Important Announcements

USCIS Memo Time in H4 and L2 Status No Longer Counts Towards H1 or L1 Time NEWS FLASH: H and L Important New Benefits USCIS Memo Time in H4 and L2 Status No Longer Counts Towards H1 or L1 Time...

USCIS Issues Guidance on Adjustments by Individuals Whose Conditional Permanent Residence Has Been Terminated Issued Guidance on Adjustment of Status by Aliens Whose Conditional Permanent Residence Has Been Terminated The policy guidance ) explains how USCIS applies Matter of Stockwell,...

USCIS is issuing erroneous denials of COS and AOS applications where the foreign-national has purchased, but not used, an airline ticket to depart the U.S. USCIS is issuing erroneous denials of COS and AOS applications where the foreign-national has purchased,...

USCIS H1B Employer Data Hub USCIS has launched an H-1B Employer Data Hub to provide information to the public on employers petitioning for H-1B workers. The data hub is part of a USCIS continued effort to increase transparency in employment-based...

USCIS Changes EB-5 Investors Form I-829 To Extend Permanent Resident Status The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Form I-829 Petition by Entrepreneur to Remove Conditions on Permanent Resident Status is for immigrant entrepreneurs to petition to remove the conditions...

USCIS Announces Workload Transfer of H-1B Petitions from CSC to NSC In an effort to advance processing times for H1B nonimmigrant petitions, on October 1, 2018, USCIS announced that it transferred some H1B nonimmigrant Form I-129 Petitions for Nonimmigrant Workers...

USCIS Advises Employers and Agents Petitioning P Visas P1-A and P-1S Differences USCIS has updated the Adjudicator’s Field Manual (AFM) to emphasize that, under current regulations, the periods of initial authorized stay are different for individual athletes (P-1A) and their...

The U.S.C.I.S. has released an interim final rule extending the period of Optional Practical Training (OPT) for qualified F-1 non-immigrant students The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has released an interim final rule extending the period of Optional Practical Training...

The 9th Circuit Holds The Child Status Protection Act Applies To LPR Children Who May Take Advantage of Age Calculation Formula in INA §203(h)(1). Reading the statue as a whole, the panel concluded that Congress intended “age of the alien...

Prevailing Wage What is “Prevailing Wage”? The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) requires that when an H-1B foreign national is hired, the wages of U.S. workers will not be adversely affected. Normally, that means that the H-1B employee must be...

NSC Premium Processing Email Notification Failure The Nebraska Service Center’s (NSC) Premium Processing Unit confirmed a lack of email notifications was due to a technical glitch with its system. For several weeks, American Immigration Lawyer Association (AILA) members were not...

NSC is now processing all I-601A Applications for Provisional Unlawful Presence USCIS has confirmed Nebraska Service Center (NSC) is processing all I-601A Application for Provisional Unlawful Presence Waiver since 25 February 2018. On, January 29, 2018, USCIS had transferred some...

In the Matter of Jose MARQUEZ CONDE, Respondent BIA Applies Matter of Pickering on a Nationwide Basis The BIA Sustained the respondent’s appeal and remanded the case to the immigration judge for further proceedings, stating that its holding in Matter...

I Am on An H-1 Visa And Have Just Been Laid-Off – What Do I Do Now? by Edward R. LitwinAttorney at Law Introduction Some persons, who are in the United States in H-1 status, have recently been laid-off or...

H-1B Portability Work Authorization Not Applicable to H1B Change of Status Petitions Litwin & Smith has always advised that H1B portability provisions are not applicable in cases where the beneficiary had previously held H1B status, but is currently in another...

DOL Auditing Business Existence During PERM Process Immigration attorneys are reporting Department of Labor PERM audits which request evidence of Business Existence, such as tax returns, business licenses, leases, incorporation paperwork, etc. Such requests appear in the body of the...

Child Born Outside US Out of Wedlock Acquisition of US Citizenship Update The USCIS Policy Manual has been updated to clarify certain requirements for acquisition of U.S. citizenship for children born outside the United States and out of wedlock under...

USCIS Issuing RFEs and NOIDs for Dun & Bradstreet Information Confirm Your Company’s Information in VIBEWhile USCIS may not deny a petition or an application solely based upon information from VIBE. USCIS implicitly requires companies and organizations to create or...