AILA member Vaman Kidambi describes the challenges AILA members and others have shared about the expedited roll-out of the new PERM application form, and urges the Department of Labor to slow the roll-out in order to address valid concerns. READ MORE
Last week, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services ended public comment for a proposed fee increase unveiled by the Biden administration in January. The deadline for public comment was initially set for March 6, but was extended another week until March 13 due to a technical issue. Under the proposal, application fees for most categories [...]
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is extending certain COVID-19-related flexibilities through March 23, 2023. Under these flexibilities, USCIS considers a response received within 60 calendar days after the due date set forth in the following requests or notices before taking any action, if the request or notice was issued between March 1, 2020, and March [...]
USCIS is issuing policy guidance in the USCIS Policy Manual to address the analysis of an employer’s ability to pay the proffered wage for certain employment-based immigrant petition adjudications.
Most H-1B nonimmigrants who have been in the U.S. for over 5 years run the risk of not being able to extend their H-1B Visa beyond the sixth year. This is due to inordinate delays at the Department of Labor (DOL), with backlogs continuing to grow month after month… we are urging clients to start [...]
WASHINGTON—U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced a Temporary Final Rule (TFR) that increases the automatic extension period for employment authorization and Employment Authorization Documents (EADs), available to certain EAD renewal applicants, to up to 540 days. The increase, which will be effective immediately on May 4, 2022, will help avoid gaps in employment for noncitizens with pending [...]
USCIS updated its website to note that there are an exceptionally high number of employment-based visas available this fiscal year, October 2021 to September 2022. There are many more visas available in the first and second employment-based categories than AOS applications pending with USCIS.
USCIS has updated the USCIS Policy Manual to reflect new guidance on how they determine whether a case warrants expedited treatment. The new guidance is effective immediately. This update: Clarifies the criteria and circumstances under which we generally consider expedite requests from nonprofit organizations as determined by the Internal Revenue Service Provides additional examples of [...]
Introduction For the past 10 days, we have been fielding calls from clients who have a compelling need to travel to, or from India. Unfortunately, the Presidential Proclamation[1] that went into effect on May 4th has made an already complex situation, more difficult. The US Embassies in India have suspended all routine non immigrant [...]
The DOL published a final rule adopting, with changes, the interim final rule published at 85 FR 63872. The Rule is amending the regulations governing permanent labor certifications and Labor Condition Applications to incorporate changes to the computation of prevailing wage levels. The rule is effective 3/15/21. (86 FR 3608, 1/14/21). Read the final rule.