Washington D.C., - July 17, 2019: The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) recently completed its review of draft of new regulations for the EB-5 Regional Center program, entitled EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program Modernization (“EB-5 Modernization Regulation”). As with any proposed new regulations, OMB’s review is...

As the Department of State (DOS) indicated last month, the August visa bulletin introduced broad delays across almost all employment-based categories worldwide, with EB-2’s earliest cut-off date set to Jan. 2017, and EB-1 and EB-3 pushed back to July 2016. These retrogressions are expected to...

Washington, D.C. – July 10, 2019: Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act of 2019 (H.R. 1044) by a vote of 365 to 65. If enacted, the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act would eliminate the per-country limit for all...

EMPLOYMENT-based categories (potential monthly movement) EB-1 Employment First: WORLDWIDE: Little if any forward movement. Increased demand may require temporary corrective action for September China: Little if any forward movement India: No forward movement. The date will return to February 22, 2017 for October EB-2 Employment Second: Worldwide: Expected to remain Current,...

Washington, D.C. – July 2, 2019 – On June 27, 2019, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) completed its review of USCIS’ proposed EB-5 Modernization Regulations, the last step in the rulemaking process before the new regulations are published and implemented. The new EB-5...

Washington, D.C. – June 15, 2019: New Zealand citizens can now obtain E-1 and E-2 treaty trader and investor visas to work in the U.S. These categories, which allow up to 2 years’ renewable stay, are determined by trade treaties secured between the U.S. and the...

Washington, D.C. – June 14, 2019: The latest Visa Bulletin, published by the U.S. Department of State (DOS) earlier this month, confirms industry predictions of a waiting list for Indian-born EB-5 investors. Starting in July 2019, EB-5 visas will be available only to those Indian-born investors...

Starting June 10, 2019, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will resume Premium Processing for all remaining H-1B petitions. This completes a trial arrangement whereby USCIS allowed limited Premium Processing starting May 20 for H-1B petitions with a Change of Status. The approach was...

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a caution on June 4, 2019, stating that H-1B petitions will be rejected if they fail to include names and addresses on Part 1 of Form I-129. Specifically, applicants are cautioned not to list outside counsel, clients,...