Below is a list of policies and regulations that USCIS has enacted since Buy American and Hire American (BAHA) went into effect. Despite its seemingly benign and lofty ideals of “[protecting] economic interests of U.S. workers” and “[preventing] fraud and abuse” BAHA’s reality has been little more than furthering the not-so-secret policy of this administration[…]
USCIS has announced that, on April 10th, they completed the random selection process to select enough H-1B petitions to meet the congressionally mandated 85,000 H-1B visas allotted each fiscal year. USCIS received a total of 201,011 H-1B petitions during the filing period for Fiscal Year 2020, which represents an increase from the 190,098 H-1B petitions[…]
The USCIS today stated that the agency has received more applications than the quota. This is certainly not a surprise. Below is a copy of the text from the website. Good luck to everyone who applied this year. __________ USCIS Reaches FY 2016 H-1B Cap Release Date: April 07, 2015 WASHINGTON – U.S. Citizenship and[…]
The I-130 backlog that started about 6-9 months ago is still causing families to remain separated. At the American Immigration Lawyers Association annual conference in June, USCIS said that they are aware of the problem and are working on reducing the problem. From feedback from colleagues I learned that newly filed cases are flying through[…]
We Need Better Immigration Policies for Startups and Entrepreneurs – Tahmina Watson “USCIS intends to revoke your H-1B visa because we have discovered you are a co-founder.” Yes. That is indeed what my client learned one morning. USCIS learned during the renewal process of my client’s previously approved H-1B case that he was an original[…]
Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Dept. of Homeland Security announced her resignation today. She will become president of the University of California system. As you may recall, two weeks ago it was announced that USCIS Director Alejandro Mayorkas would be promoted to Deputy Secretary of DHS. I believe both Napolitano and Mayorkas made a good[…]
On Wednesday 28th November, there may be some significant updates on the Entrepreneur in Residence program by USCIS. It appears that USCIS Director Majorkas will reveal “Entrepreneur Pathways” in Boston, MA. Watson Immigration Law hopes to post relevant updates in due course. Stay tuned!
The USCIS held a follow up conference on the Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) program today in Atlanta, GA. The event was supposed to be broadcast via live web stream. However, the live web-stream was cancelled. The USCIS is likely to discuss their findings and assessments of the current visa system and how the system can[…]
http://www.uscis.gov/USCIS/Outreach/Feedback%20Opportunities/Draft%20Memorandum%20for%20Comment/EB_5_Adjudications_Policy2.pdf The USCIS issued the above linked draft memo today, outlining some new policies that are in discussion. In addition, today (11/9/2011), there was a stakeholder meeting to address the memo and receive feedback. A couple of highlights from the discussion today were: premium processing (PP) for EB5 cases is likely to be implemented in[…]
As of October 21, 2011, approximately 46,200 H-1B cap-subject petitions were receipted. Additionally, USCIS has receipted 20,000 H-1B petitions for aliens with advanced degrees. There are no more H1b visas in the Master’s category for fiscal year 2012.