Insight
USCIS Proposes Increased Fees for Certain Petitions and to Maintain Reduced Fees for Others
The Department of Homeland Security released the Proposed Rule of the USCIS Fee Schedule yesterday. According to the Proposal, the increase in fees are intended to cover shortages in the Immigration Examination Fee Account (IEFA). The fees are used to meet certain national security, customer service, and adjudicative processing goals. The Proposal details how they…
L-1A Intracompany Transfers: What is Managerial Capacity or Executive Capacity?
The L-1A petition allows U.S. employers to apply for non-immigrant temporary employment visas for those employees that have been serving in a managerial capacity or an executive capacity for at least one consecutive year within the last three years in a foreign branch, parent, subsidiary, or affiliated company. These visas last only one year. However,…
H-2B Cap for FY2016; Exemption for Returning Workers
On March 21, 2016, The USCIS announced that the H-2B Cap for the first half of FY2016 has been reached. The final receipt date was March 15, 2016 for those with a job start date before April 1, 2016. Every year, the USCIS allows 66,000 employees to enter the U.S. to work on a temporary…
Optional Practical Training (OPT): F-1 Students Beware!
Optional Practical Training, commonly known as OPT to international students studying in the U.S,, is an opportunity the U.S. has provided to foreign students here on F-1 status to gain practical experience while in the country. We all hope that the student will receive a job offer before the end of his OPT term. Call…
Gearing Up For H-1B
For business immigration attorneys, this time of the year is more than just tax season, this is also H-1B season. The deadline for H-1B petitions is April 1 and attorneys are striving to complete the applications and send them in for employers before the cap is filled. The cap for H-1B visas still maintains at…