As many of our clients and readers are aware, unless Congress decides to act on a long-term federal deficit-reduction plan before March 1, the government will suffer automatic slashes under the looming "sequester" plan passed in 2011. It will cut 8 percent from U.S. military spending and 5 percent from other domestic spending budgets. The [...]
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service ("USCIS") is set to begin accepting H-1B visa applications pursuant to its Fiscal Year 2014 (FY2014) quota. The first day on which USCIS will accept new, cap-subject H-1B petitions, is Monday, April 1, 2013. About the H-1B Program and the Annual Cap The H-1B visa category was created in [...]
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service ("USCIS") has issued new guidance to employers regarding the employment verification and documentation process for employees with valid and pending Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (“DACA”) applications. According to recent USCIS figures, there have been approximately 420,000 DACA applications filed and as approvals are starting to be sent out, [...]
The U.S. State Department has just released the March 2013 Visa Bulletin which is the sixth Visa Bulletin for the FY2013 fiscal year. The major headline in the upcoming month’s Visa Bulletin is the lack of movement (again) in EB-2 India. Many have been looking forward to this Visa Bulletin in order to gauge [...]
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 [...]
It is only Tuesday and this week has already been full of immigration proposals. After yesterday's announcement for a blueprint for a comprehensive immigration reform, today a group of Senators has released an actual draft bill which picks up where yesterday's proposal left off with respect to employment-based immigration. Senators Orrin Hatch of Utah, Amy [...]
Earlier today, a group of eight U.S. Senators released a proposed framework for a comprehensive immigration reform. The document signed off by Senators Charles E. Schumer of New York, John McCain of Arizona, Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Robert Menendez of New Jersey, Marco Rubio of Florida, Michael Bennet of [...]
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 their number of company audits and fines each year, it is important for employers to perform annual audits of their employment law and immigration [...]
New documents have been released recently in the prolonged lawsuit by the American Immigration Council’s Legal Action Center, on behalf of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (“AILA”), regarding USCIS’ procedures and predetermined indicators of potential fraud in the H-1B process. (For a detailed review of the lawsuit and associated documents see). Legal History In 2005, [...]
The U.S. State Department has just released the February 2013 Visa Bulletin which is the fifth Visa Bulletin for the FY2013 fiscal year. The major headline in the upcoming month’s Visa Bulletin is the lack of movement (again) in EB-2 India. Many have been looking forward to this Visa Bulletin in order to gauge [...]