Insight, News, and Strategy on Immigration Matters Around the World
Employers have paid about $7 billion in H-1B fees over the past 10 years. Now, a new fee is coming – the electronic registration fee.
Electronic pre-registration for the H-1B lottery is set to begin for the 2020 cap season. The government’s idea is that conducting the lottery based upon pre-registrations (rather than complete filings)…
The House of Representatives has taken a step in the direction of eliminating green card backlogs by passing the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act of 2019 (H.R. 1044) introduced by Representatives Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and Ken Buck. (R-CO). The support was bi-partisan and passed in a 365 to 65 vote. The bill would:
…
The Trump Administration has been stepping up the collection of data in general and more specifically from visa applicants and travelers.
Here are a few new policies:Continue Reading Administration Ups Data Collection and General Surveillance
According to the Department of Homeland Security’s Spring 2019 Regulatory Agenda, changes to business immigration are on the way, particularly with regard to H-1B visas. It is unclear, however, when these rules will actually come to fruition.
Continue Reading H-1B, H-4, Fees on Latest Regulatory Agenda from DHS
Volume “impact litigation” in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia may lead to details of the basis of alleged, unannounced, new USCIS policies regarding the H-1B visa program.
Attorneys are alleging that USCIS is using new policies to adjudicate H-1B petitions, without properly completing the required notice-and-comment procedures for administrative rule changes…
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…
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:
…
Since at least 2013, there have been efforts to make the Conrad 30 J-1 visa waiver program for physicians permanent. But that has not happened and it continues to be necessary to reauthorize the program every year. This year, Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Susan Collins (R-ME), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Angus King (I-ME) and Charles Grassley…
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 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…
