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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has established interim procedures for adjudicating national interest waiver (NIW) immigrant petitions and related adjustment of status applications filed on behalf of physicians practicing in medically underserved areas or at facilities operated by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), in light of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the… Read More

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on March 9, 2007, that certain Hondurans, Nicaraguans, and Salvadorans eligible for temporary protected status (TPS) re-registration, who have an application pending with USCIS and are awaiting an employment authorization document (EAD), will receive a letter giving them the opportunity to have an extension sticker affixed to their… Read More

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on March 23, 2007, that it has received a sufficient number of petitions to reach the congressionally mandated H-2B cap for the final six months of fiscal year 2007. March 16, 2007, is the “final receipt date” for new H-2B worker petitions requesting employment start dates before October… Read More

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has issued a reminder to applicants that, effective Monday, April 2, 2007, all Forms I-129 (Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker) and I-539 (Application to Change/Extend Nonimmigrant Status) are to be filed directly with the California Service Center or the Vermont Service Center, whichever is applicable. USCIS has released two… Read More

April 2, 2007, marks the start of the annual H-1B rush. Last year, the cap was reached by May 26 and all indications are that it could be reached imminently this year. A random selection process may be employed for the overflow if applications received by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) exceed the limit… Read More

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has revised the Application for Employment Authorization (Form I-765) to obtain supplemental evidence from foreign physicians with national interest waivers (NIWs). The revised form also reduces the number of reasons for filing.

On February 22, 2007, in Perez-Vargas v. Gonzales, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled that applicants with pending adjustment of status applications can exercise job portability while in removal proceedings.

As part of the forthcoming notice of proposed rulemaking on the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) plans to propose significant flexibility on requirements for travel documents for U.S. and Canadian children entering the U.S. via land or sea ports. The proposal would allow U.S. and Canadian citizen children 15… Read More

On February 22, 2007, undocumented workers in 18 states were swept up in a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Internal Revenue Service investigation of Rosenbaum-Cunningham International, Inc. (RCI), a cleaning service. RCI co-owners were charged with various fraud, immigration, and tax charges in a 23-count indictment. The estimated 200 janitors were nabbed at 63… Read More

The Department of State (DOS) notes in the Visa Bulletin for March 2007 that little if any forward movement in the employment third preference category is expected in the near future. Recent discussions with both U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the Department of Labor indicate, the DOS said, that the demand for numbers… Read More