Two years ago, then-Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, proposed collecting 15 years of travel, address and employment history and 5 years of social media platforms, identifiers, phone numbers and emails from visa applicants selected for “extreme vetting.” It was predicted that this would affect only 0.5% of all visa applicants – approximately 65,000 annually. As of June 1, 2019, with the introduction of a new DS-160 Form, some of this information will be collected from all visa applicants – affecting approximately 15 million foreign nationals planning to come to the U.S.
Continue Reading New DS-160 Form Seeks Social Media Information, Affecting Millions of Visa Applicants
Insights: Pros and Cons of Registering for E-Verify
Immigration enforcement is a major focus of attention of the Trump Administration – including in the business immigration context. One measure of this interest is the increase in I-9 audits. ICE reported that worksite investigations surged in FY 2018 by “300 to 750 percent” over FY 2017. Given that, many employers are considering whether to
What Processing Delays in Immigration Cases Mean
Long USCIS processing delays are now the norm for all types of immigration cases. Indeed, the delays have reached crisis levels. Processing times increased by 46% over the past two fiscal years and 91% since FY 2014.
In fact, even though applications declined by 17% in FY 2018, processing times continued to rise. In
Federal Court Blocks DHS Policy on Unlawful Presence for Foreign Students, Exchange Visitors
On August 8, 2018, DHS issued a new policy that announced that foreign students would begin accumulating “unlawful presence” if any violation of status had occurred, whether known to the student or not. On May 3, 2019, in Guilford College et al. v. DHS, Judge Loretta C. Biggs in the U.S. District Court for
Trump Administration Targets Visa Overstays
President Donald Trump issued a Memorandum on April 22, 2019 aimed at reducing visa overstays – people who stay in the U.S. beyond the time authorized by their visas. Assertions set forth in the Memorandum include:
- For FY 2018, the Administration believes that there were 415,000 individuals in the U.S. who had overstayed on nonimmigrant
USCIS: Rise in H-1B Petitions for Master’s Degree Holders Selected in FY 2020 Lottery
USCIS has announced on Twitter that there was an 11% increase from FY 2019 in H-1B advanced degree petitions selected in the FY 2020 lottery.
This year, USCIS reversed the lottery selection process. Master’s cap petitions were first entered into the regular lottery and then those left over were entered into a master’s-cap-only lottery. USCIS
USCIS Received More than 200K Cap-Subject H-1B Petitions for FY 2020
USCIS announced that as of April 10, 2019, it received 201,011 H-1B petitions for the FY 2020 cap season — more than enough to meet both the regular (65,000) and the advanced degree exemption (20,000) caps.
At the same time, the denial rate for H-1B petitions reportedly hit 32 percent in the first quarter of
U.S. Supreme Court to Decide If Immigration Law Preempts State Law Prosecution
Please see our legal update on the issue of whether the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) preempts states from using information in Form I-9 to prosecute a person under state law.
USCIS Clarifies Premium Processing for This Year’s H-1B Cap Cases Limited to Change of Status
As the start of the H-1B cap season approaches, USCIS has clarified that not all of this year’s cap cases can be premium processed.
Despite its notice on March 12, USCIS has announced that only cap-subject H-1B petitions requesting a change of status may request premium processing concurrently with the H-1B filing. But the
2019 H-1B Cap Season: New Cap Lottery Selection Rule Favors Beneficiaries with U.S. Master’s Degrees
While employers and immigration attorneys are preparing for the H-1B Cap Season, DHS has posted its Final Rule for a More Effective and Efficient H-1B Visa Program. The new rule will be published in the Federal Register on January 31, 2019.
As expected, the new rule provides for an electronic pre-registration requirement and reverses