NPZ Immigration Law Blog

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“CIS”) recently promulgated a revised Form I-129S, NONIMMIGRANT PETITION BASED ON BLANKET L PETITION. CIS announced that this document must be used exclusively in applications filed with after August 29th and the U.S. Department of State (“DOS”) has confirmed that applicants for Blanket L-1 petition classification at United States consulates abroad must present the new document at interviews scheduled after August 29th, 2016.

Thus, any individuals who have a Blanket L petition and supporting documents using the current I-129s Form must apply for a visa prior to August 29th or update their presentations with the new form. Most of the changes to the new I-129s Form are cosmetic but there are some significant differences.

On the new I-129s Form, more detail is required as to the specifics of prior employment, including listing dates of employment and the proposed salary. It also requires the employer to identify "the percentage of time the beneficiary will spend performing the duties on a daily basis in the proposed U.S. position." At this point it is not clear how detailed this breakdown needs to be.

For those in the process of preparing blanket petitions or scheduling interviews, who will not be able to schedule nonimmigrant visa interviews before August 29th [unless the DOS changes the deadline], the application process will have to be revisited in order to properly update the paperwork. Applicants scheduled with L-1 blanket visa appointments for August 29th or later should double-check that the bottom left-hand corner of their Form I-129S references the "6/2/2016" edition date.

In-house Counsel and Human Resource Professionals should immediately contact any blanket petition applicants who may not have completed the nonimmigrant visa process to determine whether an update might be required.

Nachman Phulwani Zimovcak (NPZ) Law Group, P.C., immigration lawyers and immigration attorneys, continue to assist clients, their families and HR Professionals in organizations of all sizes with a variety of U.S. immigration and nationality issues including the preparation of immigrant and nonimmigrant visas. If our immigration and nationality specialist staff can be of any assistance to you, please feel free to e-mail us at info@visaserve.com or to call our offices at 201-670-0006 (x107).