Blog
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...
Trump Signs Two Executive Actions on Immigration: What Comes Next?
Yesterday President Trump issued the first in a series of Executive Orders on border security and immigration enforcement. Among other items, the President announced that he would order DHS to construct a southern border wall, increase the size of the enforcement...
USCIS Reaches FY2017 H-1B Cap
Today USCIS announced that it has reached the FY2017 H-1B cap. They will use a computer-generated process, also known as the lottery, to randomly select the petitions needed to meet the general category (65,000 H-1B visas) and advanced degree exemption (20,000...
H-1B Season Is Upon Us!
Those U.S. employers interested in on-boarding foreign national workers in the H-1B specialty occupation category starting October 1, 2016, may file their H-1B petitions 6 months prior to the October 1st start date, on April 1, 2016. There is an annual quota of...
B-1 Visitor For Business: Are You Engaging in Business Activity On a Visa Waiver?
Are you a foreign national coming to the U.S. to engage in commercial transactions that do not involve gainful employment? Are you planning to temporarily stay in the U.S. for purposes of negotiating contracts, consulting with clients or business associates? Then,...
Court Upholds Block on President Obama’s Immigration Reform
Last night U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in a 2-1 decision, halted President Obama’s executive orders on immigration, upsetting the administration’s efforts to shield millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation and delivering a major setback to a core...
Department of State Releases Information For DV-2017 “Green Card Lottery”
Earlier this week U.S. Department of State (DOS) provided information on the 2017 Diversity Immigrant Visa Program (DV-2017), otherwise known as the “green card lottery.” Please note that entries must be submitted electronically between October 1, 2015, and November...