DOES IT PAY TO APPEAL AN ADVERSE BUSINESS IMMIGRATION CASE TO THE ADMINISTRATIVE APPEALS OFFICE (AAO)

Posted on August 3, 2016

By: Michael Phulwani, Esq., David H. Nachman, Esq., and Ludka Zimovcak, Esq.

When a USCIS Service Center denies an employment-based visa petition, is it prudent to recommend to a petitioning employer to appeal to the AAO? Not if you have the option of filing a new petition. But there are many situations where refiling may...

New Alerts: USCIS to Allow Additional Applicants for Provisional Waiver Process

Posted on August 1, 2016

Release Date: July 29, 2016

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced a final rule expanding the existing provisional waiver process to allow certain individuals who are family members of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents (LPRs), and who are statutorily eligible for immigrant visas, to more easily navigate the immigration process. The provisional...

USCIS Provides Clarifying Guidance for O-1 Petitions with Focus on STEM Fields

Posted on July 28, 2016

USCIS announced clarifying guidance on how we determine whether an O-1B beneficiary will be evaluated as a person of extraordinary ability in the arts or as a person of extraordinary achievement in the motion picture or television industry when a case has elements of both.

Individuals of extraordinary ability in the arts or extraordinary achievement...

DOS REVIEW OF AUGUST 2016 VISA BULLETIN

Posted on July 28, 2016

The unveiling of the August Visa Bulletin leads us to contemplate possible Final Action Date movement for September, the final month of the fiscal year. The August Visa Bulletin helps us to consider predictions for September and prospects for recovery in key retrogressed preference categories in Fiscal Year (FY) 2017.

EB-4 and Certain Religious...

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR ADJUSTED IMMIGRATION PENALTIES AS AN ADJUSTMENT FOR INFLATION

Posted on July 28, 2016

On July 1, 2016, the U.S Department of Labor issued an interim final rules to adjust the amounts of civil penalties assessed or enforced in its regulations. The Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990 as amended by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 (Inflation Adjustment Act) requires...

USCIS: Cap Gap for Students Without a H-1B Application Rejection or Decision

Posted on July 19, 2016

This past week, a Federal District Court decided Washington Alliance of Technology Workers v. DHS. The lawsuit sought to prevent foreign students from having an opportunity to gain practical experience in the U.S. following their full-time course of study. The Court invalidated a 2008 U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) rule which permits an...

Employers Need to Know That Site Visits Continue to be a Routine Protocol For USCIS.

Posted on July 19, 2016

By: David Nachman, Esq., Michael Phulwani, Esq. and Ludka Zimovcak, Esq.

Some time back, the Nachman Phulwani Zimovcak (NPZ) Law Group, P.C. reported that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Citizenship and Immigration Services ("USCIS"), sought to step-up its efforts to find fraud in the H-1B program. This was done by conducting investigations...

August 2016 Visa Bulletin Updates: Cut-Off Dates Imposed on EB-1 India and China and EB-4 India Preference Categories.

Posted on July 15, 2016

By: Michael Phulwani, Esq., David H. Nachman, Esq. and Rabindra K. Singh, Esq.

The Department of State (DOS) recently released the Visa Bulletin for August 2016. As was projected by the DOS earlier, the August Visa Bulletin has imposed a cut-off date of January 1, 2010, for the EB-1 preference category for both India and...

Visa Bulletin for August 2016

Posted on July 14, 2016

EB-4 and Certain Religious Workers (SR) Preference Categories. As previously predicted, and noted in the July Visa Bulletin, a cut-off date of January 1, 2010 will be imposed in July for EB-4 Mexico. This is the same cut-off date imposed earlier this fiscal year for EB-4 El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. There will be...

Visa Bulletin for August 2016

Posted on July 14, 2016

"D. OVERSUBSCRIPTION OF THE INDIA EMPLOYMENT-BASED FOURTH (E4) AND CERTAIN RELIGIOUS WORKERS (SR) PREFERENCE CATEGORIES

As readers were advised in the May Visa Bulletin number 92, there has been extremely high demand in the E4 and SR categories, primarily for Juvenile Court Dependent cases filed with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for adjustment of status....

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