Immigration and Firm News

I am pleased to announce my participation in an online roundtable with immigration lawyers from the US and several other countries hosted by Corporate LiveWire.  This interesting website provides business professionals and individuals with news about corporate transactions and deals, legislation and regulatory updates, information about international markets and business strategy, international law, marketing, and finance.  Every year, Corporate LiveWire posts an immigration roundtable where … [Read more...]

USCIS issued its final guidance memo on when employers must file amended or new H-1B petitions for employee changes in job location or other material changes.  The memo implements the April 9, 2015 AAO Decision in Matter of Simeio Solutions, LLC.  In a prior blog post, we discussed the case and USCIS' proposed guidance memo that was posted for public comment.  The final memo issued on July 21, 2015 addresses a number of issues and scenarios about when an H-1B employer must file a new or amended … [Read more...]

On July 10, 2015 American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) submitted its comments to USCIS on the proposed "Significant Public Benefit" Parole for Entrepreneurs program that I wrote about in a previous blog post, USCIS Holds Entrepreneur Parole Listening Session. As a recap, USCIS is looking at extending its already existing parole authority at 8 CFR 212.5 to certain entrepreneurs that do not fit easily into existing visa options in order to attract or retain start ups, and research and … [Read more...]

Premium Processing Extension Requests Update On July 13, 2015, USCIS resumed premium processing of H-1B extension request petitions. Previously, on May 19, 2015, USCIS announced that it would not process H-1B premium processing extension requests filed between May 26, 2015 and July 27, 2015 so that it could work on the new H-4 work authorization applications that began May 26, 2015.  (See a previous blog post about the new H-4 work authorization (EAD) program for certain spouses of H-1B … [Read more...]

I am pleased to announce that I was invited to speak at the 2015 Community College Master Teacher Institute. This event will be held on July 9 and 10, 2015 at the University of Washington Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies.  The program is sponsored by UW, the Northwest International Education Association, the University of Wisconsin, and the Global Business Center at the Michael G. Foster School of Business at the University of Washington.  The theme for the institute is Human … [Read more...]

Today, USCIS held a teleconference “listening session” with stakeholders in order to get feedback and ideas about how to implement President Obama’s proposed "significant benefit" entrepreneur parole program. USCIS officials merely listened to ideas and gave very few comments except to clarify the points they were most interested in learning about. Anyone can submit suggestions or ideas to public.engagement@uscis.dhs.gov. They are particularly interested in feedback about minimum investment … [Read more...]

On May 27, 2015, USCIS issued a draft guidance memo on when employers of H-1B visas workers should file amended petitions.  The guidance attempts to implement the Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) decision in Matter of Simeio Solutions, LLC decided April 9, 2015.  Specifically, the case and the guidance deal with when a change of employment location or other factors constitute a material change warranting the filing of a new Labor Condition Application (LCA) and thus an amended or new … [Read more...]

Starting May 26, 2015, USCIS will begin accepting H-4 work authorization (EAD) applications from certain spouses of H-1B workers.  This is a regulatory amendment that was published as a final rule in the Federal Register on February 29, 2015.  USCIS published the H-4 notice of proposed rulemaking in May 2014 and finalizing it was part of the executive actions on immigration that President Obama announced in November 2014. Extending eligibility for employment authorization to certain H-4 … [Read more...]

Below are some alternatives for employers and current/prospective employees who were not selected for the H-1B cap cases for FY 2016 beginning October 1, 2015.  As mentioned in an earlier post, there were 233,000 applications for 85,000 slots! If you are among the two thirds of applicants who were rejected, there may be some other options available as described below.  Some of the options described below are for nationals of specified countries. They are highlighted to help employers focus on … [Read more...]

USCIS announced today that it received a whopping 233,000 H-1B visa petitions during the seven-day filing period that began April 1, 2015!  These are for "specialty occupations" that will be effective in the NEXT fiscal year (FY2016) beginning October 1, 2015. Because there were only 65,000 general category visas available plus an additional 20,000 for the advanced degree cap, that means there were more than two and a half times the number of applicants than visas that are available.  USCIS just … [Read more...]