Articles Posted in Immigration Law

The EB-1A employment-based category is reserved for aliens of extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics. Under INA §203(b)(1)(A), qualified applicants may skip obtaining a labor certification or evidence of an offer of employment. In other words, just like the EB-2 National Interest Waiver, an employer sponsor is not required. In many…

In 1990, Congress created a green card path for people whose work is deemed to be in the national interest. The National Interest Waiver (NIW) category has been both highly popular and nearly dead at various times over the last three decades depending on the views of the government at various moments in time. NIWs…

If you are a temporary visa holder who wants to apply for a green card or marry a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, you may have heard of the USCIS 90-day rule. This is a guideline that USCIS uses to determine whether you misled the government officials when you obtained your visa or entered the…

The first day a new H-1B visa can be registered to be filed is Wednesday, March 1, 2023, and the last day is Friday, March 17, 2023. Since persons who miss this year’s window will have to wait until March 2024 (a year later) to apply for a new H-1B, it is imperative for individuals…

The USCIS has confirmed that as of December 4, 2020, new attorney accounts can no longer be created. However, accounts created prior to this date continue to have access to their CSOL account. Users who create accounts after December 4, 2020, are directed to the myaccount site. Access to this account is important because it…

Introduction Foreign nationals who are skilled or educated—and who have job offers—have the possibility of immigrating to the United States. The process involves three steps: PERM: the employer must first obtain a “labor certification” from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). This process is done online through the internet. Employers must sign-up for a PERM…

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced a Temporary Final Rule (TFR) that increases the automatic extension period for employment authorization and Employment Authorization Documents (EADs), available to certain EAD renewal applicants, to up to 540 days. The increase, which will be effective immediately on May 4, 2022, will help avoid gaps in employment for…

On April 12, 2022, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that individuals who previously received deferred action under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) may now file Form I-821D, Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, online. “The expansion of online filing is a priority for USCIS as we make our operations more efficient and…

On March 31, 2022, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Labor (DOL) announced the forthcoming publication of a joint temporary final rule to make available an additional 35,000 H-2B temporary nonagricultural worker visas for the second half of fiscal year (FY) 2022. These visas will be set aside for U.S. employers…

On March 29, 2022, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced a trio of efforts to increase efficiency and reduce burdens to the overall legal immigration system. USCIS will set new agency-wide backlog reduction goals, expand premium processing to additional form types, and work to improve timely access to employment authorization documents. Due to the COVID-19…