The CIS Ombudsman has issued an update regarding its services for case assistance. Receipt Delays If more than 90 days have passed since you filed a petition/application with USCIS, you may submit a request for case assistance with the CIS Ombudsman, and our office will reach out to USCIS to resolve your issue. If less than 90 days have passed since you filed a petition/application with USCIS,...
UPDATE 02/24/2021: Prospective petitioners may use H-1B registrant accounts created last year, if applicable. Otherwise, they may begin creating new H-1B registrant accounts in MyUSCIS by selecting the “I am an H-1B registrant” account type, which will become available on March 2, 2021, at noon (ET) and remain available throughout the registration period. USCIS has confirmed that...
USCIS has confirmed that a new rule published during the waning days of the Trump Administration will be delayed. The rule was set to take effect on March 9, 2021 and would have changed the H-1B Lottery process to be wage-based than random selection. Biden's administration later issued memo to delay all "midnight regulations" for 60 days from the date of the memo and granted each agency...
Update June 15, 2021 Today marks the ninth year since DACA was first announced. To the hundreds of thousands who were brought to the US as children, DACA provided them temporary relief from deportation and empowered them to pursue their American Dreams. DACA recipients have been strengthening our nation with their talents and handwork. Many have been serving our nation overseas and fighting the...
Foreign students can breathe a sigh of relief as a US District Court Judge concluded that DHS did not exceed its statutory authority under the INA in issuing the 2016 STEM Optional Practical Training (OPT) rule, and thus found that both the 12-month OPT and the STEM OPT extension programs are lawful. OPT grants foreign student upon graduation the opportunity to work lawfully for one year and...
In response to Ron Klain's Memo to delay all “midnight regulations”, the proposed rule “Removing H-4 dependent spouses from the class of aliens eligible for employment authorization” will not only be delayed but completely withdrawn by the Department of Homeland Security. Although many may now breath a sigh of relief, the current processing time for H-4 EAD is still a huge impediment....
President Biden signed executive order on January 29, 2021 which revokes the "Buy American and Hire American" executive order signed during the Trump era. The BAHA order signed in 2017 led to initiatives that dramatically increased scrutiny of H1B and L1. Overall challenges in the forms of requests for evidence increased at one point to over 60%. Attached is the flyer from USCIS touting its...
Update 1/24/2023 A new round of extension. The cutoff date is now March 23, 2023. Just like the last announcement, USCIS anticipates that this will be the final extension of these accommodations. The following requests/notices received between March 1, 2020 and March 23, 2023, will get additional 60 days to respond. Requests for Evidence; Continuations to Request Evidence (N-14); Notices of...
Employers may now request reissuance of Prevailing Wage Determination PWD, issued from October 8, 2020 through December 4, 2020, which reflected a much higher wage based on the wage methodology used pursuant to an interim final rule which is no longer in effect. The deadline to request reissuance is February 8, 2021. The request must be based on an emergency situation which may be the following:...
Due to significant visa number movements in October 2020 which opened the door to a record influx of Green Card applications and the ongoing Covid Pandemic, USCIS has been slow in issuing receipt notices of petitions and applications. Even to this month, we have been receiving receipt notices for I485, I765, I131 that were filed in October 2020 although only a few remain outstanding. The...
