Washington, D.C. Today, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), an agency within U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has published a final rule governing H-1B with the following changes: Beneficiary owning H-1B Petitioner/Employer: DHS is codifying a petitioner’s ability to qualify as a U.S. employer even when the beneficiary possesses a controlling interest (more than[Read More]
H-1B Visa Programs
USCIS will begin H-1B Electronic Registration in March 2024 for the 2024 lottery
Washington, D.C. USCIS will open 2024 H-1B electronic registration from March 6th through March 22nd, 2024 for the lottery under fiscal year 2025 H-1B Cap. The H-1B random selection process, if needed, will then be run on those electronic registrations and it will notify the employer or the attorney on selected entries on the first draw[Read More]
USCIS will begin H-1B Electronic Registration in March 2022 for the 2022 lottery
Washington, D.C. USCIS will open 2022 H-1B electronic registration from March 1st through 18th, 2022 for the lottery under fiscal year 2023 H-1B Cap. The H-1B random selection process, if needed, will then be run on those electronic registrations and it will notify the employer or the attorney on selected entries on the first draw by[Read More]
DHS agrees to Employment Authorization-related Settlement Agreement with H-4 and L-2 Spouses
AILA and its litigation partners, enters into a settlement agreement with the DHS in Shergill, et al. v. Mayorkas, which provides changes for nonimmigrant H-4 and L-2 spouses suffering from long-delayed processing times for the processing of applications for employment authorization. L-2 nonimmigrant spouses will, after 120 days, enjoy work authorization incident to status. In[Read More]
USCIS May Reopen H-1B Petitions Denied Under Three Rescinded Policy Memos
Washington, D.C. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today announced it may reopen and/or reconsider adverse decisions on H-1B petitions made based on three rescinded policy memos. USCIS will generally use its discretion to accept a motion to reopen filed more than 30 days after the decision, if filed before the end of the validity[Read More]
Federal judge strikes down rules which placed restrictions on H-1B visa program
Federal judge strikes down Trump administration’s rules which sought to restrict H-1B visas for skilled workers. The judge ruled that the interim final rules (IFR) proposed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Labor (DoL) were promulgated in violation of rule making provision of Administrative Procedure Act (APA). The government’s[Read More]
COVID-19 RELIEFS FOR INT’L STUDENTS, H-1B, L1 AND OTHER WORK VISA, AND MAINTENANCE OF STATUS AND OTHER LEGAL UPDATES
April 14, 2020. Adhikari Law PLLC hosted a free webinar on the topic of COVID-19 Reliefs for Int’l Students, H-1B, L1 and other Work Visa, and Maintenance of Status and other legal updates. Video playback and presentation below Download Presentation slides Agendas for the webinar were the following: Guidance on Maintenance of Status OPT unemployment, Change[Read More]
Join us for a webinar to learn about New Registration Systems for H-1B quota cases and Filing Tips
RSVP with your name, email and telephone number to info@adhikarilaw.com to receive the calling detail. We will be scheduling a calling in next few days. If you or your employer want to learn more about H-1B program or about our legal services for the preparation and the filing H-1B petition contact us at (+1) 202[Read More]
USCIS plans to Implement e-registration process for the fiscal year 2021 H-1B Cap Cases (to be filed in 2020) Pending completed testing of the System
Nov. 7, 2019, Washington DC, Adhikari Law PLLC. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has announced today a final rule that will require a non-refundable small fee of $10 for each H-1B e-registration submitted by petitioning employers, once it implements the electronic registration system. The pre-registration was previously announced by the agency. The H-1B program allows[Read More]
H-1B Employees are subjected to Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) tax withholding
Employees in F-1, J-1, M-1, Q-1 or Q-2 non-immigrant status are exempt from FICA therefore no withholding has to be made. However once these nonimmigrant change their visa status to H-1B, generally beginning from Oct 1st, then they are no longer exempt from FICA. So the employer should review payroll procedures and update tax withholding[Read More]