Department of Homeland Security

DHS Update

H-1B Season is Nearing! April 1, 2019 marks the beginning of the new H-1B petition filing season with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently published a final rule amending H-1B regulations governing H-1B cap-subject petitions which will go into effect April 1, 2019. The rule reverses the order

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Department of Homeland Security

DHS Update

DHS has announced its notice of proposed rulemaking pertaining to the H-1B visa program which would affect U.S. businesses submitting H-1B petitions under the annual cap. Chances are high that the new rule will be adopted prior to the start of the new H-1B cap season on April 1, 2019. Under the proposed rule, the government will

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Department of Homeland Security

DHS Update

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has started implementing their policy memorandum pertaining to the broader use of Notices to Appear (NTAs) in immigration court. USCIS may now issue NTAs to applicants who receive a denial on a petition that affects their U.S. immigration status. USCIS will send denial letters and provide details on how

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Department of Homeland Security

DHS Update

Starting September 11, 2018, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will be expanding the temporary suspension of premium processing (currently only applicable to cap-subject H-1B petitions) to include certain additional H-1B petitions. The premium processing suspension for the affected H-1B petitions is expected to last until February 19, 2019. The only H-1B petitions for which

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Department of Homeland Security

DHS Update

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has completed the H-1B petitions selection for processing under the government-imposed cap, and, at this time, all petitioners that have not received receipt notices for their H-1B submissions should anticipate the petitions’ return with standard rejection letters from the USCIS. Importantly, foreign students using the “cap gap” provisions

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Immigration Enforcement News

Immigration Enforcement News

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

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Department of Homeland Security

DHS Update

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

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Department of Homeland Security

DHS Update

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

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Department of Homeland Security

DHS Update

H-1B Season is Nearing! April 1, 2018 marks the beginning of the new H-1B petition filing season with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). As in prior recent years, the filing season is likely to be brief (i.e., most likely, limited to the first week of April) and, if more petitions are received than

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Immigration Enforcement News

Immigration Fraud

Staffing companies’ owner has been sentenced to 52 months in prison and a $50,000 fine for fraudulent H-1B petitions submission for foreign professionals. According to the court documents, the owner and her spouse filed over 100 H-1B petitions for foreign workers’ placement at nonexistent businesses or businesses that had never received these H-1B workers’ services.

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