Rescheduling Biometrics Appointments

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that applicants, petitioners, requestors and beneficiaries may now call the USCIS Contact Center (800-375-5283) to reschedule their biometric services appointments scheduled at a USCIS Application Support Center. Previously, applicants had to submit requests in writing to reschedule their biometrics appointments. This change helps eliminate undue paperwork and allows USCIS to track the request through a more efficient process. Applicants must establish good cause for rescheduling and must

May 12, 2021

Can I Travel While My Green Card Is Pending?

Traveling without the right documentation can be considered an abandonment of a pending advanced parole case or much worse, a pending green card! Let’s go through some typical scenarios.

March 15, 2021

EB2 to EB3 Conversion and Filing I-485 Concurrently

With Employment Based Third Category (EB3) priority dates moving faster for India, we are frequently asked if a Beneficiary in EB-2 can downgrade and convert their immigrant petition to an EB-3 classification, so that they would be able to file their I-485 and EAD for their entire family sooner (and maybe even concurrently). The answer is YES, it is possible to do so. Here are some Frequently Asked Questions!

September 25, 2020

USCIS Announces H-1B Registration Process

USCIS will open an initial registration period from March 1 through March 20, 2020, for the FY 2021 H-1B numerical allocations. During this timeframe, H-1B cap-subject petitioners, including those eligible for the advanced degree exemption, seeking to file a FY 2021 H-1B cap petition will be required to first register electronically with USCIS and pay the associated $10 H-1B registration fee for each submission. Prospective petitioners or their authorized representatives must electronically submit a separate

January 10, 2020

USCIS Completed Data Entry for FY2020 H1B Cap

USCIS has issued the following statement: USCIS has completed data entry for all fiscal year 2020 H-1B cap-subject petitions selected in our computer-generated random selection process, including those selected under the U.S. advanced degree exemption. As in previous years, we will now begin returning all H-1B cap-subject petitions that we did not select and will issue an announcement once we are done notifying petitioners. Due to the volume of filings, we cannot provide a definite

May 18, 2019

H-1B LCA Statistics for FY2019 YTD

I said this in the past, and I’ll say it again: I love Statistics. I love it… just as long as I can avoid it. Thankfully, the Office of Foreign Labor Certification crunched the numbers and presented us with selected statistics for the H-1B Specialty Occupation Labor Condition Program (for Q1 of FY2019) and here are my observations. The Office issued 85242 determinations, of which 1475 were denied. All were processed timely and they certified

February 18, 2019

DHS: New Rules for FY2020 Cap Selection Process

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) posted today for public inspection, a final rule which will go into effect on April 1st, amending regulations governing H-1B cap-subject petitions, including those that may be eligible for the advanced degree exemption Key Takeaways of the new rule:– Reverses the order by which U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) selects H-1B petitions under the H-1B regular cap and the advanced degree exemption. This change in the rule is

January 30, 2019

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