Jul 23, 2021
US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on July 20, 2021 a new policy regarding Change of Status (COS) to the Nonimmigrant Student (F-1) visa classification. The new policy eliminates the need to document maintenance of nonimmigrant visa status up until the approval date of the COS to F-1 student visa status. Learn more in this blog.
Jun 17, 2021
In a reversal from USCIS’ usual opaqueness on the H-1B Cap Process, the Service recently offered insights into exactly how many H-1B Cap Registrations have been selected since the new filing system went into effect in March 2020. Learn more in this blog.
Jan 28, 2021
USCIS recently announced that, starting this month, it will no longer issue stickers extending the validity of expired permanent resident cards to lawful permanent residents (“LPRs”). The agency has instead revised the Form I-90 receipt notice, which will be used with the expired card to demonstrate status for an additional twelve months from expiration. Learn more in this blog.
Oct 30, 2020
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has released the November 2020 Visa Bulletin. There is some movement in the final action (FA) chart, but the dates for filing (DF) chart remains nearly unchanged. Moreover, in a significant move, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that it will honor the State Department’s Dates for Filing chart for adjustment of status filings in November. To be eligible to file an employment-based adjustment application in November, employer-sponsored foreign nationals must have a priority date that is earlier than the date listed for their preference category and country of birth.
Sep 18, 2020
• Fee increases and corresponding versions of new forms will apply to filings postmarked 10/02/2020 or later.
• Fee increases by a weighted average of 20%, $10.00 discount available to online filings.
• Significant increases for naturalization and overall cost of adjustment of status.
• Asylum Applications will now carry $50.00 fee.
• Premium Processing will remain the same fee but with 15-business-day deadline.
• Most separate biometric fees eliminated and built-in to overall filing fee.
• Several fee waivers no longer available.
Learn more in this blog.
Aug 26, 2020
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that the agency will remain open through the end of the 2020 fiscal year. The word at the end of July was that the agency would essentially shut down at the end of August due to unprecedented deficits. The agency delayed the furlough plan and kept its employees working, in hopes that either Congress would bail the agency out or revenues would increase enough as the pandemic economic restrictions eased. That gamble appears to have paid off and the agency has sufficient resources to self-fund through this fiscal year.
Jul 24, 2020
Patrick Leahy (U.S. Senator, VT) announced today that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is postponing a proposed furlough of employees through at least August 31, 2020 to provide Congress and the White House an opportunity to address its projected $571 million deficit. Learn more in this blog.
Nov 8, 2019
The consequences of the Trump Administration’s animus towards legal immigration continue to manifest themselves through one of the White House’s favorite targets: the H-1B Program. This is making life more difficult for specialty occupation workers and the companies that employ them. Learn more in this blog.
Sep 5, 2019
As we previously discussed, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) proposed substantial changes to the EB-5 regulations on July 24, 2019. The “EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program Modernization Rule” is scheduled for implementation on November 21, 2019. It appears that the Administration will apply the rule, as written, unless Congress acts to stop it. Learn more.
Jul 24, 2019
The Office of Fraud Detection and National Security (FDNS) has been around for fifteen years but the first time most companies and attorneys hear of it is when officers show up to conduct an inspection on non-immigrant worker visas. Their site visits are unannounced and often send companies scrambling. Learn more in this blog.
Mar 15, 2019
On March 29, 2019, the United States Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS) will end self-scheduled appointments to meet with an immigration officer. These appointments, known as InfoPass appointments, will now be scheduled by USCIS pursuant to the agency’s Information Service Modernization Program. Learn more.
Feb 28, 2019
On Feb. 25, 2019, Matthew Galati, who leads Green and Spiegels U.S. Investors and Entrepreneurs Division, was quoted in “Immigrant Investor Visa to See Regulatory Changes Soon,” printed by Bloomberg Law. Read the full article here.
Jan 24, 2019
By failing to take action this week on a Trump Administration appeal, the U.S. Supreme Court leaves DACA protections in place for at least the remainder of the year. Learn more in this blog.
Jan 17, 2019
Late last week, USCIS took another step towards revamping the H-1B Cap Lottery. As we reviewed in December, the agency proposed a rule that would create an online pre-registration system and reverse the order of Cap selections. Following the end of its comment period in early January, USCIS has now forwarded the proposed rule to the Office of Management and Budget, and intends to review and respond to public comments in the coming weeks.
Jan 11, 2019
Back in September, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) was allowing applicants to file their I-485 applications for adjustment of status in both the employment-based and the family-based categories according to the earlier-in-time Filing Date Charts. Put another way, USCIS has been accepting Form I-485 filings for all prospective qualifying immigrants before a visa number is technically available. Green and Spiegel has been filing our clients’ files in light of this change for months, however, it appears that this will shortly come to an end. Learn more here.
Dec 27, 2018
Following a flurry of failed deals to keep the government open during the holiday season, the Federal Government shut down as of 12:00AM on December 22, 2018. This post covers how the shutdown affects immigration processes.
Dec 19, 2018
In a reversal of policy initially formed under the administrations’ “extreme vetting”, USCIS officers now have the discretion to waive interviews for I-751 petitioners seeking to remove conditions of their permanent residency provided that they have presented sufficient documentary evidence and meet other requirements.
Dec 5, 2018
On December 3, 2018, the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) published a proposed rule that, if adopted, will fundamentally alter the H-1B Cap process, replacing the current lottery with an electronic registration system that has the potential to save time, money, and headaches for all H-1B stakeholders.
Oct 25, 2018
Senior Associate Stephen Antwine joins Green and Spiegel, establishing dedicated practice.
Oct 4, 2018
In a move consistent with the Trump Administration’s push to broaden USCIS’ enforcement mandate, USCIS began implementing a Policy Memo...