The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) has just reported that several I-485 applications for permanent residence have been improperly rejected by USCIS. Apparently, on April 30th there was a processing problem that caused the incorrect r…
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USCIS reports that the agency has received approximately 36,700 H-1B cap-subject petitions as of May 11, 2012. They also report that they have received approximately 14,800 H-1B petitions for the U.S. Master’s degree cap. The annual H-1B cap is…
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USCIS reports that as of April 13, they have received approximately 20,600 H-1B cap subject petitions. They have also received an additional 9,700 H-1B petitions for the U.S. master’s cap of 20,000. What does this mean? A little less than one t…
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Attention employers: this is friendly reminder to give priority to your H-1B petitions! The H-1B cap has lasted several months in recent years (it was met in November last year). No one can predict how long the cap will last this year. However, with…
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Each year, the American Immigration Lawyers Association sponsors “Citizenship Day” in which workshops are held at various sites around the country to assist permanent residents to apply for citizenship on a pro bono basis (i.e. for free).…
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USCIS has recently announced that Syria will be designated as a TPS country. TPS stands for “Temporary Protected Status.” The Secretary of Homeland Security can grant TPS for nationals of certain countries due to dangerous conditions in that coun…
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Numerical limit/annual cap: There is an annual cap of 65,000 H-1Bs available every year, plus an additional 20,000 H-1Bs for U.S. master’s degree holders. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service’s (USCIS) fiscal year begins October 1. Therefore…
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The Administrative Appeals Office adjudicates immigration cases that have been appealed from a denial by USCIS. If an immigration filing is denied, the applicant or petitioner may sometimes have the option of appealing the decision, or of re-filing a…
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In the previous post, I reviewed the key requirements for a successful H-1B petition. The last part of that post was about how the employer must prove a need for the position. On a related note, the employer must clearly establish the employee-employ…
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The H-1B petition for specialty occupation workers is one of the most popular visa classifications used. However, having an H-1B petition approved is not as easy as submitting the required forms and submitting the prospective H-1B employee’s resume…
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