On August 3, the Trump Administration signed an executive order that ordered the review of federal contractor and subcontractor’s use of nonimmigrant workers and overseas labor on federal contracts. The purpose of the executive order is to determine whether U.S.…
Jenny ZhanAugust 11, 2020
The E-3 visa category was established in 2005 and the E-3 visa is a great visa option for Australian professionals who want to come to the U.S. to perform services in a specialty occupation. Please note that the E-3 visa…
Jenny ZhanJuly 24, 2020
The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that permits a company to hire workers in specialty occupations. There are a limited number of H-1B petitions that USCIS can adjudicate every year - 65,000 Regular Cap petitions as set by the…
Jenny ZhanJuly 23, 2020
The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that permits a company to hire workers in specialty occupations. There are a limited number of H-1B petitions that USCIS can adjudicate every year (65,000 Regular Cap petitions and additional 20,000 U.S. Advanced…
Jenny ZhanJuly 23, 2020
The E-3 visa is a non-immigrant visa that permits a company to hire workers in specialty occupations. The visa is available to nationals from Australia only and is very similar to an H-1B visa. This visa category requires that the…
Jenny ZhanJuly 7, 2020
On June 17, 2020 USCIS rescinded 2 Policy Memoranda related to H-1 visa. This blog post will focus on 2 areas that were impacted by the rescission: Employer-employee relationship One of the H-1B requirements is that there is a valid…
Jenny ZhanJuly 2, 2020
On Monday June 22, The Trump Administration signed an Executive Order suspending the entry of some H-1B, H-4, H-2B, J, and L visa holders, with some exceptions. Starting on 12:01 am EST on June 24 and lasting until December 31, the…
Jenny ZhanJune 26, 2020
Let’s analyze the following scenario: You are currently in the U.S. on an OPT status or on a cap-gap extension and your employer filed an H-1B visa change of status application. The H-1B application is currently pending with USCIS and you may be wondering…
Jenny ZhanJune 25, 2020
The Trump Administration has signed an Executive Order that will extend the April 2020 suspension of some immigrant visas until December 31. To learn more about the April 2020 suspension, please click here. This new Executive Order suspends the entry of…
Jenny ZhanJune 23, 2020
The Trump Administration will sign an Executive Order that will extend the April 2020 suspension of some immigrant visas until December 31. To learn more about the April 2020 suspension, please click here. News on Monday afternoon states that this…
Jenny ZhanJune 22, 2020
If your H-1B registration application was selected in the H-1B lottery, you have a 90 day period during which you have to file an H-1B petition with USCIS. This blog post will walk you through the H-1B application process. File…
Jenny ZhanJune 19, 2020
H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that permits a company to hire workers in specialty occupations. As an H-1B employer, you have to pay the H-1B employee the higher of either the actual or prevailing wage (this is called the…
Jenny ZhanJune 12, 2020
Participants of some J-1 visa programs are subject to a 2 year home residency requirement. This means, that the J-1 visa participants will have to return to their home country for at least 2 years after the completion of the…
Jenny ZhanJune 11, 2020
The E-3 and H-1B visas are similar but have some key differences. This post summarizes the key similarities and difference between the H-1B and E-3 visas. You can find out more about the E-3 visa by clicking here. You can…
Jenny ZhanJune 10, 2020
H-1B One of the H-1B requirements is that the petitioning U.S. company demonstrates that there is an Employer-Employee relationship. This means that the petitioning company will have to show that it can hire, pay, fire, supervise and otherwise control your…
Jenny ZhanMay 29, 2020
If you currently in the U.S. on F-1 OPT status, and you were not selected in this year’s H-1B lottery, you may be wondering if you could enroll in another University program and once you graduate, whether you can get…
Jenny ZhanMay 8, 2020
The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that permits a company to hire workers in specialty occupations. There are a limited number of H-1B petitions that USCIS can adjudicate every year (65,000 Regular Cap petitions and additional 20,000 U.S. Advanced Degree Petitions). Every…
Jenny ZhanApril 22, 2020
Federal judge Rudolph Contreras issued a ruling on three new court cases that USCIS has unlawfully denied H-1B petitions by improperly limiting the definition of a specialty occupation. If your employer wants to sponsor you for an H-1B visa, the…
Jenny ZhanApril 17, 2020
The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that permits a company to hire workers in specialty occupations. There are a limited number of H-1B petitions that USCIS can adjudicate every year (65,000 Regular Cap petitions and additional 20,000 U.S. Advanced…
Jenny ZhanApril 16, 2020
Covid-19 has changed the rules for travel, engagement and employment. Many companies have started to reduce wages and put staff on leave, and some companies have terminated employees. If your company filed an H-1B registration for a foreign national and…
Jenny ZhanApril 15, 2020
If you are currently in the U.S. on F-1 OPT status, your OPT work authorization expires soon, and your company filed an H-1B registration, you may be asking if you have to leave the U.S. immediately after your work authorization…
Jenny ZhanApril 7, 2020
If you were not selected in this year’s H-1B visa lottery and you want to stay in the U.S., here are some possible visa options you could consider. TN Visa for Canadian and Mexican nationals: If you are Canadian or…
Jenny ZhanApril 7, 2020
USCIS announced today that H-1B cap-subject petitions for fiscal year 2021 can now be filed. USCIS has already notified all selected applications of their selection status on or before March 31. Only applicants who have be selected in the lottery…
Jenny ZhanApril 1, 2020
The latest statistics released by USCIS shows that while there has been an increase in the issuance of Request for Further Evidence (“RFE”) in recent years across the board for all visa types, the overall approval rates still remains relatively…
Jenny ZhanMarch 27, 2020
USCIS has announced that they have received sufficient electronic registration during the initial registration period to complete the lottery for FY 2021. Petitioners with selected registrations will be notified no later than March 31, 2020. Only selected registrations may file…
Jenny ZhanMarch 27, 2020