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Today, USCIS announced that employer/petitioners will not be required to complete Part 6 of newly revised Form I-129 until Feb. 20, 2011. Part 6 pertains to Controlled Technology and Technical Data questions. Due to the many inquiries USCIS received from stakeholders about how to answer the questions, USCIS has extended the time in which employers must be able to answer the question. As I mentioned in my earlier post, Employers Must Know Export Control Rules When Sponsoring Employees, USCIS … [Read more...]
Immigration and Firm News
December 22, 2010 by ·
December 16, 2010 by ·
Beginning December 23, 2010, the new I-129 form goes into effect. This form is used for H-1B, H-1B1, L-1 and O-1A visa petitions concerning professional/specialty occupation, intracompany transferee, and extraordinary ability employees. A new set of questions ask the employer to certify that the employer has reviewed the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), and has determined that either a license is not required or that if one is … [Read more...]
December 1, 2010 by ·
The H-1B cap is getting closer to reaching annual limits. As of November 26, 2010, for FY 2011, the H-1B Cap is as follows: 50,400 of the annual 65,000 allotment of cap-eligible petitions have been approved. 18,400 of the additional 20,000 U.S. masters degree exemptions have been used. If the annual caps are reached in the next few weeks or months, then a new round of H-1B visas will not be available for jobs beginning this year and next until October 1, 2011. The application window will open … [Read more...]
November 19, 2010 by ·
A new I129 Form will be introduced and published on November 23, 2010, the same date the filing fees increase from $320 to $325.00 for the base fee, and from $1000 to $1225.00 if premium expedited processing is requested. The form is used for several non-immigrant categories including E-1/E2, E-3, H-1B, H-2A, H-2B, the expired H-2C registered nurse, H-3, L-1, O, P, Q, R and TN. On top of the base fee for each of these categories there are fraud and training fees that vary by category, employer … [Read more...]
October 1, 2010 by ·
On September 30, 2010, Rupert Murdoch, Chief Executive of News Corp., which owns Fox News, the Wall Street Journal and many other media outlets, along with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg testified before the House Judiciary Committee in support for immigration reform. Both recently founded the Partnership for a New American Economy, an organization of mayors and top business leaders who support expanding the types and numbers of visas for qualified workers in the U.S., as well as … [Read more...]
