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This week the U.S. Departments of Labor and Homeland Security announced an interim final rule to reinstate and make improvements to the H-2B Visa program, and a final rule to establish the prevailing wage methodology to be utilized for the H-2B program. Continue reading “DOL and DHS Release Joint New Rules for H-2B Visa Program”
On Wednesday, the Florida federal court in Perez v. Perez, No. 3:14-cv-682, extended the stay on its March 4, 2015 order vacating the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) 2008 H-2B regulations order by one month through May 15, 2015. DOL will continue to process temporary labor certification applications under its H-2B regulations until this date. Continue reading “Stay on Order Affecting H-2B Program is Extended by One Month”
The Department of State has released its Visa Bulletin for May 2015 and, as predicted back in October 2014 by Chief of the Visa Control and Reporting Division, Charles Oppenheim, the EB-5 category will retrogress for nationals of China. The cut-off for processing will be May 1, 2013. The cut-off date for a foreign national is established by the filing date of the I-526 Immigrant Petition by Alien Entrepreneur and is shown on the receipt notice in the “Priority Date” box. As such, Chinese nationals who wish to adjust their status to legal permanent resident in May 2015 must have a priority date of May 1, 2013 or earlier. Continue reading “EB-5 Retrogresses By Two Years in May 2015 for Nationals of China”
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) recently released the April Visa Bulletin. Continue reading “April Visa Bulletin Released”
Today, U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a policy memorandum that provides guidance to field adjudicators on things to consider while adjudicating an L-1B petition. Specifically, the new L-1B Adjudications Policy is meant to consolidate previous policy memoranda as well as supersede and rescind, in part, prior memoranda. Continue reading “L-1B Policy Development: USCIS Issues L-1B Adjudications Memo for Comment”
On February 11, 2015, U.S. Immigration & Citizenship Services released an updated EB-5 Processing Report reflecting average processing times for the Immigrant Investor Program Office as of December 31, 2014. Continue reading “USCIS Updates EB-5 Processing Time Information”
USCIS announced that, as of January 26, 2015, it has received a sufficient number of petitions to reach the congressionally mandated limit, or “cap” on the total number of foreign nationals who may seek a visa or otherwise obtain H-2B status for the first half of fiscal year (FY) 2015. Continue reading “USCIS Announces H-2B Cap Reached for the First Half of Fiscal Year 2015”
The National Visa Center (NVC) recently informed the American Immigration Lawyers Association that appointment notices for Chinese EB-5 applications may indicate that applicants must bring original documents, even if NVC already had original documents. Continue reading “National Visa Center Experiencing Glitch in Processing of Chinese EB-5 Immigrant Visa Applications”
Effective January 27, 2015, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will be implementing administrative changes with regard to the issuance of decisions and correspondence.
Continue reading “Administrative Changes To Take Effect Soon”
According to the U.S. Department of States’ Report of the Visa Office 2014, below following is a ranking of the top EB-5 countries ranked according to the number of EB-5 visas issued in the 2014 fiscal year. Continue reading “Top Twelve EB-5 Countries by US Immigrant Visa Issuance”