Nov. 8, 2019, Washington DC, Adhikari Law PLLC. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has posted a 314 pages public notice on Federal Register for public inspection about increase on fees (about 21%) for various types of immigration applications including H-1B ($100), L-1 ($355), TN ($245), changing Premium Processing limit to 15 Business Days in[Read More]
News and Alerts
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]
SEVP Policy Guidance on Practical Training: Determining a Direct Relationship Between Employment and a Student’s Major Area of Study
Student and Visitor Exchange Program (SEVP) of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) within U.S. Department of Homeland Security issues a Policy Guidance which addresses both OPT and science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) OPT extension opportunities and explains that students are responsible for providing a description of how their job relates to their major[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]
FAQ about Automatic re-validation of an expired non-immigrant visa based on valid status: What is re-validation of a nonimmigrant visa?
What is re-validation of a nonimmigrant visa? Generally, the nonimmigrant visa is valid until the duration given on the visa itself. The validity of an expired nonimmigrant visa issued under Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA” or “Act”) may be considered to be automatically extended to the date of application for readmission in cases where the[Read More]
DHS published the Final Rule related to the public charge ground of inadmissibility citing Section 212(a)(4) of the Immigration and Nationality Act
Washington, DC. On August 14, 2019, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published the Inadmissibility on Public Charge Grounds final rule that codifies regulations governing the application of the public charge inadmissibility ground under INA section 212(a)(4). On Oct. 10, 2018, DHS issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), which published in the Federal Register for a 60-day comment period. DHS received and considered over 266,000 public comments before issuing this final rule. The final rule provides summaries and responses to all significant public comments. The final rule enables the federal[Read More]
Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act of 2019 Passes House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. U.S. House of Representatives (House) has passed the H.R. 1044 – Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act of 2019 today. The bill will now goes to U.S. Senate (Senate). Passed/agreed to in House on motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by the Yeas and Nays: (2/3 required): 365[Read More]
U.S. begins implementation of E-2 Investor Visas for Israeli Nationals
Washington, D.C. Adhikari Law PLLC. The U.S. has started the implementation of the U.S. E-2 Investor Visa for Israeli nationals, beginning May 1. E-2 visa is a temporary (nonimmigrant) visa that can be used to develop, direct, or provide specialized skills to an enterprise in which the owner has invested a substantial amount of capital.[Read More]
USCIS projects it will reach H-1B visa regular cap for 2020
USCIS has said it received a sufficient number of petitions projected as needed to reach the congressionally-mandated 65,000 H-1B visa regular cap for fiscal year 2020. USCIS will next determine if we have received a sufficient number of petitions to meet the 20,000 H-1B visa U.S. advanced degree exemption, known as the master’s cap. The[Read More]
USCIS announces the start of the 2020 H-1B cap season, premium processing dates, and the launch of its new H-1B data hub
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today the start of the fiscal year (FY) 2020 H-1B cap season, start dates for premium processing of cap-subject H-1B petitions, and the launch of its new H-1B data hub, while reminding petitioners of its new H-1B cap selection process. Start of FY 2020 Cap Season USCIS will[Read More]