News

Ever since the new biometrics requirement was put in place, USCIS has been delaying I-539 and I-765 applications even though they were filed concurrently with

Losing a job is an emotional and stressful situation. You may feel shocked, angry, depressed, worried, or all of the above. But, when your visa

Last week, the United States Court of Appeals for District of Columbia Circuit ordered DHS to file a report addressing the status of the H-4 EAD

If you are in F-1 status with an OPT card that expired between April and October and have filed a change of status to H-1B

9/9/19 UPDATE: we have received approximately 99% of the petitions back that we are expecting. We will be contacting USCIS regarding the remaining petitions that

***UPDATE 8/14/19: The first H-4 and H-4 EAD renewal I filed after the biometrics went into effect has finally been approved. The applications were filed

On June 10, USCIS will begin premium processing for all remaining FY 2020 H-1B cap-subject petitions. Starting on that date, the sponsoring employer may file Form

Today, 4/15/19 we received our first I-797 receipt notices in the mail for some of the premium processing petitions selected in the lottery that were

***UPDATE 4/12/19 – Our office has begun receiving email notifications for premium processing petitions selected in the lottery from both the Vermont Service Center and

USCIS has announced today that it received a sufficient number of petitions to reach the congressionally-mandated 65,000 H-1B visa regular (Bachelor’s) cap for fiscal year 2020.

USCIS has confirmed that H-1B petitions filed in the April 2019 lottery and requesting a change of status can file in premium processing: Premium processing will be offered in

USCIS will resume premium processing on Tuesday, March 12, for all H-1B petitions. If you received a request for evidence (RFE) for a pending petition, you should

****Update on the pending litigation: on March 13, 2019, the court granted DHS’ motion requesting additional time to file its brief. Instead of March 18th,

Today, USCIS announced that it will resume premium processing on Tuesday, Feb. 19, only for those H-1B petitions filed on or before Dec. 21, 2018. The previously announced

Now that we know that the cap-subject H-1B filing window will again be the first five business days of April and requires full petition filing,

As immigrationgirl.com readers know, DHS previously proposed to establish a mandatory Internet-based electronic registration process for petitioners seeking to file H-1B petitions for cap-subject beneficiaries.

USCIS will resume premium processing on Monday, Jan. 28, for all H-1B cap petitions that remain pending from the April 2018 lottery. If you currently have a

The H-2B program filing window opened at midnight EST on January 1st. The H-2B program allows U.S. employers to bring foreign nationals to the United

The proposed H-1B Electronic Registration rule has been published in the Federal Register, which means that the 30 day comment period has officially begun. The

****Update: After the comment period closed, on January 11, 2019 DHS submitted its final rule to OMB. This suggests that DHS still intends to move

As if the lottery system weren’t stressful enough, once you get through the lottery and are actually selected for a cap-subject H-1B, you still have

Last month, DHS submitted its report to the court on the status of planned regulations to rescind the H-4 EAD.  At that time, DHS confirmed

Last month, DHS submitted its report to the court on the status of planned regulations to rescind the H-4 EAD.  At that time, DHS confirmed

I want to provide affected students and their employers with actions they can take to urge USCIS to expedite “cap-gap” H-1B petitions. As we are

The Department of Homeland Security plans to publish a Final Rule tomorrow that will increase the Premium Processing filing fee from $1,225 to $1,410 for petitions filed

USCIS has just announced that instead of bringing back premium processing for cap-subject H-1Bs on September 10, 2018, they are now extending the suspension all

On August 20, 2018, the Department of Homeland Security submitted its second status update to the court in the H-4 EAD litigation. According to the

The automatic cap-gap extension of OPT was implemented by USCIS in order to assist foreign students who have been sponsored for an H-1B visa. The

I hope you found my H-1B receipt notice post helpful to you while you waited with bated breath to find out whether yours was selected

The USCIS Ombudsman conducted a teleconference today to discuss the H-1B lottery process. Although nothing groundbreaking was discussed, they did provide some previously unavailable data.

08/17/18 UPDATE: as of today, we’ve received 100% of the petitions back that we are expecting. 08/01/18 UPDATE: as of today, we’ve received approximately 97%

*****UPDATE  5/15/18 – USCIS ANNOUNCED THAT DATA ENTRY IS COMPLETE***** This means we should see the last of the receipt notices for selected petitions arriving

***UPDATE 4/19/18 – Our office is finally starting to see some filing fee checks cashed today*** ImmigrationGirl.com readers know that USCIS announced yesterday that it

On April 11, USCIS used a computer-generated random selection process to select enough H-1B petitions to meet the congressionally-mandated cap and the U.S. advanced degree

USCIS has reached the congressionally-mandated 65,000 H-1B visa cap for fiscal year 2019. USCIS has also received a sufficient number of H-1B petitions to meet

The filing window for the Fiscal Year 2019 H-1B cap opens today, and the last date for USCIS to receive petitions is Friday, April 6th.

When H-1B lotteries were becoming the norm, an issue was raised regarding duplicate filings as a way to increase the chances of being selected in

After previously suggesting that premium processing would remain available for H-1B petitions filed in this year’s lottery, just with a delayed start date, USCIS instead

Yesterday, USCIS issued a new policy memo that updates previous guidance related to H-1B placements at third-party worksites. This involves H-1B petitions where Mr. Worker

Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals agreed again to hold the H-4 EAD litigation in abeyance so that DHS can eventually move forward with a new rule

Immigrationgirl.com readers know that DHS has announced its intentions in the fall Unified Agenda. The Agenda indicates that DHS plans to propose a new regulation in February

USCIS SCOPS Confirms No Procedural Changes for H-1B FY2019 Cap Season USCIS confirmed to AILA that the agency is not anticipating any procedural changes for the FY2019

This time of year, the most common question asked by those seeking to become H-1B visa holders is “What documents do I need to provide?”

I think we can all agree that it has become more difficult to obtain approval of H-1B petitions under the Trump administration. Without any change

Next month, we are expecting the Trump administration to publish a new proposed regulation that would rescind the H-4 EAD rule. Public Comments can be

*****IMPORTANT! ****** I have just posted a survey at http://immigrationgirl.com/survey-for-h-4-ead-holders/ in order to collect data on the use of the H-4 EAD. This will ultimately support the

Headlines spotted in India today: “Trump administration considers proposal that may send back more than 500,000 Indian tech workers” “Proposed tweak in H-1B visa rules

I’m so sorry for my lack of posting lately! I have been swamped with RFEs from the April H-1B lottery. I just want to take

As expected, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has officially announced that it has resumed premium processing today for all types of H-1B petitions. Reference/Source: (immigrationgirl.com) http://immigrationgirl.com/premium-processing-is-back-for-all-h-1b-petition-types/

Reddy & Neumann, P.C. has recently obtained approvals of H-1B petitions overcoming Requests for Evidence in which the government had questioned whether the Level I

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) resumed premium processing today for H-1B visa petitions subject to the Fiscal Year year (FY) 2018 cap. This is

Many readers here at immigrationgirl.com have been asking about a new kind of H-1B Request for Evidence (RFE) mentioning the use of a Level 1

As I’m sure you all are aware, President Trump announced yesterday that the DACA program for certain undocumented individuals brought to the US as children

Many readers here at immigrationgirl.com have been asking about a new kind of H-1B Request for Evidence (RFE) mentioning the use of a Level 1

Want to know when to expect your H-1B approval, or if not selected, when to expect your returned petition? I’m sharing updates from my firm’s

Over the last six months, one of the top questions I hear is “What’s going to happen to the H-4 EAD?” Why are people so

As immigrationgirl.com readers know, President Trump signed the Buy American and Hire American Executive Order in April, which seeks to create higher wages and employment

7/28/17 UPDATE: As of today, we have received 80% of our expected returned petitions back in the mail. USCIS announced last week that they had

Without premium processing and with long processing times, it is becoming more common to need an amendment while the underlying petition is still pending. I recently

The new head of the U.S. Department of Labor, Alexander Acosta, will be “aggressively” looking into fraud and abuse of visa programs, particularly the Labor Condition

Individuals seeking entry into the United States are inspected at Ports of Entry by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers who determine their admissibility. Under

Now that we are moving into the actual adjudication process for the H-1B petitions selected in this year’s lottery, you may be wondering what could

I hope you found my H-1B receipt notice posts helpful to you while you waited with bated breath to find out whether yours was selected or

*****UPDATE  5/3/17 – USCIS ANNOUNCED THAT DATA ENTRY IS COMPLETE***** Below you will find daily updates regarding the cap-subject H-1B receipt notices for petitions filed

Below you will find daily updates regarding the cap-subject H-1B receipt notices for petitions filed in the FY2018 lottery. Before commenting, please review the following

Below you will find daily updates regarding the cap-subject H-1B receipt notices for petitions filed in the FY2018 lottery. Before commenting, please review the following

I want to share with immigrationgirl.com readers the potential impact of the order, especially on the H-1B visa program as this has been a top

4/14/17 UPDATE – We are continuing to see checks cashed, now for both service centers. They are all Advanced Degree. Also, someone is spreading around

A March 31, 2017 policy memorandum published by USCIS updates guidance to adjudicating officers related to whether certain computer-related positions qualify as a specialty occupation

On the day the H-1B cap season opens, USCIS announces new measure to detect H-1B fraud and abuse: “WASHINGTON – U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services