Business Immigration Insights

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has reported receiving enough petitions during the first five business days of April 2019 to meet the congressionally mandated 65,000 H-1B regular cap for fiscal year 2020.  USCIS will next determine if it has received enough petitions to meet the 20,000 U.S. advanced degree exemption or “master’s cap.”

This year, for the first time, the agency ran the regular lottery first, with the stated purpose of ensuring that more of the limited annual H-1B numbers went to those with advanced U.S. degrees.  We will provide an update once the agency ...

On April 3^rd, U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement’s (ICE) largest worksite compliance operation hit the private company CVE Technology Group (CVE) and four of CVE’s staffing companies in Texas.  ICE executed criminal search warrants and arrested approximately 280 CVE employees who, according to ICE, were working unlawfully.  Each arrested employee will be fingerprinted and processed by ICE for removal from the United States.  Approximately 200 ICE officers took part in the raid, including manning busses to remove the alleged unauthorized workers and patrolling the area ...

After weeks of anxious speculation by immigration attorneys and their clients, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) finally announced their premium processing strategy for this year’s H-1B cap season, and it’s … complicated:

• H-1B cap petitions requesting a change of status may request premium processing when the case is initially filed during the first week of April;
• The 15 day premium processing clock for change of status cases will not start until USCIS notifies the public sometime before May 20, 2019;
• If premium processing is not requested with an initial ...

The Visa Bulletin is released monthly by the Department of State and is used to determine when a sponsored foreign national can submit the final step of the green card process. The complete visa bulletin can be found here.

Below is a summary of the April Visa Bulletin, including Final Action Dates and changes from the previous month.

• China: EB-1 halts at February 22, 2017, EB-2 leaps forward three months to April 1, 2016, and EB-3 moves ahead three weeks to August 1, 2015
• India: EB-1 stalls at February 22, 2017, EB-2 creeps ahead three days to April 12, 2009, and EB-3 continues to outpace EB-2 ...

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published revised Form I-539, Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status and new Form I-539A, Supplemental Information to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status.  Applicants may continue to file the current Forms I-539 and Supplement A until March 21, 2019; as of March 22, 2019, only the revised I-539 and I-539A will be accepted by USCIS.  The I-539A may not be filed as a stand-alone form.

According to USCIS, it may verify the information provided on the I-539/I-539A before or after the application is processed.  In addition ...

On February 20, 2019, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) submitted its proposed regulation to remove work authorization for certain H-4 spouses to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). It is likely that OMB will complete its review within 30 days.

What happens next?

Once OMB completes its review, the proposed regulation will be made available for public comment. It remains to be seen whether USCIS will allow a 60-day comment period, or limit comments to 30 days, as it did with the H-1B lottery regulation, Registration Requirement for Petitioner Seeking to File ...

On February 11, 2019, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced a revised Form I-539, Application to Extend/Change Status.  The revised form will publish and become effective on March 11, 2019.  As of the effective date, USCIS will only accept the revised Form I-539.  Affected foreign nationals include spouses and children of H-1B and L visa holders; visitors for business or pleasure; F-1 students and J-1 exchange visitors for certain changes of status.

USCIS will also publish a new Form I-539A, Supplemental Information to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status. Form ...

The Visa Bulletin is released monthly by the Department of State and is used to determine when a sponsored foreign national can submit the final step of the green card process. The complete visa bulletin can be found here.

Below is a summary of the March Visa Bulletin, including Final Action Dates and changes from the previous month.

• China: EB-1 moves forward two weeks to February 22, 2017, EB-2 jumps ahead three months to January 1, 2016, and EB-3 creeps forward one week to July 8, 2015
• India: EB-1 advances two weeks to February 22, 2017, EB-2 crawls forward three days to April 9, 2009, and ...

Foreign Students Will Face New Threats

 DHS’s Fall 2017 regulatory agenda proposed “comprehensive reform” to practical training programs, which allow foreign students to obtain paid work after graduation – a pathway that often leads to H-1B and green card sponsorship by a U.S. employer.  Although no final rule has yet been published, ICE is still expected to end an Obama-era provision that extended practical training from one to three years for graduates in STEM fields who work for employers enrolled in E-Verify. ICE may also be looking at ways to restrict the standard ...

During the government shutdown, lasting from December 22, 2018 through January 25, 2019, employers were required to complete and retain Form I-9, Eligibility Employment Verification, for each individual hired during the shutdown, even though E-Verify services were unavailable. However, it was recently announced that E-Verify resumed operations on January 28, 2019 and participating employers have until February 11, 2019 to create an E-Verify case for all new hires during the government shutdown, using the hire date on the employee’s I-9. Employers should be prepared for ...