing temporary workers to the U.S. on H-1B and B-1 visas. This kind of settlement is the largest ever in a visa case and [...]