By Ekaterina Powell, Esq. On July 11, 2014, USCIS released new guidance on adjudication of H-1B petitions for nursing occupations, which superseded the previous USCIS Memorandum of Johnny Williams, INS Office of Field Operations, Guidance on Adjudication of H-1B Petitions filed on Behalf of Nurses, HQISD 70/6.2.8-P (November 27, 2002).…
The Chief of the Visa Control and Reporting Division at the U.S. Department of State, Charles Oppenheim, recently shared the expected projections for monthly and annual visa demand and Visa Bulletin projections regarding family and employment based green cards. It is important to note that these projections may be subject…
By Yingfei Zhou, Esq. Q: How can I apply for EB-5 visa? A: There are two requirements on foreign investors seeking a green card. First, you must invest sufficient funds in an approved project of your choice. Second, ten new full-time jobs must be created as a direct result of…
On April 07, 2014, in a much awaited public announcement, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that it had already reached the statutory cap of H-1B petitions allotted for the 2015 fiscal year. According to the announcement, on the first five days USCIS began to count H-1B petitions, it was…
Now that the H-1B cases have been filed, we are anxiously waiting to get the news from USCIS on the cap count. Last year, USCIS announced on April 5 that it received approximately 124,000 H-1B petitions during the five day filing period, including petitions filed for the advanced degree exemption.…
Our office receives many inquiries from start-up companies that want to hire employees under H-1B visa. As the H-1B season has begun, we would like to provide our readers with the updates and important considerations for this category of H-1B visas. The following article was prepared by attorney Ekaterina Powell…
Reactions to the release of the House GOP leadership’s principles for immigration reform tended more toward cautious praise for releasing something as a starting point, but with serious doubts about the shortcomings of the actual policy proposals. Because these principles are guidelines—without specific detail—“cautious optimism” is probably the healthiest approach…
We previously reported on the temporary freeze on filing H2B visas. H-2B petitions for temporary non-agricultural workers are being adjudicated once again at the Vermont Service Center (VSC). VSC anticipates completing pending petitions by early May, and have advised that no action is required by petitioners. The suspension of H-2B…
So the H1B season is over, faster than expected. But what occupations were the most popular this H1B season, how many Computers Programmers, Engineers, Consultants, etc were filed this past few months? The Labor Department provided statistics as to the number of Labor Condition Applications (LCA) filed this season. LCA…
Bad news, but it is official. The annual H-1B cap has been reached for this year, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and at a pace that is several months ahead of last year. The U.S. issues 85,000 H-1B visas each year under its cap, with 20,000 of…