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

Just when employers in the United States were unhappy and raising concerns about the steep increase in the statutory fee for certain H-1B and L-1 petitions, and about the lengthy delays in adjudicating petitions, the Department of Homeland Security...

 

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

The Department of State’s June 2016 Visa Bulletin has announced major retrogression in the Final Action cut-off dates for India and China.

Specifically, in June 2016, India EB-2 Final Action cut-off date will retrogress to October 1, 2004, for...

 

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

On April 7, 2016, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it has reached the congressionally mandated H-1B cap for fiscal year (FY) 2017. USCIS also received more than the limit of 20,000 H-1B petitions filed under the U.S. advanced degree exemption. Because of...

On May 12, 2016, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will begin premium processing for cap-subject H-1B petitions requesting premium processing, including petitions seeking an exemption for individuals with a U.S. master’s degree or higher. USCIS first announced in a news release that it would temporarily adjust its premium processing practice due to the...

 

Family-Based Projections. Because most family-based demand is generated at overseas posts, DOS has greater visibility into those categories and is able to move the final action dates more consistently than the employment-based categories, which has a high percentage of USCIS-based (adjustment of status) filings. As a result, dramatic fluctuations in the family-based categories tend...

Washington D.C. - April 18th, 2016 - Today, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in United States v. Texas. The highest court will now decide whether the President’s deferred action initiatives announced in November 2014, known as expanded DACA and DAPA, move forward.

The lawyers arguing for the deferred action initiatives made a convincing case...

Final Action Date Movements Consistent with Prior Predictions. The Final Action Dates in the April 2016 Visa Bulletin are consistent with the U.S. Department of State (DOS) predictions from last month. In February, DOS predicted that we would continue to see forward movement of up to five months in EB-2 and EB-3 China, and...