Employment Based (EB)

This category covers the employment based relates articles.

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

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

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

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

OPT Denials especially based on the 30 day Rule

Recently there has been a surge in OPT denials because of some of the reasons below: 1. OPT filed not meeting the 30 day rule 2. OPT denied because of CPT 3. OPT denied because of transfer of  SEVIS 4. OPT denied because DSO did not properly update SEVIS. 5. OPT denied because form I-765 not properly filed. The video below covers the issueRead More Breaking News

Couple Indicted for $20 Million Visa Fraud Involving Indian Workers

Press Release from United States District Attorneys Office - Eastern District of Virginia. ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Raju Kosuri, 44, and Smriti Jharia, 45, of Ashburn, as well as four co-conspirators, were indicted by a federal grand jury yesterday on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States and visa fraud, among other charges. According to the indictment, Kosuri, his spouse Jharia, and their co-conspirators have fraudulently applied for more than 800 illegal immigration benefits under the H-1B visa program.  Since 2008, and at much greater scale since 2011, Kosuri has built a staffing…Read More Breaking News

The E3 Visa for Australians

The non-immigrant E3 Visa was created by the REAL ID Act of 2005 : It is the “Reciprocal Visas for Nationals of Australia.”   There are 10,500 E-3 visas allotted annually to qualified individuals. Though the E-3 Visa is classified in the same category as E-1 (treaty trader) and E-2 (treaty investor) visas, E-3 visas share some similarities with H-1B Visas (workers in a specialty occupation). Therefore, the E-3 Visa can be understood as a slight hybrid between the two categories, and the E-3 visa has unique traits such as: An E-3 candidate…Read More Breaking News

H1B Visa Alternatives – What can someone do if not selected in the H1B lottery?

  • Posted on April 23, 2016
  • /Under H1B
April 23 2016 - As you all know USCIS has received approximately 250,000 for the 2017 H1B Cap, many are now worried and looking for other options or alternatives to the H1B visas.  The truth is that H1B is the most sought out visa in the industry. However there might be other solutions for you depending on your situation.  This is why it is good to have a good lawyer assess the case for you. The video below covers some but only some of the alternatives to the H1B visa.  You can call…Read More Breaking News

L1A New Memo – Matter of Z-A-, Inc., Adopted Decision 2016-02 (AAO Apr. 14, 2016)

Matter of Z-A-, Inc. In a policy memorandum issued April 14 (this month) by the USCIS regarding the Matter of Z-A-, Inc. case, the USCIS directs all USCIS employees to follow the policy guidance established under the case as it relates to defining “managerial capacity.” The case deals with whether USCIS must consider evidence from a petitioner regarding personnel employed overseas [by another related entity] within the organization who perform tasks for the petitioning entity. The case states that an adjudicating officer must assess all relevant evidence in the record concerning the beneficiary’s…Read More Breaking News

Fiscal Year 2017 H-1B Cap Premium Processing to Begin May 12

On May 12, 2016, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will begin premium processing for cap-subject H-1B petitions requesting premium processing, including petitions seeking an exemption for individuals with a U.S. master’s degree or higher. USCIS first announced in a news release that it would temporarily adjust its premium processing practice due to the historic premium processing receipt levels, combined with the possibility that the H-1B cap will be met in the first 5 business days of the filing season. USCIS provides premium processing service for certain employment-based petitions and guarantees a 15-calendar-day…Read More Breaking News

Difficulties of trying to re-enter the United States after UNNJ

Many of the ex-students of UNNJ who have left are asking whether they will be able to come back. The question is very difficult to answer unless there is an analysis of the specific situation in which the UNNJ students were in while “attending” the school. First of all for those who are found to have defrauded or presented fraudulent documents to any government officials including the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of State and other government entities, they might find themselves in a situation of willful misrepresentation or fraud. See article…Read More Breaking News

10 Lessons to be learned from UNNJ (University of Northern New Jersey) and TVU (Tri Valley University) Sagas!

  • Posted on April 14, 2016
  • /Under CPT
UNNJ has hit many almost by surprise after the TVU saga. Unfortunately unlike TVU where the culprit was directly the school, here the culprits are hard to define. Are they the brokers or consultants? Or are they just the government which tried to trap the brokers? The question might never be answered unless the press or foreign governments questions the United States – why did this happen? Nonetheless the UNNJ saga is now going t to affect the decision of thousands of students who hope to study in the United States. The biggest…Read More Breaking News

Willful Misrepresentation or Fraud in providing Documents to apply for H1B, or OPT.

  • Posted on April 9, 2016
  • /Under CPT
April 8 2016 - Some of the students of the University of Northern New Jersey (UNNJ) who applied for an OPT or an H1B visa, have been receiving a number of requests for evidence (RFEs) based on their physical and actual attendance of UNNJ classes including but not limited to transcripts, parking space receipts, attendance records, etc. Since UNNJ was not a real school per se, many of those records were wrongfully obtained either through the brokers or the school administrations. As such bogus parking space receipts, false attendance records and false transcripts…Read More Breaking News