Insight, News, and Strategy on Immigration Matters Around the World
Author: Harry J. Joe.
Job shops and staffing firms use of H-1B visas, but that do not actually and directly employ the alien workers, that assign such workers to third-party worksites and otherwise bench (practice of placing H-1B visa holders in nonproductive status, without pay, while they wait for placement with other employers), and not…
On April 9, 2013, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a notice in the Federal Register clarifying the date by which the new Form I-9 must be used instead of prior versions of the form. Employers are advised that they must use the new Form I-9 beginning on May 7 or they will be…
USCIS announced today that it "received approximately 124,000 H-1B petitions during the filing period, including petitions filed for the advanced degree exemption." On April 7, 2013, these applications were processed through a computer-generated random selection process known as the lottery to determine which ones would receive the 65,000 visas generally allocated for H-1Bs as well …
AUTHOR: Davis C. Bae
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that it has received a sufficient number of H-1B petitions to reach the statutory cap for fiscal year (FY) 2014. USCIS has also received more than 20,000 H-1B petitions filed on behalf of persons exempt from the cap under the advanced degree exemption.
UPDATE:
On March 28, 2013, DOL suspended issuance of H-2B Prevailing Wage Determinations due to the Court’s decision on the 2008 wage rule.
http://www.foreignlaborcert.doleta.gov/news.cfm
Further, effective March 22, 2013 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) temporarily suspended adjudication of most Form I-129 H-2B petitions for temporary non-agricultural workerswhile the government considers appropriate action in response…
This week the Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agency, which manages and protects US borders and ports of entry, announced the release of a new rule to automate the I-94 admission/departure process. Once in effect, the rule will be implemented over a planned four week period, beginning at airports in Orlando,…
AUTHOR: Rebecca Massiatte.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) has announced a temporary adjustment to its premium processing practice for H-1B petitions for the fiscal year (FY) 2014. Requests for premium processing (15-calendar-day processing time, subject to USCIS request for additional evidence/information) of cap-subject H-1Bs received between April 1 and April 14, will be adjudicated…
On March 14, 2013, a member of the American Health Care Association (AHCA) testified before the House Education and Workforce Committee’s subcommittee on Workforce Protections hearing on the critical shortages of mid-level caregivers in the nation’s skilled nursing centers and its impact on the economy. The hearing was held to examine the role of lower-skilled…
The Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs released on March 11th the April 2013 visa bulletin (available at http://travel.state.gov/visa/bulletin/bulletin_5900.html). Although the bulletin reports no significant progress was made in the employment-based categories, there was some progression. Progress in priority date movement in employment-based categories includes EB-2 China moving from February 15, 2008 to…
Employers who plan to file for new H-1B employment visas in FY2014 should be prepared to file by April 1, 2013. While H-1B usage has been lower over the last several years, increased demand caused the FY2013 cap to be reached on June 11, 2012, less than two months after USCIS began accepting petitions. H-1B…
