News Release from Jewell Stewart & Pratt PC Today USCIS announced that it received over 236,000 H-1B petitions in the filing period that began on April 1. On April 9 USCIS used a computer-generated random selection process (commonly known as a “lottery”) to select...
News Release from Jewell Stewart & Pratt PC U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that it has received a sufficient number of H-1B petitions to reach the statutory cap for fiscal year (FY) 2017. USCIS has also received more than 20,000...
On January 23, 2016, the federal district court in Washington Alliance of Technology Workers v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, No. 1:14-CV-00529 (ESH), Document 51 (D. D.C. January 23, 2016), granted a motion by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to postpone the effective date of the court’s vacatur of DHS’s 2008 STEM OPT regulation from February 12, 2016 until May 10, 2016. In effect, this leaves existing grants of STEM OPT in place until May 10, 2016, and allows DHS temporarily (until May 10, 2016) to continue accepting STEM OPT applications under its 2008 rules. In the meantime, DHS is expected to review the ~50,500 comments it received in response to the proposed replacement regulation it published in October 2015 and to adopt a final rule governing STEM OPT.
The 2016 Consolidated Appropriations Act was signed into law on December 18, 2015. In addition to funding the U.S. federal government through the 2016 fiscal year, it includes far-reaching, immediately effective changes to the Visa Waiver Program. As background, citizens of the 38 countries participating in the Visa Waiver Program (“VWP”) may come to the United States as visitors for business or pleasure without first obtaining visitors’ (B-1 or B-2) visas in their passports. They may visit the U.S. for periods of up to 90 days, provided that they are eligible for admission as visitors under applicable law.
News Release from Jewell & Associates, PC On August 12, 2015 the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia invalidated the 2008 interim final rule of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that created eligibility for a 17-month extension of F-1 OPT work...
News Release from Jewell & Associates, PC As of May 26, 2015 USCIS has temporarily suspended premium processing for all H-1B petitions where a request for extension of stay is requested. This is to allow USCIS to implement the Employment Authorization for Certain...
News Release from Jewell & Associates, PC On April 7 USCIS announced that it received approximately 233,000 H-1B petitions in the filing period that began on April 1. Today USCIS used a computer-generated random selection process (commonly known as a “lottery”) to...
News Release from Jewell & Associates, PC On December 5, 2014, USCIS posted on its website a summary of the executive actions on immigration announced by President Obama on November 20, 2014. With respect to each of the major planned initiatives, the USCIS...
News Release from Jewell & Associates, PC Yesterday the President announced his intent to reform the immigration system through executive action in ten key areas. Planned action that will be of particular interest to the business community include: Support to...
