According to a notice released on Wednesday this week, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) plans to adjust the prevailing wage requirements for the H-1B visa and permanent residence process. These adjustments also will affect the E-3 visa for Australian professionals and the H-1B1 visa for professionals from Chile and Singapore.
Read MoreTThe Department of State (DOS) has issued its December 2019 Visa Bulletin. Overall, most employment categories had little forward movement. Employment-based category 1 (“EB-1) for most nationals advances by 44 days while for Chinese nationals it moves forward by 103 days. There is no change for Indian nationals in the EB-1 category.
Read MoreU.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) plans to increase most of its government filing fees, and change the premium processing time to 15 business days instead of calendar days due to budgetary shortfalls.
Read MoreThree federal courts across the United States have temporarily suspended the enforcement of the Department of Homeland Security’s new “public charge” rule, which was set to take effect on October 15, 2019. This new rule redefines how the agency can determine whether a foreign national is at risk of needing public assistance, which would make the foreign national ineligible for admission, extension of status, or permanent residence.
Read MoreThe Department of State (DOS) has issued its November 2019 Visa Bulletin. Overall, most employment-based categories this month had little advancement. (Employment-based (“EB”) category 1 for all nationals (except for India and China) advanced by little over a month. EB-1 for China moves forward three months and EB-1 India remains the same. The EB-2 category for all nationals continues to be current. China has a two and a half month advancement, and India advanced by one day. The EB-3 category is current for all nationals except for China and India, which saw no change from last month. The Philippines moves forward by three and a half months.
Read MoreUSCIS has proposed a $10 fee for each electronic registration submitted by a sponsoring employer for the upcoming H-1B lottery. USCIS will accept public comments on the proposed fee until October 4, 2019.
Read MoreUSCIS’s fee proposal for employers to complete the online registration process for next year’s H-1B visa lottery has been approved by the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”). The amount of the fee, which would be paid in addition to the filing, training, and anti-fraud fees for each H-1B petition, has not yet been announced. Publication of the proposed rule in the Federal Register is anticipated in the coming days.
Read MoreUSCIS announced today that premium processing will be offered in a “two-phased approach” for H-1B petitions filed in this year’s lottery. In the first phase, which will begin on April 1, 2019, USCIS will accept requests for premium processing for H-1B petitions filed with a request to change status. In the second phase, which is expected to begin in June, USCIS will accept requests for premium processing for H-1B petitions that were filed with a request for consular notification.
Read MoreUSCIS has announced that it will resume premium processing on Tuesday, February 19, 2019, for all H-1B petitions (transfers, extensions, amendments, etc.) filed on or before December 21, 2018.
Read MoreNow that the federal government's most recent shutdown has ended and E-Verify has resumed operations, please remember to create cases in E-Verify for all employees hired during the shutdown. The deadline to create these cases is February 11, 2019.
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