USCIS is extending the previously announced temporary suspension of premium processing for cap-subject H-1B petitions. The previously announced suspension of premium processing for fiscal year 2019 cap-subject H-1B petitions was originally slated to last until Sept. 10, 2018, but that suspension is being extended through an estimated...
USCIS Updates Guidance on Unlawful Presence Accrual for F, M and J Nonimmigrants U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has issued revised and final guidance on the accrual of unlawful presence for students and exchange visitors. The memo issued August 9, 2018 updates the guidance issued...
Effective August 9, 2018, USCIS will change the way it calculates unlawful presence for individuals in the U.S. as F-1 students, J-1 exchange visitors, and M-1 vocational students and their families. Who Does This Impact? F-1 International Students M-1 Vocational Students J-1 Exchange Visitors in all...
USCIS issued the following Press Release: May 15, 2018- "USCIS has completed data entry for all fiscal year 2019 H-1B cap-subject petitions selected in our computer-generated random selection process. USCIS will now begin returning all H-1B cap-subject petitions that were not selected. Due to the high...
Lottery completed: USCIS announced that it has completed the computer-generated random selection process to select enough H-1B petitions to meet both the congressionally-mandated cap of 65,000 H-1B visas and the U.S. advanced degree exemption, known as the master's cap, of 20,000 H-1B visas for fiscal...
H-1B CAP FOR FY2019 REACHED LOTTERY WILL BE CONDUCTED As expected, USCIS announced today that the H-1B cap for FY2019 has been reached for both "regular" and "master's" cap cases. All cap-subject petitions received at USCIS between Monday, April 2, 2018 and Friday, April 6, 2018 will be...
USCIS has announced that it will temporarily suspend premium processing for all FY2019 cap-subject H-1B petitions. The suspension will take effect when the filing window opens on April 2, 2018. The suspension is expected to last until September 10, 2018. H-1B cap cases already initiated with a premium...
Annual Filing Window The filing window for H-1B petitions seeking a FY2019 (10/1/18 to 9/30/19) cap or quota number will open on Monday, April 2, 2018. As with prior years, we anticipate demand will exceed supply within the first week, which will mandate a lottery to determine which...
As we advised in January, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had slated for February 2018 publication of a regulation to remove work authorization for certain H-4 spouses. However, no such regulation materialized in February. DHS has now submitted a status report in relation to Save...
The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) released a practice alert regarding the H-1B FY2019 Cap Season (AILA Doc. No. 18012505). USCIS Service Center Operations Directorate (SCOPS) confirmed it is not anticipating any procedural changes for the FY2019 H-1B cap season. USCIS intends to follow the same...
