Understanding the October Visa Bulletin

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What is the Visa Bulletin? The Visa Bulletin is issued by the Department of State every month. The U.S. Government can only issue a limited number of Green Cards every year: 226,000 for Family-Based immigrants and 140,000 for Employment- Based immigrants. The law limits how many can be used for each country and each category…. Read more »

Presidential Proclamation – June 22, 2020

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President Trump issued a proclamation today continuing his earlier proclamation issued on April 22, 2020. This new proclamation goes into effect at 12.01 AM on June 24th and suspends and limits the entry of any individual seeking entry pursuant to any of the following nonimmigrant visas: (a) an H-1B or H-2B visa, and any individual accompanying or following to join… Read more »

USCIS to resume Premium Processing in phases

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USCIS has announced that it will resume Premium Processing service in phases, as follows – 1. June 1, 2020 – PP resumes for all eligible I140 cases. 2. June 8, 2020 – PP request can be made for all cap-exempt H-1B petitions (either because employer is cap-exempt or because beneficiary has previously been counted against… Read more »

USCIS to publish final rule regarding electronic registration for H1B cap-subject cases.

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– On January 31, 2019, USCIS will publish the final rule regarding electronic pre-registration for employers who wish to file H1B cap-subject petitions. – This rule will be suspended for the upcoming FY 2020 year cap-subject cases. – However, USCIS will implement a change in order of selecting the cases this upcoming year. Today U.S. Citizenship… Read more »

USCIS resumes Premium Processing for FY 2019 H1B cap cases

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As of today, USCIS has resumed Premium Processing  for FY 2019 H1B cap cases. This covers only the cases which were accepted in the lottery in April 2018 for FY 2019 H1B cap cases and are already pending with USCIS. ​The previously announced temporary suspension of premium processing remains in effect for all other categories of… Read more »

USCIS RFE Guidance memo

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July 13, 2018 Memo titled “Issuance of Certain RFEs and NOIDs; Revisions to Adjudicator’s Field Manual (AFM) Chapter 10.5(a), Chapter 10.5(b)” Date effective – September 11, 2018 This policy memo was issued to provide guidance to USCIS officers regarding the discretion to deny an application, petition, or request without first issuing a Request for Evidence… Read more »

USCIS expands suspension of Premium Processing for H1B petitions

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USCIS announced today that it will extend the suspension of Premium Processing to cap-subject H1B petitions beyond September 1, 2018. It is now expanding this suspension from September 11, 2018 for all H1B petitions that are filed at Vermont Service Center or California Service Center. It expects to resume Premium Processing for all H1B petitions… Read more »

USCIS postpones implementation of NTA Policy Memo

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USCIS today issued notification that it will delay implementation of the NTA Policy memo of June 28, 2018 (which I discussed in my previous post) until they get more operational guidance. This is good news and hopefully, they will consider the full ramifications of such a policy before going forward.

NTA Policy Memorandum

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June 28 Memo titled “Updated Guidance for the Referral of Cases and Issuance of Notices to Appear (NTAs) in Cases Involving Inadmissible and Deportable Aliens” (“NTA Policy Memo”) Date effective – Immediate (the agencies have 30 days to resolve how they will implement it). On June 28, 2018, USCIS issued the NTA Policy memo. This… Read more »

DACA

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Recently, the Trump administration has made the decision to rescind the DACA program as of March 5, 2018. This gives Congress 6 months to work out a deal and pass a law that will protect the Dreamers permanently. After March 5, 2018, if no action is taken by Congress, the Dreamers will lose their DACA… Read more »

Premium Processing returns for FY-2018 H1B petitions

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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has resumed premium processing today for all H-1B visa petitions subject to the FY2018 cap. This includes those petitions which are under the Master’s cap also. ​In addition to this, USCIS previously resumed premium processing H-1B petitions filed on behalf of physicians under the Conrad 30 waiver program, as well… Read more »

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