With a looming February 12, 2016 deadline for the 2008 OPT STEM rule to be vacated pursuant to court order, many international students on F-1 visas are wondering what will happen to their immigration status come February 13th. As background, on August 12, 2015, a D.C. federal judge ruled that the 2008 Department of Homeland … Read more
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) announced that, together with the U.S. Department of State (“DOS”), it is revising the procedures for determining when an application for adjustment of status may be filed, thus implementing part of President Obama’s November 2014 executive actions on immigration. This revised visa bulletin was envisioned by the White House … Read more
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will begin accepting Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) applications under the revised guidelines established as part of President Obama’s executive action announcement on February 18, 2015. As background, on June 15, 2012, the Secretary of Homeland Security announced that certain individuals who came to the United States as … Read more
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson has extended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for eligible nationals of El Salvador for an additional 18 months, effective March 10, 2015 until September 9, 2016. Current TPS El Salvador beneficiaries seeking to extend their TPS must re-register during the 60-day re-registration period starting today, January 7, 2015, until … Read more
USCIS and the Department of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Department of State, have added the Czech Republic, Denmark, Madagascar, Portugal, and Sweden to the list of countries whose nationals are eligible to participate in the H-2A and H-2B visa programs for the coming year. The notice listing the 68 eligible countries was published … Read more
On November 20, 2014, in a live address to the nation, President Obama introduced several recommendations to fix the U.S. immigration system through executive action. Although the focus was on expanding the deferred action program, these actions may also affect U.S. citizenship procedures and high-skilled employees. Here’s a short summary of what to expect. – … Read more
The Department of State (DOS) announced that online registration for the 2015 Diversity Visa (DV) Program will begin on Tuesday, October 1, 2013 at 12:00 noon, Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) (GMT-4), and will conclude on Saturday, November 2, 2013 at 12:00 noon, Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) (GMT-4). The congressionally mandated Diversity Immigrant Visa Program makes available up … Read more
The U.S. State Department has just released the September 2013 Visa Bulletin, which is the last Visa Bulletin for the 2013 fiscal year. The big news is the continued significant forward movement for the employment-based second preference (EB-2) category for Indian nationals, the significant forward movement in the employment-based third preference (EB-3) category, and the … Read more
The Department of Homeland Security issued a FAQ on July 1, 2013, in response to the Supreme Court’s June 26, 2013 decision, United States v. Windsor, which struck down the1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) as unconstitutional. That law had prohibited the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages, regardless of whether they were legally valid in … Read more