Business Immigration Insights

Following the Supreme Court’s recent decision to allow the partial implementation of Executive Order 13780, “Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States” (“EO”), the State Department issued a cable to all diplomatic and consular posts instructing them how to implement the EO, which begins tonight at 8:00 PM EDT.  The ban applies to aliens from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.  Consular officers are instructed to first determine if a visa applicant meets the general visa issuance requirements without regard to the EO and, if so ...

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court granted the Trump administration two victories in connection with Executive Order No. 13780, “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States,” commonly known as the “Travel Ban.”

The USCIS announced on June 23, 2017, that it will reintroduce Premium Processing for H-1B petitions.  USCIS suspended this program for all H-1B petitions on April 3, 2017.  The reintroduction will be done incrementally, beginning today with H-1Bs filed under the Conrad 30 Waiver program for medical doctors working in underserved areas.   As the USCIS evaluates its workload, it will notify stakeholders when other H-1B petitions can be filed under (or, if already pending, upgraded to) Premium Processing.  Donald Neufeld, Associate Director, Service Center Operations, advised the ...

March 2017 brought us a surprising suspension of the Premium Processing option for all H-1B petitions received by the USCIS on or after Monday, April 3, 2017, which led to an overwhelming number of H-1B extension filings in a short period of time.  The USCIS was unable to process most of the cases within the 15-day period, leading to the return/refund the $1,225 filing fees.  April 2017 brought us the H-1B cap petition lottery that, once again, demonstrated a high demand for H-1B visas by US companies.  In addition, while these events were taking place, the President and members of his ...

The Visa Bulletin is released monthly by the Department of State and is used to determine when a sponsored foreign national can submit the final step of the green card process. The complete visa bulletin can be found here.

Below is a summary of the July Visa Bulletin, including Final Action Dates and changes from the previous month:

• China EB-1 remains at January 1, 2012, EB-2 advances three weeks to March 22, 2013 and EB-3 reverses course and falls behind EB-2, retrogressing more than two years to January 1, 2012
• India EB-1 holds steady at January 1, 2012, EB-2 continues its slow forward ...