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News & EventsThe Department of State Releases Their Visa Bulletin For June 2021
The Department of State (DOS) has issued its June 2021 Visa Bulletin. EB-1-Worldwide: Priority dates are current EB-2-Worldwide: Priority dates are current, except: China: Priority date of May 1, 2017 India: Priority...
DHS Withdraws Biometrics Rule Proposal
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has withdrawn a proposed rule that would have expanded DHS authorities and requirements for collecting biometrics. The proposed rule would have removed age restrictions, thereby requiring submission of biometrics for...
USCIS Announces FY 2022 H-1B Cap Electronic Registration Period
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is delaying the effective date of the H-1B Selection Process final rule until Dec. 31, 2021. What this means is that USCIS will apply the...
DHS Issues Final Rule Regarding H-1B Cap Lottery
On January 8, 2020, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a final rule that replaces the H-1B cap lottery system with a system that allocated H-1B visa numbers according to the Department of Labor's Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) four level...
Department of Labor Issues Implementation Guidance After Prevailing Wage Interim Final Rule Blocked
Last Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White's ruling dismissed changes the administration announced in October 2020 to the H-1B visa program, which included salary requirements on firms that employed skilled workers from overseas and placed new limits on specialty...
U.S. District Court Strikes Down H-1B Visa Restrictions
A federal judge threw out two rules by the Trump administration that limited the number of visas that are made available to skilled foreign workers. The Tuesday ruling from U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White, dismisses changes the administration announced in October...
DHS Proposes Significant Changes to H-1B Cap Selection Process
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is proposing a rule to the Federal Register to amend regulations that govern the process by which the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) selects H-1B cap-subject petitions. If this rule is finalized,...
DOL and DHS Publish Interim Rules Regarding Wage Requirements and Regulatory Criteria for H-1B
The Department of Labor (DOL) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have published two new interim rules, changing wage requirements for employment-based visas as well as regulatory criteria for adjudicating H-1B petitions. The first (wage requirements) will be...
Diversity Visa Lottery Registration for FY 2022
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) will begin accepting online registrations for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 Diversity Visa lottery beginning on Wednesday, October 7, 2020 at noon Eastern and ending on Tuesday, November 10, 2020 at noon Eastern. The Diversity Visa...
Premium Processing Breaking News
On September 30, 2020 the President signed H.R. 8337, the Continuing Appropriations Act 2021 and Other Extensions Act, part of which seeks to address USCIS’s budget shortfall. Part of the act addresses Premium Processing fees. Note that while the law takes effect...