U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in Washington, D.C. has ordered the Class Certification of the FY 2020 DV Winners and orders the U.S. State Department to reserve visa for them so that the Class can get immigrant visa even after September 30, 2020– end date of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2020. Otherwise[Read More]
News and Alerts
Unused Family-based Visa Numbers from 2020 will likely make FY 2021 Employment-based Visa Number Current for many applicants
Washington, D.C. October 1, 2020 will mark the beginning of the federal fiscal year (FY) 2021, and with it, the infusion of a new allocation of immigrant visa (IV) numbers. This infusion typically results in some forward movement in Final Action Dates in the month of October, 2021. We anticipate that these dates will move[Read More]
A win for the Diversity Visa (DV) Lottery Winners and a loss for H, L, J visa applicants abroad: A federal Court in DC orders Trump Administration to process DV visa applications
U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia orders the State Department to process all 2020 DV visa applications in a preliminary injunction order. The court orders that the State Department (U.S. Embassies and Consulates) may not interpret or apply the President’s Proclamations in any way that forecloses or prohibits embassy personnel, consular officers, or[Read More]
USCIS Selects Additional Registrations for the FY 2021 H-1B Cap
We received alerts from USCIS stating that “we have taken action on your case”. When we signed into USCIS account, we learned that there were some H-1B registrations which were selected in the lottery on August 14, 2020. This is a 2nd lottery draw by USCIS. See the sample notice as shown below. We received[Read More]
National Interest Exceptions to Executive Orders which suspended the Entry of Immigrants and Nonimmigrants
On June 22, the President signed Presidential Proclamation (P.P.) 10052, which extends P.P. 10014, which suspended the entry to the United States of certain immigrant visa applicants, through December 31, 2020. Reuters News reports that the President has issued Proclamation on Dec 31, 2020 extending suspension till March 31, 2021. P.P. 10052 also suspends the[Read More]
President Trump issues Executive Order seeking to Review Federal Contracting and Hiring Practices on Temporary Foreign Workers
President Trump has issued an “Executive Order on Aligning Federal Contracting and Hiring Practices With the Interests of American Workers”. The Executive Order (“EO”) seeks to review the federal contracting and hiring practices in relation of use of foreign workers in the U.S. and abroad in government contracting and subcontracting. EO lays the policy objective[Read More]
SEVP Online Course Guidance for new F-1 and M-1 Students for the Fall 2020
On July 24, the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced that nonimmigrant students and schools certified by the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) should abide by SEVP guidance originally issued in March 2020, which allowed some distance learning in excess of regulatory limits due to the public health emergency[Read More]
One Month Extension of Immigrant Visa Medical Examinations
July 24, 2020. Immigrant visas are limited to the validity of the medical examination for a maximum of six months. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has approved a one-month extension for medical examinations conducted between January 1, 2020, and June 30, 2020. If you were unable to travel on your issued visa or obtained[Read More]
SEVP plans to modify temporary exemptions for international students taking online courses during fall 2020 semester
[Updated July 24, 2020]. Good news! In response to Harvard/ MIT lawsuit, government has agreed to rescind SEVP’s July 6, 2020 policy which had proposed to limit online study from the fall semester by intl students in the U.S. and the incoming students would not have been able to come to study in the U.S.[Read More]
President Trump issued Executive Order suspending entry of foreign workers including high-skilled workers
President Trump has issued the Presidential Proclamations (PP. 10052) temporarily suspending the entry of nonimmigrant workers (H-1B, L-1, J-1, H-2B and their dependents) who are outside the U.S. without a valid visa. The suspension will last until December 31, 2020 and it may continue if the Administration finds it ‘necessary’. This Order also extended the April 22, 2020[Read More]