New fraud prevention mechanisms applied to the H-1B program in fiscal year 2025 have led to a dramatic decrease in the number of eligible registrations for H-1B cap visas, plunging to almost 40% from the past year. These fraud prevention mechanisms were introduced with the final rule “Improving the H-1B…
If you are an EB-5 investor in a Regional Center project, you may be interested to learn of new information released by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) regarding Regional Center audits. In March 2022, with the passage of the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022, Congress implemented…
In this blog post, we share with you some new updates for the H-1B cap season for fiscal year 2025 and beyond. H-1B Cap Initial Registration Period FY 2025 USCIS has announced that the initial registration period for the FY 2025 H-1B cap season will open at noon Eastern time on March 6,…
If you are a family-based conditional permanent resident who was issued a two-year green card based on your marriage to a U.S. Citizen, then you may be interested to know that the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently updated its policy guidance for Form I-751 Petition to Remove Conditions…
The Department of State raised eyebrows earlier this month when it released information that it will be reducing the waiting period for 221(G) “administrative processing,” in an effort to process visas more efficiently. While this is welcome news, in practice it may not mean much. Consulates and Embassies have been…
Welcome back to Visalawyerblog! In this blog post we cover the latest immigration news of the week. USCIS Launches Online Form to Report Fraud On March 3rd USCIS announced the launch of a new online form available on the USCIS website that can be used to report suspected immigration fraud…
USCIS will be publishing a final rule on August 14, 2019, in the Federal Register, that expands the list of public benefits that make a foreign national ineligible to obtain permanent residence and/or an immigrant or nonimmigrant visa. The Immigration and Nationality Act makes inadmissible and therefore (1) ineligible for…
The White House recently issued a Presidential Memorandum to strengthen asylum procedures and safeguard the asylum system against fraud. The Presidential Proclamation specifically orders the Attorney General and Secretary of Homeland Security to take several measures to enhance the security of the asylum system by July 28, 2019. These measures…
On April 22, 2019, the White House issued a memorandum seeking to curb the high rates of nonimmigrant overstays for nationals from certain countries. Specifically, the memorandum identifies aliens who overstay their period of lawful admission under the terms of their visa or Visa Waiver Program. The memorandum instructs the…
Several months ago, we reported that the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) amended its policy regarding the issuance of Notice to Appear (NTA) documents in removal proceedings. During the month of June, USCIS released a policy memorandum indicating the agency’s intent to revise NTA policy to better align…