The July 2018 DOS Visa Bulletin “Final Action” chart for employment-based preference cases will contain significant movement for China and India, while other chargeability areas will experience no change. EB-1 Priority Workers for China and India will continue to maintain the same cut-off date of January 1, 2012, and EB-1 All Chargeability areas, El Salvador/Guatemala/Honduras,
United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) has issued a policy memorandum changing certain rules governing F-1, J-1, and M status students attending U.S. colleges and universities and vocational training programs. As of August 8, 2018, students that fail to properly maintain their status in the U.S. will start accumulating unlawful presence in this country
A California IT company has settled with the government for over $173,000 at the conclusion of the investigation into the business’s use of the H-1B professional foreign worker program. The U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigation uncovered that Cloudwick Technologies Inc. (“Cloudwick”) paid its sponsored H-1B workers significantly below the prevailing wages
The June 2018 DOS Visa Bulletin “Final Action” chart for employment-based preference cases experienced very little movement. EB-1 Priority Workers for China and India will continue to maintain the same cut-off date of January 1, 2012 and EB-1 All Chargeability areas, El Salvador/Guatemala/Honduras, Mexico, Philippines, and Vietnam will remain current. EB-2 “Members of the Professions
President Trump announced that Chad is no longer subject to the U.S. entry restrictions of Presidential Proclamation 9645 (commonly referred to as the “travel ban”). The President noted that Chad has made significant improvements in its identity-management and information-sharing practices. Specifically, the President stated that Chad is issuing more secure passports and sharing updated passport
The May 2018 DOS Visa Bulletin “Final Action” chart for employment-based preference cases contains important updates as we enter the 8th month of FY2018. EB-1 Priority Workers for China and India will maintain the same cut-off date of January 1, 2012 and EB-1 All Chargeability areas, El Salvador/Guatemala/Honduras, Mexico, and Philippines will remain current. EB-2
2019 H-1B Cap-subject Petitions. On April 6, 2018, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reached the congressionally mandated 65,000 H-1B visa cap for the government’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 and received in excess of 190,000 cap-subject petitions. USCIS also confirmed that it had reached the cap under the 20,000 H-1B petitions allocation for U.S. advanced
Travel Ban: The DOS has clarified the waiver process for individuals impacted by President Trump’s Presidential Proclamation 9645 (i.e., the “travel ban”). The Proclamation specified that entry restrictions may be waived on a case-by-case basis if a consular officer or Customs and Border Protection (CBP) official determines, in their discretion, that an application meets the
Company Audits: Following the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) five-day targeted operation in the Los Angeles area, the government served 122 notices of inspection (NOIs) to businesses and arrested 212 individuals for violating federal immigration laws. An additional 77 NOIs were served to businesses in northern California. A NOI alerts businesses that ICE is going
Third-Party Placement: In alignment with President Trump’s Buy American and Hire American Executive Order, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a policy memorandum to establish agency policy related to H-1B petitions filed for workers who will be employed at third-party worksites. The memorandum clarifies that for H-1B petitions involving a third-party worksite, the employer