Insight, News, and Strategy on Immigration Matters Around the World
The Department of Homeland Security has begun implementing the new, additional 24 months of F-1 Optional Practical Training (“OPT”) work authorization for foreign students with a STEM major. This is a major in science, technology, engineering or mathematics.
What’s new?
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Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) announced on April 5, 2016, that the “University of Northern New Jersey” (“UNNJ”) had been a sting operation for the past two-and-a-half years. Run by Homeland Security Investigations Newark, UNNJ had a plausible website and an address in Cranford, New Jersey. Twenty-one persons, characterized as brokers, recruiters, and employers, were …
What if an F-1 student must travel outside the U.S. during the cap-gap period?
OPT employment authorization and Duration of Status (D/S) are extended automatically for an F-1 student who is the beneficiary of a timely filed H-1B petition requesting change of status with a start date of October 1st. This permits an…
The current Form I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification is set to expire on March 31, 2016. On the eve of the form’s expiration, USCIS has announced that employers must continue to use the current version until the proposed I-9 is in effect.
On March 28, 2016, USCIS published proposed changes to Form I-9 in the Federal…
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has released the final version of its “same or similar” policy memo, which provides guidance to individuals with pending permanent residency applications who hope to change positions or jobs. The 21-page Policy Memorandum, released on March 18, is a mixed bag for employers.
The Department of Labor uses Standard…
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has issued a final rule that allows foreign graduates of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (“STEM”) programs from U.S. universities an additional 24 months of F-1 Optional Practical Training (“OPT”) work authorization.
The new rule will be published in the Federal Register on March 11, 2016. It will not…
Employers can request that USCIS predetermine that they meet the requirements for certain nonimmigrant and immigrant employment-based visa categories under a new pilot program announced by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on March 3, 2016.
The agency’s stated purpose of this program is to streamline the visa process by reducing costs, paperwork, and delays…
The H-1B visa category is the most popular nonimmigrant work visa category in the U.S. under which employers sponsor skilled, professional workers for employment. This is largely because it allows foreign graduates in the U.S. for university undergraduate and graduate education to work in the U.S. after graduation. H-1B regulations stipulate that to qualify for…
The Immigration and Reform Control Act (IRCA) requires all employers to complete a Form I-9 for all employees hired after November 6, 1986. The law prohibits an employer from knowingly hiring or continuing to employ an unauthorized alien. The severity of the consequences awaiting employers who violate this law was evident recently in two cases…
The United States has begun implementing changes to its visa policies that will make it harder for some travelers to enter the country under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP). One result of the changes means certain countries’ nationals are no longer eligible to enter the U.S. under the VWP.
The VWP allows eligible nationals of…
