Happy Valentine’s Day! Welcome back to Visalawyerblog. In this blog post, we share with you some important updates in the world of immigration. But first, we hope you are having a wonderful holiday spent with friends and loved ones. What’s New? USCIS Updates its Guidelines to Increase Validity Period of…
The H-1B cap season for FY 2023 is almost here! USCIS has just announced that the H-1B initial registration period for the FY 2023 cap is scheduled to open at noon ET on March 1, 2022 and will remain open until noon ET on March 18, 2022. As our readers are aware, in 2020…
We are extremely excited to report that USCIS has received enough electronic registrations during the H-1B initial registration period to reach the mandated numerical cap for fiscal year 2022, including for the advanced degree exemption (also known as the master’s cap), and has now selected all registrations eligible to participate…
President Signs New Bill Authorizing Additional Funding for PPP Last week President Trump signed a new bill into law that provides an additional $310 billion in aid to small business owners that will be funneled into the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program (EIDL) administered…
For many small businesses struggling to survive in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, receiving a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan was the only option to stay afloat. Unfortunately, the $350 billion in aid set aside by the CARES Act has run out. While it is believed that Congress will…
Are you a small business owner feeling the pinch of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic? Have no fear, the newly passed Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) provides emergency financial relief for small to mid-sized businesses in the United States, to help business owners keep employees on their payroll.…
H-1B season has officially kicked off! The new mandatory H-1B electronic registration system for fiscal year 2021 opened yesterday at noon ET on March 1, 2020 and will remain open until noon ET on March 20, 2020. In order to have a chance of being selected, from now on all…
It’s official. Yesterday, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a notice in the Federal Register formally implementing the mandatory registration requirement for H1B petitioners seeking to file a cap-subject petition for Fiscal Year 2021. The notice went into effect on January 9, 2019, the date of publication.…
Exciting news H-1B FY 2020 Filers! Yesterday USCIS announced that on April 10, 2019, the computer-generated lottery was conducted to select enough petitions to meet the H-1B regular cap and the U.S. advanced degree exemption for fiscal year 2020. In accordance with the new H-1B regulation, USCIS first conducted the selection…
Today, USCIS will begin accepting H-1B petitions subject to the FY 2020 cap. Any FY 2020 cap-subject H-1B petitions filed before April 1st will be rejected. Beginning today, 65,000 H-1B visas will be available for the regular cap, and 20,000 H-1B visas for advanced degree holders. Selection Important changes will…