H-1B Work Visa
Pending H-1B Extension Does Not Grant Lawful Status
On November 7, 2013, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) issued a decision that underscores the distinction between “period of authorized stay” and “status”. We are providing a summary of the decision for the benefit of our readers. In Matter of Ivica Trupcevic, a foreign national (beneficiary) originally entered the United States on an F-1…
Read MoreContinuation of Employment under 240-Day Rule
Under the “240 day rule”, a beneficiary of a timely filed extension of stay can continue his/her employment with the petitioning employer, while the extension of stay is pending with the USCIS, for a period of up to 240 days beyond the expiration of the prior period of authorized stay. Even though the beneficiary is…
Read MoreDepartment of Labor Stakeholder Meeting: PERM Updates
On December 12, 2013, Department of Labor Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) held a stakeholder meeting in which stakeholders from American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), National Association of Foreign Student Advisors (NAFSA), Council for Global Immigration (CGI), and American Bar Association (ABA) were present. This is an overview of some of the issues discussed…
Read MoreNIV Interview Waiver Program Now Permanent
The Department of State (DOS) has announced that the Nonimmigrant Visa (NIV) Interview Waiver Pilot Program, introduced by President Obama in 2012, has now been made permanent. Generally, all NIV applicants are required to make a personal appearance and be interviewed by a consular officer. Additionally, the visa applicant is required to provide biometric identifiers…
Read MoreSocial Networking Sites are viewed by USCIS
We want to remind our readers about an undated memorandum by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) regarding the importance of social networking sites (Facebook, MySpace, Google+, etc.) in fraud detection. The memo talks about narcissistic tendencies amongst user of social network sites to have a large group of “friends” which may result in a…
Read MorePending H-1B Transfer to California Service Center
On December 23, 2013, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that in order to balance workloads it has began transferring some H-1B extension of stay cases from the Vermont Service Center to the California Service Center. The petitioner whose case has been transferred to California Service Center will receive an I-797 transfer notice listing…
Read MoreConsular Returns to Revoke Visa Petition
Upon approval of a petition, the beneficiary of the petition, generally, has to apply for a visa at a U.S. consulate abroad. It is noteworthy to mention that approval of the petition by the US Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) does not guarantee a visa as USCIS has the authority to revoke a petition after…
Read MoreFebruary 2014 Visa Bulletin: EB-2 & EB-3 Advances for Most Countries but India
U.S. Department of State (DOS) has released the February 2014 Visa Bulletin which is the fifth Visa Bulletin for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2014. The cutoff dates for Employment-Based second preference (EB-2) and for Employment-Based third preference (EB-3) for all counties except India and Philippines have moved by two months. The cutoff dates for EB-2…
Read MoreRecent USCIS Telephone Scams
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) in recent weeks have learned of a new telephone scam targeting USCIS applicants and petitioners. Scammers are using a technique called “Caller ID spoofing” to display a misleading or inaccurate phone number in a recipient’s Caller ID. The scammer poses as a USCIS official and requests personal information (such…
Read MoreDOMA Ruling and Immigration Benefits for Same-Sex Partners
With the overturn of Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), same-sex partners of U.S. Citizens and permanent residents are now entitled to same immigration benefits that were earlier available only to opposite-sex couples. Some of the notable immigration benefits that the same-sex partners are now eligible to includes: Fiancé Visa, Marriage Visa, Adjustment of Status, Immigrant…
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