In January 2012, the Department of State introduced a two-year visa interview waiver pilot program. This pilot program was one of the cornerstones of President Obama’s initiative to improve and speed up the visa process for certain categories of travelers to the U.S. This pilot program has now been made permanent. According to new 9 [...]
ICE press release on $34 million settlement agreement involving Infosys, an Indian consulting, technology and outsourcing company alleged to have committed systemic H-1B and B-1 visa fraud and abuse of immigration processes and also agreed to enhanced corporate compliance measures. Read the article on Infosys Settlement Agreement.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today published a revised Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9 for use. All employers are required to complete a Form I-9 for each employee hired in the United States. Improvements to Form I-9 include new fields, reformatting to reduce errors, and clearer instructions to both employees and employers. The Department [...]
BALCA reversed the denial, finding that the CO ignored the employer's experience requirements stated in Item H-14 and incorrectly interpreted the alternative education requirements as alternative employment requirements. (Matter of General Electric Co., 1/22/13) Read the BALCA decision. [Courtesy - AILA]
The U.S. Embassy, New Delhi, India announced the expansion of the visa interview waiver program. This will allow certain Non Immigrant Visa applicants seeking to renew a visa that expired within the last 48 months to obtain a Visa without an interview. The program streamlines processing for the following: Under the current Interview Waiver [...]
BALCA held that where a resume showed a broad range of experience, training and education, the employer had a duty to investigate the applicant given its willingness to accept a "combination of education, training, or experience." Applicant's qualifications(pdf). [Courtesy - AILA]
The Internal Revenue Service announced important interim changes to strengthen its procedures for issuing Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs) from now through the end of the year. Designed specifically for tax-administration purposes, ITINs are only issued to people who are not eligible to obtain a Social Security Number. Read the news release. 2012 ITIN [...]
Customs and Border Protection is in the process of automating traveler arrival records to streamline passenger processing. The current processing time for entering foreign visitors’ travel information into the I-94 database is 30 days or more. This does not affect the majority of foreign travelers visiting for business or leisure and will not affect any [...]
Two new USCIS Web Manuals are available as of June 2012 for E-Verify users. These checklists will be useful to clients. M-1043 - Self-Assessment Guide For E-Verify Web Services Users M-1044 - Self-Assessment Guide For E-Verify Direct Access Users
On 07/11/12 Senators Grassley entered a statement into the Congressional Record announcing that he and Senator Schumer had reached an agreement on additional H-1B enforcement provisions and was therefore lifting his hold on H.R. 3012. H.R. 3012, the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act, introduced on September 22, 2011 by Rep. Chaffetz (R-UT), eliminates the [...]