The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Citizenship and Immigration Services (“CIS”) announced that it has submitted to the Federal Register an Interim Final Rule that will streamline the Employment Eligibility Verification (Form I-9) process. The Interim Final Rule narrows the list of acceptable identity documents and further specifies that expired…
The nursing shortage in the United States is becoming increasingly problematic and may adversely affect the health care industry. According to a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) 2007 study, the United States will require 1.2 million new Registered Nurses (RNs) by 2014 to meet the nursing demand:…
If you were planning to apply for the Green Card Lottery, but have not taken the time to do so, you had better move fast real fast. The DV-2010 lottery application period expires at noon, Eastern Standard Time, December 1st, that is actually today. You can still apply online without…
There is currently a shortage in the United States of nurses, physical therapists and other healthcare workers. This blog post answers questions about temporary and permanent immigration options for nurses and physical therapists. Work Visas for Nurses Some nurses could qualify for H-1B visa status if their positions required at…
The Visa Bulletin for November 2008 was published. This Visa Bulletin reflects slight forward movement in the employment-based (EB) cutoff dates. The EB1 category is current for all countries of chargeability. EB2 category remains current for all countries, except for India and China. The cutoff dates for both India and…
In the past several weeks we were following one of most fierce confrontations, between lawyers and the Department of Labor. First the DOL started auditing all the cases of the largest Immigration firm in the nation, Fragomen. Later, Fragomen sued the DOL, claiming various unfair practices. This was all a…
This is a reminder to all I-601 waiver applicants, there is no fee waiver for this application no matter what is your situation. USCIS has received numerous applications filed without the appropriate fee due to an incorrect interpretation of the regulations. The authority to waive or exempt payment of the…
1. There is a very high rejection rate of I-907 premium processing requests. (SCOPS chief Barbara Velarde mentioned in Vancouver at the National Immigration conference that the rejection rate was approximately 60%.) Prior to the suspension of premium processing for I-140’s last Fall, only certain I-140 case types were eligible.…
DOS released the Visa Bulletin for August 2008. In addition to the 3rd Preference category, the Other Workers category is now unavailable. EB2 category is current for all countries, except for India and China. However, the India and China cutoff date has moved forward to June 1, 2006. This is…
We are a small immigration law firm, but we often get contracted by clients of larger firms for second opinion, under a strict confidentiality relationship. In the past few months we have been getting calls from clients or larger firms for PERM, I-140, and other related Permanent Residency cases. Sometimes,…