Dear Santa, With Christmas approaching quickly, I wanted to make sure you knew what gifts we’d love to have this year under our Christmas Trees. We’ve worked really hard this year to help our clients with their immigration problems, but we could use a few more tools around our office to better help our clients. Here is my wish list: • DAPA – Last year, the White House tried to give...

By Zuzana Geremes, Paralegal On April 9, 2015, USCIS published a draft guidance based on its Administrative Appeal Office’s precedent decision, Matter of Simeio Solutions, LLC, which held that employers must file amended H-1B petitions when a new Labor Condition Application for Nonimmigrant Workers is required due to a change in the H-1B worker’s worksite location. More specifically, the Simeio decision stated that an amended H-1B petition must be filed under...

On May 26, 2015, USCIS will begin accepting applications for employment authorization (Form I-765) for certain spouses of H-1B foreign national workers. The H-1B foreign worker must 1) be in valid H-1B status in the United States and 2) must also be the beneficiary of an approved I-140 immigrant visa petition for an alien worker. If the principal H-1B holder meets both of these requirements, his or her spouse who is...

U.S. employers of all sizes use the H-1B visa program to employ foreign workers in professional level occupations that require specialized knowledge in their field. Many years ago, the U.S. Congress set a limit or “cap” of 65,000 H-1B visas for each fiscal year (FY). An additional 20,000 H-1B visas are available for foreign workers in a specialty occupation who hold a U.S. Master’s Degree in their field. An H-1B petition...

On April 9, 2015, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service’s Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) issued an important decision that will impact thousands of H-1B employers across the country. In its precedential decision, Matter of Simeio Solutions, LLC, 26 I&N Dec. 542 (AAO 2015), the AAO held that when an H-1B employee changes his or her place of employment (worksite) to a new geographical area, it constitutes a “material change” in employment...

On April 7, 2014, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) announced that the H-1B cap for Fiscal Year 2016 had been reached. As predicted, between April 1 and April 7, 2015 - the initial filing period for H-1B petitions for Fiscal Year 2016 – USCIS received more than the maximum number of H-1B petitions filed by U.S. Employers on behalf of professional foreign workers in a specialty occupation. In the...

USCIS has announced that it will extend employment authorization to some non-immigrants in H-4 visa status. This is very welcome news for spouses of some H-1B visa holders. Beginning May 26, 2015, some H-4 visa holders will be granted employment authorization. To qualify, the H-4 visa holder must be married to an H-1B visa holder. In addition, the H-1B visa holder must either be the beneficiary of an approved Form I-140...

Happy Cap Season!  That’s right, Happy Cap Season!  For some, these words mean absolutely nothing, but for thousands of employers and potential highly skilled, foreign national workers in the U.S. and around the world, Cap Season is full of hope, fraught with anxiety, and colored by extreme frustration with the current annual limits on H-1B visa numbers. “H-1B cap season” refers to several months leading up to April 1 each year. ...

Posted by Zuzana Geremes, Paralegal   President Obama concluded his three-day visit to India on January 27, 2015 where he met, among others, with the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. With regards to US immigration issues, President Obama and Prime Minister Modi touched on the topic of the H-1B visas.  In particular, the Times of India online edition dated January 26, 2015 mentions: “President Barack Obama has assured Prime Minister Narendra Modi...

Many foreign nationals residing in Colorado have likely noticed the “black bar” across the foreign national’s Colorado driver’s license reading “not valid for federal identification, voting or public benefit purposes” and thought to themselves – “wait, I shouldn’t have a black bar on my license, I never had a black bar before, this is a mistake…” It is not a mistake.  U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents residing in Colorado continue...

As of July 3, 2014, Beneficiaries of approved H-1B Petitions authorizing an October 1, 2014 start date may apply for their H-1B visas at U.S. Consular Posts abroad.   H-1B Beneficiaries who have not been approved for a “change of status” in the United States and instead are required to apply for an H-1B visa abroad prior to admission into the United States in H-1B status can now begin the visa...

  Contributed by Zuzana Geremes, Paralegal On May 6, 2014, the Obama Administration and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced a proposed change to the current regulations regarding employment authorization for certain spouses of foreign nationals working in the United States on H-1B visas. The stated goal of this rule change is to maintain U.S. economic competitiveness and to attract skilled talent that the United States might otherwise be losing...

U.S. employers of all sizes use the H-1B visa program to employ foreign workers in professional level occupations that require highly specialized knowledge in their field. Several years ago, the U.S. Congress set a limit or “cap” of 65,000 H-1B visas for each fiscal year (FY). An additional 20,000 H-1B visas are available for foreign workers in a specialty occupation who hold a U.S. Master’s Degree in their field. An H-1B...