Highlights Starting March 1, 2026, the premium processing fee for I-140 immigrant worker petitions and most Form I-129 nonimmigrant worker petitions will increase to $2,965, from $2,805. Fees for premium processing of certain I-129 petitions for nonimmigrant workers, I-539 petitions to extend/change nonimmigrant status, and I-765 EADs for OPT and…
Beginning March 1, 2026, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) will restrict its flagship loan programs—like the 7(a) and 504 loans—to businesses that are 100 % owned by U.S. citizens or U.S. nationals whose primary residence is in the United States. Under the revised policy, lawful permanent residents (green card holders) are no…
As of April 23, 2024, Portugal has joined the coveted list of countries eligible to participate in the E-2 Treaty Investor program via the passage of the Advancing Mutual Interests and Growing Our Success (AMIGOS) Act. E-2 nonimmigrant visas are reserved for investors who are nationals of a treaty country.…
Recently the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced new changes to the International Entrepreneur Rule effective October 1, 2024. What is the International Entrepreneur Rule The International Entrepreneur Rule (IER), was first established by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in 2017. The program allows noncitizen entrepreneurs to live and work in…
As the new year approaches, we have some unfortunate news to report for certain employment-based applicants who may wish to file their petitions with premium processing service in 2024, including those filing: Form I-129 Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker Form I-140 Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker, as well as Certain…
In this blog post, we share with you an important update from the U.S. Embassy in Israel. If you have a pending nonimmigrant or immigrant visa application awaiting an interview at the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem or U.S. Embassy Branch Office in Tel Aviv, you should be aware that visa…
Certain types of nonimmigrants will be expected to shell out more money for the nonimmigrant visa process. The State Department has announced that starting June 17, 2023, nonimmigrant visa (NIV) application processing fees for visitor visas for business or tourism (B1/B2s and BCCs), and other non-petition based nonimmigrant visas such…
Welcome back to Visalawyerblog! In this blog post we share with you some breaking news regarding the COVID-19 vaccination requirement for non-immigrant international travelers. On May 4, 2023, the State Department announced that the Biden administration will end the COVID-19 vaccine requirements for international air travelers at the end of…
We have good news for applicants filing Form I-539, Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status, requesting an extension of stay in or change of status to H-4, L-2, or E nonimmigrant status. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently announced that it has extended the temporary suspension of the…
In this blog post, we share great news for E and L dependent spouses! As we previously reported on our blog, pursuant to a new USCIS policy, E and L nonimmigrant dependent spouses are now considered employment authorized “incident to their status.” This means that upon admission and issuance of…