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, April 5, 2019, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that the Secretary of Homeland Security is extending the designation of South Sudan for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 18 months, from May 3, 2019, through November 2, 2020. The extension allows currently eligible TPS beneficiaries to retain TPS…
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…
The start of the FY 2020 H-1B cap season begins on April 1, 2019. This year, USCIS will offer premium processing services in a two-phased approach to avoid temporary suspension of the service. Change of Status H-1B Cap Petitions Starting April 1, FY 2020 cap-subject H-1B petitioners requesting a change…
USCIS Issues Notice Extending TPS Designation for Beneficiaries from Sudan, Nicaragua, Haiti, and El Salvador In compliance with a court ordered preliminary injunction issued in the case Ramos v. Nielsen, USCIS has issued a notice formally announcing the automatic extension of TPS documentation for beneficiaries from Sudan, Nicaragua, Haiti, and…
A new policy brief published by the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) analyzing USCIS processing times reveals that the agency has reached “crisis” level delays in processing immigrant and non-immigrant petitions. These delays have worsened during the Trump administration. According to the report the most vulnerable populations include immigrant families,…
A new report released by CBS news estimates that the immigration court system could face a staggering backlog of more than one million cases, if the government shutdown extends into February and March. According to the report, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky in particular will be the most affected, owing to…
Facing mounting pressure from the American public, the President delivered his last-ditch effort offering what he termed a “compromise” to gain support for his controversial wall and put an end to what has been a long-drawn-out government shutdown. In Saturday’s White House address, President Trump announced a plan that would…
This evening the President of the United States delivered his first primetime address from the Oval Office to gain support from the American people to build a border wall along the U.S./Mexico border. The President’s speech comes 17 days into a partial government shutdown that has left thousands of federal…
The government shutdown has now entered its 13th day with no agreement in sight between the President and lawmakers to settle government funding for the President’s wall along the U.S./Mexico border. Today, January 3, 2019, the President awoke to a newly convened House of Representatives, now controlled by the Democratic…