The White House issued a memo on combating high non-immigrant visa overstay rates. Among other things, the Secretary of State, in consultation with the AG and Secretary of Homeland Security, shall provide recommendations of actions to take to reduce nonimmigrant overstay rates from certain countries. Clients should take particular note of the fact that [...]
Yesterday we had our N-400 interview. It went well and we are now American citizens. Thank you and your staff for all your help and support. -- Sundar, USA, E-mail
CBP announced that beginning in May 2019, I-94 numbers will be alphanumeric. Prior to May 2019, I-94 numbers were 11 digits long and only contained numbers. This change is due to the depletion of numeric-only I-94 numbers and to create a long-term solution for the creation of new numbers.
Premium processing for FY2020 cap-subject H-1B petitioners requesting a change of status on Form I-129 will begin on 5/20/19. For all other FY2020 H-1B cap-subject petitions, it will begin in June 2019 or later. From 5/20/19 until 6/3/19, final notices will not be sent using prepaid mailers. Read the USCIS news release. [...]
USCIS has announced additional guidance regarding the adjudication of spousal petitions involving minors, following up on the agency’s February update to its policy. The guidance, published as an update to the USCIS Adjudicator’s Field Manual (AFM), instructs officers to conduct an additional interview for certain I-130 spousal petitions involving a minor. Generally, the bona fides [...]
On April 10, USCIS used a computer-generated random selection process to select enough H-1B petitions to meet the congressionally-mandated regular cap and the U.S. advanced degree exemption for fiscal year (FY) 2020. After completing the random selection process for the regular cap, USCIS also determined that it has received a number of petitions projected as [...]
We have received credible reports from clients and other practitioners that the number of site visits targeting Consulting companies has increased significantly in the past several weeks. Employees should be made aware that site inspectors could call on them at the end client site unannounced. When this happens, employees must politely ask to see the [...]
This is TRULY GREAT NEWS! Congratulations! I want to extend a special thanks to Vaman Kidambi for so skillfully helping us through some of the difficulties we faced. -- Sam, USA, E-mail
USCIS has received a sufficient number of petitions projected as needed to reach the congressionally-mandated 65,000 H-1B visa regular cap for fiscal year 2020. USCIS will next determine if they have received a sufficient number of petitions to meet the 20,000 H-1B visa U.S. advanced degree exemption, known as the master’s cap. The agency [...]
On May 20, USCIS will begin premium processing for FY 2020 cap-subject H-1B petitioners requesting a change of status on their Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker. Petitioners who do not file Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing Service, concurrently with an FY 2020 cap-subject H-1B petition requesting a change of status must wait [...]