Immigrant Visa Rules 1. Priority Dates and I-140 Revocation: i. The final rule fills a hole in current regulations. Existing regulations establish that the priority date of an employment-based immigrant visa petition accompanied by a labor certification is established when the labor certification is accepted for processing by DOL. Those regulations, however, do not indicate [...]
Summary and Nonimmigrant Visa Rules These regulations have been long awaited and codify certain sections of the American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act of 1998 (ACWIA) AND the American Competitiveness in the Twenty-first Century Act of 2000 (AC21). This final rule clarifies and improves certain policies and practices in this area—policies and practices that [...]
On January 17, 2017, new rules[1] will go into effect to amend, “modernize and improve” certain aspects of the employment based immigrant and nonimmigrant visa programs. Administrative law requires that a Federal Agency (such as the Department of Homeland Security) first publish a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) and solicit comments prior to enacting [...]
Over the weekend, I was listening to NPR’s TED Radio Hour with Guy Raz and it featured a rebroadcast of a TED Talk given in September by NALP (New American Leaders Project) President and Scholar, Sayu Bhojwani entitled, “How Immigrant Voices Make Democracy Stronger”. As I listened, I paused at a question asked by Guy, [...]
Sometimes, Attorneys have to be able to read not only what is expressly stated in the rules, but also what is carefully left out. I have had several clients calling me for the past several weeks to inquire after the final rule amending regulations to expand Optional Practical Training (OPT) for students with U.S. degrees [...]
Over the past couple of months, clients have been emailing and calling to understand when they are NOT required to file an amended petition. For instance, one caller wanted to know what would happen if the employee returns from a project and is stationed at the corporate office for 15 days before being re-deployed to [...]
SINCE THIS FAQ WAS RELEASED, THE VISA BULLETIN FOR OCTOBER HAS BEEN REVISED. THE NOVEMBER VISA BULLETIN IS AVAILABLE ON OUR WEBSITE AT WWW.KIDAMBI.COM Q. Why is the new (October) Visa Bulletin different? A. The visa modernization initiative announced by President Obama last year is the reason for this change. As part of this initiative, [...]
Michael Jordan, Steffi Graf, the UConn Women’s Basketball Team, Deion Sanders… other than incredible success, what do think they have in common? They all had incredibly good and hardworking coaches with a knack for producing winners – Phil Jackson, Peter Graf, Geno Auriemma, Jim Harbaugh respectively, were able to nurture nascent talent and through hard [...]
“Material change” has been a prickly issue in the H-1B context. The USCIS has been grappling with it for years. As far as back as 1988, where materiality was defined in the context of Naturalization, the legacy INS dealt with it in Kungys v. United States, 485 U.S. 759, 770-72 (1988). In the above cited [...]
First, we need to turn our attention to an Administrative Appeals Office decision dated June 29, 2013 from a Vermont Service Center denial. The AAO decision reiterates what the California Service Center stated during an AILA-CSC Liaison Meeting: AILA Info Net Doc. No. 11093037 (Posted 9/30/11): Q. Stakeholders report receiving Notices of Intent to Revoke [...]