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Businesses and industry organizations are among those pushing back against a rule that would change eligibility for filing an H-1B petition. The new rule would require the H-1B lottery selection to be conducted by salary level. A range of industries—from health care to higher education—that employ U.S. and H-1B workers are concerned about the radical […]

President Biden’s efforts to dismantle his predecessor’s immigration legacy are being hamstrung by a State Department that’s still operating with limited capacity due to the coronavirus pandemic. Since taking office, Biden has reversed several policies former President Trump put in place to block visas for thousands of immigrants seeking to work or join family members in the […]

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that applicants, petitioners, requestors, and beneficiaries may call the USCIS Contact Center at 800-375-5283 to request to reschedule biometric services appointments. Previously, the only way to request rescheduling a biometric services appointment scheduled at a USCIS Application Support Center was by mailing a letter to the USCIS. The […]

 On Tuesday, the Biden administration announced that undocumented college students will be allowed to access federal COVID-19 relief aid. The step reverses former President Trump’s policy barring them from assistance. The Department of Education will now allow undocumented students, as well as those protected from deportation by DACA, to request aid, as long as they have […]

WASHINGTON—U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced today that the Department of Homeland Security is withdrawing a 2018 notice of proposed rulemaking that proposed to remove the International Entrepreneur program from DHS regulations. The International Entrepreneur (IE) parole program, first introduced in 2017, will remain a viable program for foreign entrepreneurs to create and develop start-up entities with […]

For the vast majority of Americans, a bank account is one of the basic tools for financial security. According to 2019 figures from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., nearly 95 percent of households are part of the “banked” population – the highest figure ever recorded in the organization’s decade of studying how average Americans deal with their […]

 USCIS said that as early as May 17 it will no longer require H-4 and L-2 spousal visa applicants to submit biometric data as part of the process of renewing their status and work authorization. The decision is the latest development in a March suit filed against DHS Secretary Mayorkas in Seattle federal court, in which a […]

This lawsuit, filed on behalf of seven U.S. employers whose H-1B petitions have been unlawfully rejected, challenges U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) arbitrary and capricious refusal to accept timely and properly filed H-1B petitions which are subject to the annual statutory cap on H-1B visa numbers allocated each year. USCIS arbitrarily rejected H-1B petitions […]

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services today announced it may reopen and/or reconsider adverse decisions on Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker, made based on three rescinded policy memos. USCIS will generally use its discretion to accept a motion to reopen filed more than 30 days after the decision, if filed before the end of […]

On Friday, USCIS announced flexibilities for certain foreign students affected by delayed receipt notices for Form I-765. These flexibilities apply only to applications received on or after Oct. 1, 2020, through May 1, 2021. Some of the flexibility extensions include 14-month Optional Practical Training (OPT) period flexibilities. Under this extension, USCIS will approve applications for post-completion […]