Long overdue but the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Michael Chertoff signed on April 18, 2008 a Visa Waiver Program (VWP) agreement with Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Yu Myung-hwan. The security enhancements outlined in the agreement puts Korea on the path toward visa-free travel to…
Clients have been waiting patiently for the visa Bulletin to be out this month. Excellent news in many categories. The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has issued the May 2008 Visa Bulletin. It contains continued good news for some EB2 applicants from India and China. It also reflects significant forward…
Good news for the aspiring self employed H1B workers. An AAO non-precedent decision finds that a corporation has a separate legal identity from its owner, even if it is owned and operated by a single person. Also finds that the proffered position is a specialty occupation, despite the fact that…
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today conducted the computer-generated random selection processes on H-1B petitions, to select which H- 1B petitions for fiscal year 2009 (FY 2009) would continue to full adjudication. If approved these H-1B petitions will be eligible to receive an H-1B visa number. USCIS conducted two…
A few days ago we reported on the new OPT rule offering some much needed H1B relief. Only 3 days after it was submitted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on March 31, 2008, the Office of Management and Budget finished reviewing the interim final rule on Optional Practical…
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) recently announced a joint plan to eliminate the backlog of name checks pending with the FBI. USCIS and the FBI established a series of milestones prioritizing work based on the age of the pending name check. The…
Well the numbers are out, I lost my bet. I predicted 200,000 visa applications to be received. The actual numbers are lower. This reflects the low confidence employers put in this system. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today announced a preliminary number of nearly 163,000 H-1B petitions received during…
As we are anxiously waiting for the H1B lottery to start tomorrow, the government providing some relief for those that are waiting to get their visas and for future students graduates about to apply for work permits. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) released today an Interim Final Rule…
Talk about H1B filing nightmare. American Immigration Lawyers Association has received reports that Federal Express forwarded a number of H-1B packages to the service centers without entering the individual package into the tracking system. AILA and USCIS are discussing how to handle the situation, and USCIS is talking to Federal…
The latest from the Border. Mexican nationals who are deported from the United States or leave voluntarily after being stopped are being offered free trips back to their hometowns under a pilot program launched yesterday in Tijuana. The Tijuana program, dubbed Humanitarian Repatriation, will also ensure that returning Mexicans receive…