As expected, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) received enough cap-subject H1B petitions during the first five business days of April than the 65,000 regular cap numbers available for fiscal year 2015 (FY15). The 20,000 advanced-degree exemption (or, "master's cap") was also exceeded during...
Portions of two more volumes of the new online policy manual of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) have recently been released. The additions deal with fraud and willful misrepresentation grounds of inadmissibility, and the availability of corresponding waivers. Purpose of Online USCIS Policy Manual In January...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced its intent to voluntarily reopen certain denied I-601A waivers. This applies, as of March 18, 2014, to I-601A waiver cases that were denied prior to January 24, 2014, and only to those cases that were denied solely...
A week before the April 1, 2014 commencement of the fiscal year 2015 (FY15) cap season, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a notice regarding related filing procedures and expectations. The USCIS confirms expectations that the number of H1B cap-subject filings will exceed the...
The National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP) recently released a study that documents and analyzes the dramatic increase in the percentage of L1B petitions denied by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in recent years. The NFAP finds that the situation is even worse...
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) system for filing and tracking Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests has recently been improved. A FOIA request is a powerful tool used to obtain case-specific government records and other internal government documents. FOIA requests submitted to the...
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued an extensive report in February 2014 regarding the oversight of the optional practical training (OPT) program for F-1 and M-1 foreign students. In the report, the GAO concludes that there is a need for additional risk assessment and...
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear appeals filed by towns in Texas and Pennsylvania, regarding their attempts to locally enforce certain U.S. immigration laws. This means that the earlier decisions by federal appellate courts striking down the towns' laws will stand. Local Efforts to Regulate...
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has issued the April 2014 Visa Bulletin. As expected, there was little in the way of movement in this month's visa bulletin. Family-Based, Second Preference "A" (FB2A) The FB2A category applies to spouses and (unmarried, minor) children of U.S. lawful permanent...
To provide clarity on an important issue regarding recruitment in PERM labor certification (LC) cases, the frequently asked questions section of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL)'s Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) was recently updated. In the frequently asked questions (FAQs), under the Recruitment Report...
