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 [...]
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service ("USCIS") has announced that effective February 1, 2013, USCIS will begin collecting an additional USCIS Immigrant Fee of $165.00 from foreign nationals seeking admission as permanent residents to the U.S. The fee will apply to immigrant visa applicants who have received their visa approval from a U.S. Consulate abroad [...]
It is very likely that anyone who has had a case filed and pending with USCIS has used the online status check and has also checked the "normal" processing times for the type of a case they have had filed. Many of our clients and readers are well aware of these two resources and we [...]
Many of our clients and readers may be aware that USCIS has an online status check system which allows applicants (and their attorneys and employers) to track the progress of a case and obtain case updates. In addition to allowing a single status case lookup, the system has an extremely helpful function which allows users [...]
Many of our clients and readers who have had to call USCIS, including us in our office, know that sometimes it is difficult to speak to a customer service representative, especially during certain peak hours during the day. Partly as a result of customer feedback, USCIS has announced that its National Customer Service Center (NCSC) [...]
USCIS has released a report on the number and characteristics of naturalization applications for 2011. The report focuses on the applicants who were 18 and over and who became U.S. citizens during 2011. According to the data, in 2011, the total number of persons naturalizing was 694,193. The leading countries of birth of new [...]
One of the most popular U.S. work visas, the H-1B, will start accepting filings for new H-1B employment on April 2. Pursuant to each yearly H-1B quota, new H-1B filings can be filed on April 1 (April 2nd this year because April 1st is a Sunday), at the earliest, for a starting date of employment [...]
There has been a considerable amount of discussion, excitement and, unfortunately, some incorrect rumors over the past few weeks regarding possible changes to the way employment-based immigrant visas are allocated. Our office has been receiving many requests to comment on and speculate on what may happen with the proposed legislation. To avoid fueling rumors, we [...]
USCIS has issued an alert that a number of key online systems will be unavailable due to system maintenance from Friday, December 2nd at 7pm (EST) until Monday, December 5th at 9am (EST). As a result, there will be no access or service to the following USCIS online systems and tools: Check My Case Status [...]