Monthly Archives: May 2016

What is happening with the UNNJ students?

May 15 2016 - It has been almost  one and a half months since UNNJ was officially shut down and many of the students are either still struggling in custody, or to change status or stuck abroad. At this point in time we can only keep looking at the options which have been proposed although it is very sad to know that the entire incident was very unfair.  After contacting numerous organizations to help, our attempt has unfortunately so far been in vain. Some of them have not even answered, while others are totally confused…Read More Breaking News

New USCIS Proposed Rule to increase fees on H1B and other visas by around 21%

  • Posted on May 15, 2016
  • /Under H1B
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) proposes to adjust certain immigration and naturalization benefit request fees charged by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). USCIS conducted a comprehensive fee review, after refining its cost accounting process, and determined that current fees do not recover the full costs of the services it provides. Adjustment to the fee schedule is necessary to fully recover costs for USCIS services and to maintain adequate service. DHS proposes to increase USCIS fees by a weighted average of 21 percent and add one new fee. In addition, DHS proposes…Read More Breaking News

AAO new policy manual

  • Posted on May 13, 2016
  • /Under AAO
This Practice Manual describes rules, procedures, and recommendations for practice before the Administrative Appeals Office (AAO). This Practice Manual is provided for the information and convenience of the public and parties that appear before the AAO. It does not replace or modify any legal authority or U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) policy. The AAO will update this Practice Manual periodically. The current version is posted on the AAO’s home page within the USCIS website at www.uscis.gov/aao. The AAO welcomes and encourages the public to provide comments and propose improvements to this Practice…Read More Breaking News

California SB 674 mandates that agencies process certification of the U Visa

  • Posted on May 13, 2016
  • /Under U visas
Having taken effect January 1, 2016 a new California law, SB 674: Immigrant Victims of Crime Equity Act grants urgently needed help to immigrant crime victims and their families. The U Visa Certification Requirement Under Federal Law, noncitizen victims of certain crimes may be eligible for a pathway to a green card under a U visa. The U visa was created to assist law enforcement investigation and prosecution of crime by providing noncitizen victims of certain crimes who cooperate with law enforcement a pathway to a green card under a U visa. The…Read More Breaking News

Immigration Law Show – May 12 2016

May 12 2016 - The Shah Peerally Law Show today covered the main issue of STEM OPT with questions and answers from callers on the topic and other topics such as transfer of H1B with revoked I-140, AC 21 issues, H4 EAD and other interesting immigration questions.Read More Breaking News

USCIS Post Updated Forms.

USCIS posted updated editions to the following forms: • Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization. New edition dated 03/11/16. Previous editions dated 11/04/15, 02/13/15, 05/27/08 or later, also accepted. • Form I-924, Application For Regional Center Under the Immigrant Investor Pilot Program. New edition dated 04/27/16. • Form I-924A, Supplement to Form I-924. New edition dated 04/27/16. • Form I-129CW, Petition for a CNMI-Only Nonimmigrant Transitional Worker. New edition dated 04/25/16. We will also accept the 10/08/14, 04/04/13 and 10/07/11 editions. • Form I-612, Application for Waiver of the Foreign Residence Requirement (under…Read More Breaking News

Seven Things Consulting Companies should consider in hiring OPT students.

With the coming of the new rules on STEM Optional Practical Training (OPT), many students and employers are wondering whether they should actually hire students on OPT or not. This article covers some specific situations as they relate to employers especially consulting companies. The article includes but is not limited to their business model and whether they might encounter issues regarding hiring OPT work permit holders. Note that this article does not cover every single issues related to the OPT but it only tries to give a perspective on the OPT employment. First…Read More Breaking News

Revised Guidance for SEVIS Workarounds and STEM OPT Transition 

May 5 2016 - "After consultation with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) is revising its guidance on the handling of 24-month extensions of optional practical training (OPT) to include special instructions for students whose: Post-completion OPT ends before May 23, 2016, and Eligibility is based on a prior science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)degree USCIS and SEVP developed special filing instructions for a limited number of students who become eligible on May 10, 2016 for a STEM extension based on a prior degree or for…Read More Breaking News

Employers May Submit Inquiries If Extension of Status/Change of Employer Petition Has Been Pending for 210 Days or More

On April 21, 2016, USCIS began allowing petitioners who filed Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker, requesting an extension of status or change of employer to submit an inquiry after their petition has been pending for 210 days or more. This inquiry may be based on the petition being outside of normal processing times. Employers: If your Form I-129 petition has been pending for at least 210 days, you may submit an inquiry by calling the National Customer Service Center at 1-800-375-5283 (TDD for deaf and hard of hearing: 1-800-767-1833). When asking…Read More Breaking News

End Client letter Nightmare – H1B Consulting Companies Beware!

May 9 2016 - Today a company in the Silicon Valley was indicted for H1B Fraud, one of the issues which was mentioned in the complaint is that: According to the indictment, the defendants submitted to the government, or caused to be submitted, H-1B visa application materials stating that the foreign workers named in the applications would be placed at specific companies in the United States.  However, according to the indictment, those companies either did not exist or never intended to receive the foreign workers named in the defendants’ applications.  For example, the…Read More Breaking News

June 2016 Visa Bulletin – The Big Retrogression and the “Trump Effect”

May 9 2016 - The June 2016 Visa Bulletin is a 'horror' situation for many Indians who were hoping that there will be some movement forward on the June 2016 Visa Bulletin. Not only we did not see an EB India movement forward, we saw a colossal retrogression. Some people have qualified it as the "Trump Effect". Looking back at all the problems Indian students and Indian immigrant workers are facing, we can only concur that there is some sort of Trump Effect affecting the thousands of employment based categories. As you can…Read More Breaking News

How to Deal with Failure to Register for Selective Service on your Citizenship case.

Selective Service Registration​ is an important component of the Naturalization process. Failure to knowingly and willingly register for selective service will actually disqualify certain individuals from the good moral character principle of the US naturalization. Note that Selective Service does not mean you are registering for the US military, it only means that in times of conflict, you will be actually be available to defend the United States. As such it is important to know: a.) who needs to register; b) how to register and c) what happens if you did not register.​ Also…Read More Breaking News

A Congressional Research Service (CRS) report on the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa program

This is a report from the Congressional Research Service on the EB5 investor program. The program allows some investors to obtain a perament residence in the United States. Summary The immigrant investor visa was created in 1990 to benefit the U.S. economy through employment creation and an influx of foreign capital into the United States. The visa is also referred to as the EB-5 visa because it is the fifth employment preference immigrant visa category. The EB-5 visa provides lawful permanent residence (i.e., LPR status) to foreign nationals who invest a specified amount…Read More Breaking News

Beware of Immigration Scammers!

May 2 2015 - It has been to our attention by many callers that they are receiving a call from someone claiming to be from immigration.  The voice is appearing with a caller ID of "911" telling people that if they don't pay $5000 or $10,000, they will be immediately deported.  Please note that all those callers are scammers trying to get money from poor immigrants knowing their fear. First of all the government does not call this way.  Second, there is a process before someone is deported. If you are victim of…Read More Breaking News

USCIS completed the H1B 2017 lottery today.

USCIS announced on May 2, 2016, that it has completed data entry of all fiscal year 2017 H-1B cap-subject petitions selected in our computer-generated random process. USCIS will now begin returning all H-1B cap-subject petitions that were not selected. Due to the high volume of filings, USCIS is unable to provide a definite time frame for returning these petitions. USCIS asks petitioners not to inquire about the status of submitted cap-subject petitions until they receive a receipt notice or an unselected petition is returned. USCIS will issue an announcement once all the unselected…Read More Breaking News