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 [...]
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; [...]
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, [...]
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 [...]
In a memorandum dated August 9, 2013, USCIS has released guidance and clarifications pertaining to the options and timelines for Diversity Visa (DV) selectees who choose to process their green card from within the U.S. by filing I-485, Application to Adjust Status. The memo seeks to provide clarification to those DV selectees who choose to [...]
As we reported last month, on June 26, 2013, the Supreme Court held that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional. With the end of DOMA, the immigration agencies have begun the task of implementing the Windsor decision and married LGBT couples can now access the marriage-based immigration benefits and other [...]
On June 26, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act ("DOMA"). In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court held that DOMA is unconstitutional because the word "marriage" in any federal law meant only a union of a man and a woman. Until yesterday, DOMA denied a number of federal benefits, [...]
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) has just provided some updated numbers in connection with the 2014 fiscal year (FY2014) H-1B cap. Many of our readers are aware that on Friday, April 5th, USCIS announced that they have received sufficient number of H-1B petitions to close the FY2014 H-1B cap as of Friday. [...]
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) announced earlier this afternoon that they have received a sufficient number of H-1B petitions to meet the annual H-1B cap for the 2014 fiscal year (FY2014). According to USCIS, they have received more than 20,000 H-1B petitions filed for beneficiaries with U.S. master's degree and more than the [...]
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 [...]