H-1B | SPS Immigration PLLC – Employment-based Immigration Minneapolis St. Paul Minnesota

USCIS to Resume H-1B Premium Processing for Certain Cap-Exempt Petitioners

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) just announced that it will resume premium processing for certain cap-exempt H-1B petitions, effective immediately. USCIS confirmed that starting today, July 24th, 2017, it will resume premium processing for the following H-1B petitioners:

Institutions of higher education;
Nonprofits related to or affiliated with an institution of higher education;
Nonprofit research or governmental […]

By Sarah Peterson|July 24th, 2017|Categories: H-1B|Comments Off

Star Tribune publishes Attorney Sam Myer and Sarah Peterson’s counterpoint on the H-1B program

The Star Tribune publishes Attorney Sam Myer and Sarah Peterson’s Counterpoint explaining how the H-1B Program already contains significant employer-paid fees to train US workers. The H-1B program also contains significant US worker protections. The piece urges us to be informed on the parameters of the existing program so that we can have informed conversations on important improvements, […]

By Sarah Peterson|April 20th, 2017|Categories: H-1B|Comments Off

Executive Order: Buy American And Hire American

On April 18th, 2017, President Trump signed an Executive Order (“EO”) titled, “Buy American And Hire American.” President Trump states that the intent of this EO is to “create higher wages and employment rates for workers in the United States, and to protect their economic interests.” While this is, and should always be, the foundation […]

By Sarah Peterson|April 18th, 2017|Categories: Executive Order, H-1B|Comments Off

USCIS ran the FY 2018 H-1B cap lottery for the 199,000 received Petitions

On April 17th, 2017, USCIS announced that it ran the FY 2018 H-1B cap lottery. USCIS confirmed that it received only 199,000 H-1B cap petitions for the 85,000 available slots. This figure is a substantial decrease from FY 2017 when USCIS received 236,000 Petitions. USCIS also reiterated that it is still implementing a ban on […]

By Sarah Peterson|April 17th, 2017|Categories: H-1B|Comments Off

Klobuchar, Collins, Heitkamp Urge U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to Continue Premium Processing for Doctors Participating in the Conrad 30 Program

Today Senators Klobuchar, Collins, Heitkamp urged U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) to Continue Premium Processing for Doctors Participating in the Conrad 30 Program. These Senators have championed the fight for strong immigration policies for International Medical Graduates (“IMGT”) and we are thrilled to see their leadership on this issue.

On Friday, March 3, USCIS announced […]

By Sarah Peterson|March 10th, 2017|Categories: H-1B, International Medical Graduate (IMG), J-1 waiver|Comments Off

USCIS will suspend Premium Processing of all H-1B Petitions beginning April 3

USCIS just announced that it is suspending the premium processing option for all H-1B Petitions, starting April 3, 2017. This includes all FY18 H-1B Cap cases and all H-1B cases that are cap exempt.

SPS Immigration urges employers who know of H-1B transfer cases or H-1B extension cases to file prior to March 30, 2017 to […]

By Sarah Peterson|March 3rd, 2017|Categories: H-1B, International Medical Graduates (IMG), J-1 waiver|Comments Off

Department of Homeland Security Issues Final Regulations Affecting High-Skilled Immigration

On November 18, 2016, the Department of Homeland Security issued final regulations that will change a number of provisions relating to high-skilled immigration. The new rules become effective January 17, 2017. The regulations offer several positive improvements, and they also codify many of the policy positions and interpretations that USCIS has developed over the […]

By Sarah Peterson|November 23rd, 2016|Categories: AOS, H-1B, Immigration Legislation, Immigration Reform|Comments Off

USCIS has completed data entry for FY2017 H-1B Cap Petitions

On Tuesday, May 2, 2016, USCIS announced that it has completed data entry of all FY2017 H-1B cap-subject petitions selected in its computer-generated random process. USCIS will now begin to return H-1B cap-subject petitions that were not selected. USCIS is not providing a definite time frame for returning H-1B Petitions that were not selected in the lottery but […]

By Sarah Peterson|May 2nd, 2016|Categories: H-1B|Comments Off

USCIS received over 236,000 H-1B Cap Petitions & Ran the Lottery

USCIS announced that it received over 236,000 H-1B Cap Petitions which exceeds the statutory H-1B cap for fiscal year (FY) 2017. This is 3,000 more H-1B Cap Petitions than USCIS received last year.

On April 9^th, USCIS conducted a computer-generated lottery and has started sending out receipt notices for cases filed under premium processing. USCIS […]

By Sarah Peterson|April 12th, 2016|Categories: H-1B|Comments Off

USCIS Reaches the FY 2017 H-1B Numerical Cap

On Thursday, April 7^th, 2016 USCIS announced that the FY 2017 H-1B numerical cap was reached for both the U.S. advanced degree program and the general H-1B lottery. We expect that USCIS will run the lottery this coming week and shortly thereafter notify the public on the number of actual H-1B Petitions received.

USCIS will […]

By Sarah Peterson|April 7th, 2016|Categories: H-1B|Comments Off

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