Category: H1B

In August and September 2009, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) ombudsman received complaints about H-1B cases with incorrectly denied labor condition applications (LCA/ETA-9035) filed with the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). The ombudsman said that LCA processing delays and errors at the DOL, when coupled with USCIS’s current H-1B petition initial filing requirements,… Read More

In August and September 2009, the ombudsman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) received complaints concerning H-1B cases with incorrectly denied labor condition applications (LCA/ETA-9035) filed with the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). The ombudsman said that LCA processing delays and errors at DOL, coupled with USCIS’s current H-1B petition initial filing requirements, “are… Read More

As part of the Department of Homeland Security’s stepped-up enforcement efforts that include increased audits of businesses to detect immigration and labor law violations, employers are reporting random, unannounced visits by the Fraud Detection and National Security Division (FDNS) of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. FDNS inspectors often use a script of questions and ask… Read More

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued guidance on July 17, 2009, to certain employers who received a denial of Form I-129, Petition for Nonimmigrant Worker, requesting H-1B classification for a beneficiary to practice in a health care specialty occupation before May 20, 2009. If the I-129 was denied solely on the basis that the… Read More

The ability to file an H-1B extension or change of employer petition for an H-1B employee on a same-day, or even same-week, basis will end on July 1. In the past several years, employers have become used to immediate turnaround of H-1B petitions, made possible by the Department of Labor’s (DOL) electronic system for filing… Read More