On March 12, 2021, USCIS announced it may reopen and/or reconsider adverse decisions on Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker, made based on three rescinded policy memos. USCIS will generally use its discretion to accept a motion to reopen filed more than 30 days after the decision, if filed before the end of...

The Department of Labor (DOL) has published a final rule delaying the effective date of the Final Rule, Strengthening Wage Protections for the Temporary and Permanent Employment of Certain Aliens in the United States, published on January 14, 2021, 86 FR 3608, for a period of 60 days. The Department has...

The road to obtaining an approval PERM Labor Certification application can be long and winding. It is, however, a required path many employers must take to hire foreign national workers permanently as many of the most popular employment-based visas require it prior to filing an I-140. The PERM process is said to be...

Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas is designating Venezuela for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 18 months, until September 2022. This new designation of TPS for Venezuela enables Venezuelan nationals (and individuals without nationality who last resided in Venezuela) currently residing in the United States to file initial applications for TPS, so long...

On March 2, significant changes were made to the criteria for granting National Interest Exceptions to Presidential Proclamation 10143 (extending PP 9993), which suspends travel from Schengen countries to the United States. Investors, including E visa holders and applicants, who were able to qualify for a National Interest Exception by showing that they...

The road to a green card can seem never-ending. For those looking to obtain a green card based on employment status, it is generally required that their employer obtain a PERM Labor Certification for them as part of the process. The PERM process in and of itself can be overwhelming and involves very...

Snehal Batra, Esq., joins the Literacy Volunteers of Somerset County Board of Trustees

Ms. Batra is a Managing Attorney at NPZ Law Group, PC, located in Raritan, NJ and an immigration attorney licensed in New Jersey since 2001. Snehal earned a Juris Doctorate (JD) from Rutgers University School of Law in Newark, NJ and...

Certain business travelers, investors, treaty traders, academics, students, and journalists may qualify for national interest exceptions under the Presidential Proclamation (PP) covering travelers from the Schengen Area, United Kingdom, and Ireland. Qualified travelers who are applying for or have valid visas or ESTA authorization may travel to the United States even as the PP...

On December 31, 2020, former President Trump signed a Presidential Proclamation on Suspension of Entry of Immigrants and Nonimmigrants Who Continue to Present a Risk to the United States Labor Market. Although this proclamation extended Presidential Proclamations (P.P.) 10014 and 10052 through March 31, 2021, President Biden rescinded P.P. 10014 on February 24,...

In February 2021, the US Citizenship Act of 2021 was introduced in the Senate and the House of Representatives (HR 1177).

There is a lot of information introduced about how the Citizenship Act of this year will enable US citizenship for TPS holders, DACA recipients, H-2A farmworkers, and the 11 million undocumented people...