The Vermont Service Center (VSC), through the AILA Liaison, has provided some guidance and a refresher on when the H-1B status of an employee terminates in connection with termination of employment or revocation of the H-1B petition by the employer. The timing of the termination of the H-1B status is very important, because under USCIS [...]
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has produced another set of two excellent and very revealing reports - one reviewing the Immigration and Naturalization Fees and one suggesting improvements for the setting of USCIS fees. The two reports are very revealing in describing USCIS’s budgetary items, its heavy reliance on filing fees to finance operations and some [...]
USCIS has updated Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification and the new form is available for us; however, two versions exist. Please note that the version dated 06/05/07 is only available if used BEFORE February 2, 2009. The version dated 02/02/09 will be appropriate for use ON or AFTER February 2, 2009.
The current Processing Times Report for the Nebraska Service Center (NSC) as of September 30, 2008 indicates that NSC is processing I-140 (EB-3) petitions filed on or before August 2, 2007. However, NSC has indicated that they are still processing cases filed from July 1, 2007 through August 2, 2007, and it will be a [...]
A recent decision from the Administrative Review Board (ARB) held that when an H-1B employer fails to terminate H-1B employee and notify USCIS of such termination is liable for payment of back wages. ARB held: Under the INA’s “no benching” provisions, the employer is obligated to pay the required wage even if the H-1B nonimmigrant is [...]
The Vermont Service Center (VSC) has issued a practice pointer on the circumstances under which VSC will transfer a priority date to a subsequent petition. Retaining an earlier priority date is possible when: If the same petitioner (employer) and beneficiary (employee) are parties to both the original and the subsequent petitions (under 8 C.F.R. 204.2(h)(2)) and: the subsequent [...]
The February 2009 Visa Bulletin is out. It brings some good forward movement for some employment-based categories. Unfortunately, EB-3 ROW and EB-3 India remain unchanged. EB-2 ROW remains current. EB-2 India and EB-2 China both move forward by approximately 6 months. EB-2 India is now at January 1, 2004 while EB-2 China is at January 1, [...]
USCIS has released the average processing times for cases pending at the Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) as of January 8, 2009. Among the most notable AAO processing times: H-1B appeal takes 14 months; I-140 EB1 (Extrordinary Ability) takes 18 months while EB1(B) and (C) are current; I-140 EB2 (Advanced Degree) takes 20 months while EB2 (all others) are current; [...]
Today, January 12, 2009, the Electronic System for Travel Authorization becomes mandatory for all Visa Waiver Program (VWP) travelers. We wrote earlier about the mandatory cutoff of January 12, 2009. Effective today, VWP travelers coming into the U.S. may be turned away if they have not registered at least 72 hours before their travel to the [...]
The E-Verify program now has 100,000 employer participants, USCIS announced yesterday. In a press release celebrating the milestone, USCIS also updated some interesting statistics about E-Verify. Employers have run more than 2 million queries through E-Verify since October 2008, and employers have been able to automatically verify more than 18 million workers’ eligibility since 1997. As [...]