In the coming days, a revised Labor Condition Application (LCA) will be published in the Federal Register that will require employers to name the end-client or vendor for H-1B, H-1B1,…
We just had an H-1B employee visa approval at the U.S. Consulate in Shanghai for an Accountant. The applicant has a Master's degree from a U.S. University and was granted the…
Scott Legal, P.C. just had an H-1B approval for a market analyst. The approval was based on the April H-1B season and the petition was approved for 3 years. H-1B…
Foreign nationals who are preparing to file an application for an immigration benefit with USCIS, or those who have already filed an application and are waiting for a decision, may…
We just had an H-1B petition approval at the USCIS Vermont Service Center. The beneficiary was granted H-1B status as a Market Research Analyst. A Request for Evidence was received…
The Department of Homeland Security have announced that starting from September 30, 2018, the Form I-907 premium processing fee will increase from the current $1225 to $1410. Premium processing is…
USCIS has extended and expanded the suspension of premium processing for certain H-1B cases. This suspension affects Fiscal Year 2019 pending cap cases and, starting from September 11, 2018, most…
The Department of Homeland Security has notified the courts that the draft rule to rescind H-4 work authorization, one that was supposed to be announced by February, then postponed to…
In May 2018, USCIS quietly changed the rules for offsite STEM OPT workplace placement on its website that disallowed STEM OPT students from being placed with a third party. For…
Scott Legal, P.C. just had an H-1B visa approval for an Operations Manager of a Commercial Bank for a national of India. The applicant was granted status for 3 years, and the application…
USCIS have finished returning unselected H-1B petitions that were not selected in the FY2019 cap lottery. Employers should receive petition packages and fee checks by August 13, 2018. This year,…
Scott Legal, P.C. just had an H-1B approval for a lawyer. While this is normally an easy category for an H-1B the lawyer had complex degree equivalency issues to address…
In the Annual Report to Congress, USCIS Ombudsman Julie Kirchner has addressed several anti-fraud initiatives that have caused delays and longer processing times for many applications. The Ombudsman’s office is…
For many foreign nationals who travel to the United States to study and earn a bachelor’s degree in the fields of science, technology, engineering or mathematics (“STEM”), the 24-month extension…
The Trump Administration has announced on May 14, 2018 that it has dramatically increased the number of worksite investigations and audits to make sure that American businesses are not employing…
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) have announced on May 15, 2018 that it has completed data entry for all FY 2019 H-1B cap-subject petitions. This year, a…
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) quietly revised the STEM OPT requirement page, showing only as “last reviewed/updated”, on January 24, 2018. USCIS revised the Optional Practical Training…
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on April 3, 2017 that there will be a stricter evaluation process for H-1B applications to further deter and detect H-1B…
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) have released Fiscal Year 2019 H-1B application numbers. This year, a total of 190,098 H-1B cap petitions were received, of this, 95,885…
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that it has completed the two lotteries to choose the H-1B applications that will be processed this fiscal year. In…