Due to extensive delays in issuing employment authorization documents (“EAD cards”), USCIS announced Wednesday, August 19, 2020, that employees may use Form I-797, Notice of Action, with a Notice date on or after December 1, 2019 through and including August 20, 2020, informing an applicant of approval of an Application for Employment Authorization (Form I-765) as […]
On August 14, 2020, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) began updating it’s H-1B portal with new Registration Selections, reflecting additional H-1B cap registrations had been selected in a second lottery cycle for FY 2021. USCIS selected additional H-1B cap registrations because it did not receive enough filed H-1B petitions from the first lottery to […]
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced fee adjustments for specific immigration and naturalization requests handled by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
USCIS fee adjustments will go into effect on October 3, 2020. The USCIS fees will be adjusted by a weighted average increase of 20 percent, and are meant to support the […]
On Wednesday, July 29, 2020, a New York federal judge blocked the Trump administration from implementing its Public Charge rule, nationwide. U.S. District Judge George Daniels found that the states and nonprofits challenging the public charge rule had provided “ample evidence” that the policy deters immigrants from seeking out COVID-19 testing and could threaten efforts to […]
Monday, July 7, 2020, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) announced that international students who attend universities that are exclusively online this fall may not enter the U.S. ICE provided these updates for Fall Semester 2020:
On Monday, June 22, 2020, President Trump released a Presidential Proclamation and an accompanying fact sheet that suspends the entry into the U.S. of several nonimmigration classifications. The Presidents stated objective is to ensure that U.S. workers are hired first due to the current high unemployment rate. This proclamation is effective through December […]
On Friday, May 29, 2020, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) announced that it will resume premium processing in phases for the following two forms:
On March 20, USCIS announced the temporary suspension of […]
On Monday, May 11, 2020, USCIS issued a policy memo titled, “Temporary Policy Changes for Certain Foreign Medical Graduates During the COVID-19 National Emergency.”
This USCIS memo addresses a few of the many issues currently facing International Medical Graduates (“IMG”) as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, including:
On March 20, 2020, the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) announced the following relaxation of I-9 document inspection protocols by permitting Employers with employees self distancing/remote working due to COVID-19 to not require review of the employee’s identity and employment authorization documents in the employee’s physical presence.
DHS provided this additional clarification:
Employers must inspect […]
UPDATE: Late in the day Tuesday, March 18th, 2020, USCIS announced that it has has suspended all in-person services until at least April 1 to help slow the spread of COVID-19. USCIS confirmed that staff will continue to perform duties that do not involve contact with the public, which for now, includes services provided at […]
