Blog
New Regulations for the EB-5 Investor Visa Program
On July 23, 2019, USCIS announced the publishing of a final rule that would make several substantial changes to the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program. Becoming effective on November 21 of this year, this announcement marks the first major revision to the program since...
The Importance of I-9 Audits in our Current Immigration Climate
Earlier this week, the New York Times published an in-depth report on ICE’s highly sophisticated tools for locating foreign nationals that it wants to deport, focusing on the Pacific Northwest coastline, and featuring Officer Miller and his partner, who our firm often...
Why is Your Immigration Case Delayed? This is the New Normal!
Applicants are waiting longer and longer for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to process and approve their applications and petitions. Whether they are applying for family-based benefits, employment-based benefits, naturalization, travel documents, or...
Proposal to Revoke H-4 Work Permits Getting Final Touches
The Trump administration is planning to end the Obama-era regulation allowing spouses of H1-B visa holders to work legally in the U.S. This move could have a devastating impact on more than 70,000 H-4 visa holders who have work permits. There is a clear economic...
Irina Batrakova Featured Guest On Slavic Public Center Radio Show!
Sigh of Relief for Foreign Nationals on an H-1B Status
Foreign nationals on an H-1B visa breathed a sigh of relief this week after USCIS announced that it will not be terminating status extensions, despite the rumors that the Trump administration was looking to end the policy. The shift would have impacted visa holders...
U.S. Orders Closure of Russian Consulate in San Francisco
U.S. ordered Russia to close its Consulate in San Francisco as well as two annexes in Washington and New York in two days, in a retaliatory response to Moscow's drastic reduction of U.S. diplomatic staff in their country. The State Department said the decision was...
USCIS To Expand Interview Requirement for Those Seeking Permanent Residence
News outlets are reporting that USCIS is developing a new policy that would expand the interview requirement for all employment-based adjustment of status (green card) applications and I-730 refugee/asylee petitions, effective October 1, 2017. It appears that this...
USCIS Now Publishing EB-5 Regional Center Termination Notices Online
USCIS is now publishing Regional Center termination notices online, and will continue to update the page with additional termination notices as they become available. A regional center that USCIS has terminated from the EB-5 visa program may not solicit, generate, or...
USCIS Completes the H-1B Lottery for FY2018!
USCIS announced that on April 11, 2017 it used a computer-generated random selection process (lottery) to select enough petitions to meet the 65,000 general-category cap and the 20,000 cap under the advanced degree exemption for FY2018. USCIS will reject and return...