H-1 deadline is April 1 and LCAs are taking at least one week. For those interested in filing an H-1 petition for the next fiscal year, April 1 is fast approaching. The required Labor Condition Applications are taking about 7 days with DOL but that may slow down as we get closer to April 1. […]
US Immigration Law is full of words and phrases which have specific meanings, as do all areas of law. We call these words and phrases “terms of art” because they have a distinct meaning in the context of immigration law which they may not have in another context. For example, “change of status” means changing[…]
One of the certain outcomes of Immigration Reform, whenever we get it, will be Employment Verification for all employers. The current program is voluntary, called E-Verify, and once an employer is enrolled in the program every new hire is required to have his or her employment authorization verified by the Immigration Service, including US citizens[…]
The attached notice from the U.S. consulate in Toronto is of vital importance to investors/E-2 applicants from Canada. But it also raises a larger issue which is the importance of checking the consulate’s website every time before conducting business with them. For example, several weeks ago when we filed our last E-2 in Dublin they[…]
The Immigration Service/SEVIS program just announced that a number of OPT STEM extensions have been denied in error. It appears that, as we expected, CIS Examiners are taking a too strict view of the “volunteer” rule and CIS wants to readjudicate those denials. If you are having issues with the volunteer rules, please contact us.[…]
In 2012 the Department of State (DOS) initiated a pilot program which waived the interview requirement for certain non-immigrant visas. DOS recently announced that this program will now be permanent so that all U.S. consulates have the authority to waive the interview requirement either on a case-by-case basis or for an entire classification of visas.[…]
In several recent cases, the Immigration Service has adopted two new issues and used them to deny otherwise approvable H-1 petitions. Both of these issues could substantially increase the cost of employing H-1 workers and in some cases may eliminate that option altogether. The first issue, and the one that causes the most concern, is[…]
There are two basic sources for federal law in general and immigration law in particular. First, Congress passes a basic statute and then amends it to address changing conditions. In the immigration context we have the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, as amended, which is the law the Immigration Service must enforce. To do[…]
In most years we wait until January or February to begin the actual processing of H-1 petitions to be filed on April 1. However, there is an additional issue this year which we may need to plan for: believe it or not another debt limit showdown may be looming in Congress with a deadline in[…]
The general consensus at this time is that immigration reform will not actually happen until after the mid-term elections in November 2014. However, a new theory has surfaced which indicates that immigration reform might in fact happen in early 2014 before the election. One of the many reasons for the delay in immigration reform is[…]