Tag: USCIS

Second Lottery for 2022 H-1B Applicants Conducted by USCIS

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By: Hannah Welbourn A second round of H-1B seekers has been selected to submit their petitions for the highly sought-after visa. This is the second year in a row that USCIS has conducted a second lottery, releasing a statement Thursday reading: “We recently determined that we needed to select additional registrations to reach the FY 2022 numerical allocations.” Last year’s decision to make another round of selections was largely affected by the initial COVID-19 outbreak, as many who were offered employment early in the year were not able to be hired as a result of the pandemic. The Trump Administration’s travel ban also impacted the decision, as many who had been initially selected were then unable to get into the US. Following ...

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Latest USCIS Announcements Suggest Leniency

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By: Rachel Horner USCIS has recently made several announcements that suggest the possibility of more relaxed H-1B policies in the future, contrary to the organization’s attempts at restrictions under the previous presidential administration.   Extension Eligibility First, it was announced that USCIS will be extending their flexibilities originally posted on March 30, 2020. These conditions have been renewed several times since, meaning that USCIS will potentially continue to uphold these measures for as long as COVID-19 is a pressing issue.   The initial decision made by USCIS was to grant a 60-day extension for applicants responding to agency requests. This ...

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Federal Judge Blocks the Trump Ban on Foreign Worker Visas During the Course of the Pandemic

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By: Rebecca Anderson Last week, a Federal judge ruled that President Trump and his administration had “overstepped” their authority after suspending issuance of specific work visas during the COVID-19 pandemic. Judge Jeffrey S. White of the U.S. District Court of Northern California granted a preliminary injunction to temporarily block the implementation of the order, issued in June. According to The New York Times, the sweeping order applied to thousands of companies seeking to bring workers to the United States on a wide array of visas, including the H-1B for high-skilled workers, seasonal employees on guest-worker visas and others, such as au pairs, who enter the country on cultural exchange visas. “The entry of additional workers through the H-1B, H-2B, J, ...

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USCIS Filing Fee Increase Temporarily Halted by Federal Courts

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By: Rebecca Anderson As of this week, a district judge in California granted an injunction that temporarily halts the proposed increases made by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services of schedule filing fees for incoming migrants. According to the National Law Review, this is based on the court’s preliminary ruling. This announcement comes on the heels of a former ruling in August that stated filing fees were increasing indefinitely. Ultimately, USCIS planned to implement these increases as of October 2, 2020. However, for now, immigration attorneys and clients can continue to file cases using the current USCIS filing fee structure to avoid having to rush to collect necessary documentation, etc. Why was the rule blocked? According to Boundless.com, Judge Jeffrey White of the ...

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What You Need to Know About the Hike in H-1B Visa Costs

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By: Rachel Horner The Actual Numbers Starting in October, the basic H-1B Visa fee will increase from $460 to $550 -- a 21% increase.  The H-1B visa is one of many visa categories that will see a change in price. The proposal put forth in November of 2019 states that there will be different fees for form I-129, depending on which visa category is used. The proposal will also directly affect “50/50” employers (employers who have 50% of their workforce on the H-1B or L -1 Visa.) For these employers, the extension fee will double in price -- specifically $4,000 for an extension of an H-1B visa (previously $2,000), or $4,500 (previously $2,250) for an L visa. Why the Increase? After a back-and-forth with the ...

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Former U.S. President George W. Bush is releasing 43 portraits of immigrants and it’s nothing short of beautiful

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By: Rebecca Anderson With the looming uncertainty of what seems to be a never-ending global pandemic, furloughs across national companies—including within the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services—the increase of filing fees for foreign nationals and threats of potential deportation for students studying solely online in the fall, the complexities of working in immigration relations can seem a bit, well, concerning. But even in the darkest times, there is light. And that light comes in the form of previous U.S. President George W. Bush and his prolific output of amateur oil paintings. Forty-three individual portraits highlighting different foreign nationals will be presented in an upcoming book titled Out of Many, One. The artwork will be published in March of next year in conjunction with an exhibition on the importance of American immigration. In a statement given to CNN, Bush emphasizes how immigration policies should unify the country and remain a non-partisan issue. "While I recognize that immigration ...

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CASE STUDY: Is “Business Administration” Too General for Specialty Occupation?

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CASE STUDY: Is “Business Administration” Too General for Specialty Occupation?

By: Mark Anthony Rogers If you’re an immigration attorney or a petitioner seeking an H-1B visa, the degree requirement of a Bachelor’s in Business Administration can be a real headache. You know that even though the position is a specialty occupation, the term “Business Administration” is an obstacle, that it’s sometimes seen as “too general” by USCIS. You might be tempted to avoid the term “Business Administration” altogether when filing for fear of USCIS challenging the specialty nature of the position. The Challenge Park has handled this problem before. In this case, the RFE challenged read as follows: “The OOH does not indicate that Finance Manager positions normally require a minimum of a bachelor’s degree in a specific specialty. ...

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