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On May 25, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a temporary final rule making available an additional 22,000 H-2B temporary nonagricultural guest worker visas for fiscal year 2021 to employers who are likely to suffer irreparable harm without these additional workers. While 16,000 of the additional visas are limited to returning workers, 6,000 visas have been […]

A few Indians have joined in the ongoing litigation that is challenging the COVID-related travel ban to the U.S. The amended complaint was filed with a federal court in Washington, D.C. to include the travel ban for those physically present in India. While green card holders were exempt from the travel ban, it has strongly affected […]

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 […]

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 […]