The Department of Homeland Security released their regulatory plans for 2018, wherein they detail intentions to propose new regulations in 2018.  These agenda items have potential consequences for H-1B, H-4, and F-1 programs.  This does not mean that any given rule is certain to be introduced; however, it does reveal some important points of focus for DHS and their future intentions.  Below, we will outline some of the plans, but keep in mind that the details of each proposed rule would not be

15 Dec, 2017

USCIS announced yesterday that in accordance with a recent federal court ruling, the agency would be implementing the International Entrepreneur Rule (“IER”) as rolled out under the prior Obama Administration. By way of background, the IER was originally schedule to be effective in July of 2017 but did not do so because the Department of Homeland Security delayed its initiation until March of 2018 with a Final Rule Notice published in the Federal Registrar. However, because such delay in the

Every so often news of a potential government shutdown looms – leaving people to wonder how it may affect their immigration situation.  On Thursday, December 7, 2017, Congress passed a two-week funding bill to prevent a government shutdown within the next couple weeks. Still, those unsure of the ability of the government to be funded in the future want to know what would likely happen.  Here is our take on some key questions: What is a government shutdown? Government operations and

05 Dec, 2017

Yesterday, the Supreme Court granted the Trump administration’s motion to stay injunctions previously instituted by two lower courts that in effect, let the full scope of the Executive Order Travel Ban-3.0 to go into effect while underlying legal proceedings continued on the substantive issues. The order will terminate when the Court rules on the case after underlying proceedings have finished at the lower court level. The ruling was a departure from the Court’s June ruling on an identical

Reliable sources have been reporting that the current administration is indeed expected to overturn a policy of Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) that has allowed certain H-4 beneficiaries to obtain work authorization while here in the U.S. This regulation, originally promulgated back in 2015, has allowed spouses of H-1B workers on a H-4 to obtain an Employment Authorization Card (“EAD”) card in certain situations. The most common situation in the employment-based immigration realm is

On November 15th, 2017, the “Protect and Grow American Jobs Act” was reported out of committee and sent to the full chamber for consideration and vote. This bill amends the legal definition of "exempt H-1B nonimmigrant" by eliminating the masters or higher degree requirement and raising the annual salary threshold requirement from $60,000 to $100,000. The bill would also would require the salary threshold to be adjusted per inflation trends every three years.

15 Nov, 2017

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued an interim decision on the 13th of November that stayed particular portions of the lower court’s preliminary injunction. The result is that the Travel Ban will for the time being, be implemented in part. Individuals from Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, and Chad will be those impacted by the ban unless they are able to show a “bona fida” relationship to the U.S. Types of relationships that will suffice are if someone has family here in the U.S.

24 Oct, 2017

Yesterday, USCIS Director L. Francis Cissna rescinded previous guidance and instructed all non-immigrant reviewing officers to apply the same level of scrutiny to I-129 non-immigrant visa worker extension applications that is otherwise applied to an initial petition. See here. Previously, adjudicators were instructed to give deference to the factual and legal findings of a previously approved petition so long as the key attributes of that petition were unchanged and there was no indication of

Common Questions Regarding I-485 Interviews After posting our recent article on I-485 interviews, there have been some questions or confusion.  We will seek to clarify these concerns. Q: Why are people saying their I-485 was approved without an interview even though they filed on/after March 6, 2017? A:  During the teleconference, this specific issue was brought up.  USCIS contended that no primary’s I-485 filed on/after March 6, 2017 should be approved without an interview.  However, nothing