The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has formally removed the rule that would have redefined the H-1B specialty occupations. The rule was also set to restrict the off-site replacement of H-1B employees and increase employer compliance requirements.

On May 20, 2021, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), issued a statement confirming that the DHS has removed the Interim Final Rule issued in October 2020, which has since been vacated by a federal district court. » Read More

Lawsuit Filed to Block H-1B Visa Wage Priority Rule

On Monday, multiple organizations filed an action in a Washington, D.C., federal court to block the implementation of a wage-based rule that would replace the H-1B visa lottery system – designated for high-skilled foreign workers – with a program that favored higher-paid positions. » Read More

Higher Education Groups Plead for Government to Speed Up Student Visa Processing

Several education organizations, including the American Council on Education, have submitted a letter to the U.S. Departments of State and Homeland Security urging faster international student visa processing before the start of the fall 2021 semester. » Read More

The Biden administration announced that it will not strike the H-4 EAD (Employment Authorization Document) rule, which allows spouses of H-1B visa holders to work in the United States if they meet certain conditions. This is a great relief for almost 100,000 H-4 spouses. » Read More

On July 31, 2020, a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) was signed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), acting through the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), and the Department of Labor (DOL). Under the MOA, the departments will provide access and share information about immigrant and nonimmigrant petition records and the data contained within the Office of Foreign Labor Certification and Labor Condition Application databases. » Read More

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) data between 2015 and 2019 show that denials of the H-1B Specialty Occupation Nonimmigrant Visa Petitions have quadrupled for both initial H-1B petitions and those seeking the continuation of employment with the same employer.

According to immigration policy analysts, including the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP), this is a result of more restrictive Trump administration policies, specifically the 2017 “Buy American and Hire American” executive order. » Read More

The United States Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it has received enough registrations for the H-1B, Nonimmigrant Specialty Employee visa program petition to meet the annual statutory cap for the Fiscal Year 2021 on the number of H-1B visas permitted to be issued to foreign nationals. » Read More

On January 21, 2020, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed legislation allowing children of H-1B visa workers to qualify for in-state tuition, subject to certain conditions.

“New Jerseyans deserve equal access to higher education, and today we are taking another step toward making that possible,” said Gov.

An information technology (IT) consulting company that develops database and web-based applications, content management, and blockchain technology was fined $48,193 by the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage & Hour Division to settle allegations of H-1B Visa Program violations. » Read More

On Friday, I was honored to join a group of today’s business leaders and innovators at WeWork, who are shaping tomorrow, for a discussion on immigration. In a room nineteen floors above the rumbling of New York’s traffic with sushi in hand, two concerns quickly became central to our discussion: (1) the growing barrier of US businesses—small, mid, and large—to access to the global workforce; and (2) the foreign entrepreneur’s inability to enter –or even attempt to enter—as a start-up in or expansion to the US market. » Read More