Today, USCIS published notice that it will expand premium processing of I-140 Petitions to H-1B holders that have already “H-ed” out.  In the past, I-140 Premium Processing was only available for those who were within 60 days of the expiration of their 6th year and who did not qualify for the 1-year AC21 extension at […]

In a recent presentation to the international students at the University of Cincinnati, I was asked whether I could provide them with a list of employers participating in the E-Verify Program that they could use during their job search to find a potential “STEM extension” employer.  To my knowledge, no such public list exists to date.  However, I […]

The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) has received clarification from the Vermont Service Center on whether an H-1B employee’s status is terminated when the petition has been revoked, particularly in AC21 portability situations. Generally, the USCIS’ stance is that an H-1B employee’s status terminates as of the date the employment ceases or the date the […]

There is a ton of misinformation out there.  For example, SiliconIndia is reporting that some kind of ban has been passed, or will be passed, or might have been passed - it does not provide any details.  The truth is that the restrictions included in the bill only pertain to institutions which have received bail […]

USCIS has issued a new memorandum which clarifies the 90 day processing rule.  In general, regulations dictate that an application for employment authorization must be processed within 90 days.   If an RFE is issued, however, that 90 clock starts again once the reply is received.  In other words if 89 days have passed before the […]

 By Sherry Neal 
The latest immigration enforcement effort by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has resulted in the arrest of 11 individuals on visa and mail fraud.  A New Jersey corporation, Vision Systems Group (VSG), was also indicted on charges of conspiracy and mail fraud along with a Notice of Forfeiture seeking forfeiture of $7.4 […]

A recent academic paper by Harvard Business School quantifies the impact of changes in H-1B admission levels on the pace and character of US invention over the 1995-2006 period.  The paper recognizes that although the link between innovation and immigration appears tenuous at first, the link is real and central to the US’ ability to […]

Ever wonder what’s going on with your PERM case?  DOL finally updated processing times during a recent stakeholders meeting with AILA:
Clean cases (non-audited cases) filed on or before June 2008 are being processed.
Audited cases filed on or before August 2007 are being processed.
Denied cases that were subsequently appealed are being processed according to the original […]

The Economist is reporting that a growing number of powerful Canadians are becoming increasingly vocal in their support of a strong bilateral trade structure with Washington rather than the trilateral arrangement created by NAFTA.  Certainly the size of the US economy relative to that of Mexico’s or Canada’s has always made NAFTA somewhat of an […]

The National Foundation for American Policy has looked behind the numbers cited by the Associated Press and found that the financial institutions targeted by the Sanders/Grassley amendment used far fewer H-1(b)’s than the AP reported.  In its report, the NFAP gives the example of Bank of America which “…employed 210,000 people in 2007 and received […]