Suspension of Premium Processing for Most H-1B Petitions Begins September 11
Premium processing offers guaranteed 15 day processing for many types of immigration petitions and applications, including H-1B petitions. Earlier this year, the USCIS suspended premium processing for H-1B petitions for employment subject to annual numerical limits, commonly known as the…
Compelling Circumstances Employment Authorization Document (EAD) Option Explained
An employment authorization document (EAD) is a coveted benefit allowing many immigants to work legally in the United States. For example, applicants for asylum, temporary protected status, F-1 or M-1 student optional practical training, adjustment of status, DACA, and many…
September 2018 Visa Bulletin shows significant delays in approvals for many employment-based green card applicants
The Department of State has posted the visa bulletin for September 2018. Unfortunately, most employment-based (EB) categories for all nationals are backlogged, representing a slow down of green card approval times. EB-1 Priority Workers final action date is now June 1,…
Fact Sheet: How the Government Estimates Application Processing Times
Immigration applicants often want to know how much time it will take to get a decision on their applications. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigraiton Services (USCIS) does publish processing time estimates, found at https://egov.uscis.gov/processing-times. Applicants should keep in mind that the…
June 2018 Visa Bulletin Green Card Update
The Department of State has posted the Visa Bulletin for June 2018. EB-1 Priority Workers final action date is current for all nationals, except those born in India and China who now have a cutoff date of January 1, 2012. EB-2 and…
Webinar: Secrets to Winning a Fast-Track EB-1 Green Card
Online Seminar “Secrets to Winning a Fast-Track EB-1 Green Card,” Wednesday, May 16, 2018, 11:30 am CST/12:30 pm EST/9:30 am PST. Highly accomplished and high level professionals can apply for green cards through the EB-1 priority workers categories. Foreign nationals in…
H-1B Cap Reached for FY2019
USCIS released the following statement on April 6: USCIS has reached the congressionally-mandated 65,000 H-1B visa cap for fiscal year 2019. USCIS has also received a sufficient number of H-1B petitions to meet the 20,000 visa U.S. advanced degree exemption,…
H-1B Employers: Ready for the FY 2019 H-1B Cap Season?
The race for H-1B professional worker visas begins April 2, 2018. Employers of recently graduated foreign students and others will vie for new visas, which are limited to 65,000 per fiscal year (the “H-1B cap”). And of these, 6,800 are reserved…
April 2018 Visa Bulletin Green Card Update
The Department of State has posted the Visa Bulletin for April 2018. EB-1 Priority Workers final action date is current for all nationals, except those born in India and China who now have a cutoff date of January 1, 2012. EB-2 and…
Trump Administration’s Termination of DACA, TPS, and H-4 EAD Immigration Programs Could Leave Employers in a Lurch
Several immigration programs that have authorized over a million immigrant workers are expected to end in 2018 and 2019. The cancellation of these programs will terminate employment eligibility for these workers, making most of them deportable. The loss of these legally…
