On April 1, 2014 the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will start accepting applications for one of the most popular U.S. work visas, H-1B, for fiscal year (FY) 2015. Our intelligence and past experience suggest that this year's H-1B cap season will be very short -- five business days. Our office is already [...]
Our foreign national clients and readers often ask us about the requirements on carrying specific immigration documents with them while they are in the U.S. - whether around town or for domestic U.S. travel. We find that this topic is not very well covered and many foreign nationals are not aware of the applicable requirements [...]
Unknown to many, the SAVE system allows DMV agencies throughout the United States to verify valid status of driving license applicants (where this is required). The SAVE system is run by DHS and allows states and agencies to confirm an individual's status and eligibility to certain benefits. It all works well most of the time; [...]
Our office has established a reputation as one of the leading practices for handling appeals with the Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) and we often receive inquiries not only about the procedural aspects of an AAO appeal but also about the current processing times for AAO cases. The AAO processing times are published monthly, at the [...]
The U.S. State Department has just released the February 2014 Visa Bulletin which is the fifth 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 slowing forward movement in EB-3 ROW, China and Mexico and the fact that [...]
The Department of State (DOS) has provided a number of interesting observations and statistics about the processing of visas at each of the U.S. Consulates in New Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai. The reported information is as of late November 2013 but most of it is not time-sensitive and we believe remains current as of today. [...]
The start of the new year is a perfect time to assess corporate compliance with U.S. immigration laws. As Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) and the Department of Labor (“DOL”) increase the number of company audits and fines each year, it is important for employers to perform annual audits of their employment law and immigration [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
