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On August 12, 2016, the Department of State’s Chief of Visa Control and Reporting Division, Charles Oppenheim, provided his predictions for visa availability for the beginning of upcoming fiscal year 2017 when he recently spoke with the American immigration Lawyers Association. Here are highlights of his predicted visa availability: EB-1 China and India: This category …
In its report issued in August, 2016, USCIS advises that it is processing initial EB-5 investor petitions within 16.7 months of petition filing, petitions to remove conditions on residence on EB-5 immigrant investors within 21.5 months of filing, and applications for new regional centers within 10.2 months of application filing. These times are slightly longer …
On July 20, 2016, the Department of State’s Chief of Visa Control and Reporting Division, Charles Oppenheim, addressed his predictions for visa availability for the balance of this fiscal year when he recently spoke with the American immigration Lawyers Association. The current fiscal year ends on September 30, 2016. Note that on October 1, 2016, …
The EB-5 Regional Center program is undergoing change from every direction: its statutory existence is set to expire in about 2 months absent legislation to extend it; there are long delays in USCIS EB-5 petition processing, and significantly, there is a large EB-5 visa backlog owing to increased EB-5 demand from China to date, a …
On July 1, 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor published notice increasing its civil monetary penalties due to inflation, as required by the Federal Civil Penalties Adjustment Act of 1990 and amended by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Improvements Act of 2015. Under the proposed, interim rule, DOL will increase the civil monetary penalty …
On June 23, 2016, in United States v. Texas, the Supreme Court upheld an injunction on two Administrative executive action programs on immigration. The Court ruled that “…The judgment is affirmed by an equally divided Court..” With these 9 words, the Court split 4 to 4, and without a 9th and deciding Justice, permitted an …
Starting on August 1, 2016, USCIS has announced that all E-Verify users will have to log in every 270 days to have maintain their E-Verify accounts. E-Verify is a voluntary USCIS program which permits employers register and then check new hires through the USCIS database to determine work eligibility. It is in addition to and …
USCIS has advised that effective July 1, 2016, the Nebraska Service Center (NSC) of USCIS will begin accepting certain H-1B petitions in which the employer seeks to continue previously approved employment without change with the same employer. The Vermont Service Center and the California Service Center will continue to accept these types of filing until …
Starting May 10, 2016, certain F-1 students who have completed their degrees can obtain extended post graduate work experience in their field using Optional Practical Training (“OPT”) beyond the 1 year period available to all graduates of bachelor degree programs. Graduates in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) can obtain a 24 month extension …
On May 2, 2016, USCIS announced that it had completed its random selection of H-1B petition “lottery” winners for cap-subject H-1B filings for fiscal year 2017. For those petitions selected, USCIS asks petitioners to wait until they receive a fee receipt. For those petitioner not selected, USCIS will begin returning those petitions. The process will …
