Latest News

Success in responding to an I-129F RFE

We assisted our client in filing an I-129F petition to bring his fiancee to the U.S. in anticipation of their upcoming marriage in the U.S. On Form I-129F the petitioner answered “yes” to the question: “Have you ever been arrested, cited, charged, indicted, convicted, fined, or imprisoned for breaking or violating any law or ordinance in any country, excluding traffic violations (unless a traffic violation was alcohol-or drug-related or involved a fine of $500 or more)?”. We included reference to that issue in the filing.

Status
The petition was subsequently approved.

Nonimmigrant Visas

Immigration Law

USCIS Urges Eligible Individuals to Consider Applying for Adjustment of Status in the EB-2 Category Based on the April Visa Bulletin Date for Filing for India

Release Date 

03/17/2022

In the recently published April Visa Bulletin, the Department of State advanced the Date for Filing (also known as the application date) applications for an immigrant visa or adjustment of status in the employment-based, second preference (EB-2) category for India from Sept. 1, 2013, to Sept. 1, 2014.

Rajiv's Article - Is it legal for an H1B employee to be the beneficiary of multiple lottery registrations?

Published by: The Economic Times - Date: February 28, 2022

Synopsis

This question has created much confusion amongst the employers and the employees Because of a new declaration introduced by the USCIS. Every employer who signs up an H-1B employee for the lottery registration must now declare “under penalty of perjury:”

For more on this article please see the attachment below.

Rajiv's Comments in the News - US to process more green cards this year under employment based categories - CNBC TV18

Published by: CNBC TV18: February 23, 2022

Quotes and Excerpts from Rajiv in the article:

“The USCIS wants to approve as many green cards as they can as there has been a huge spillover from the family quota. This has not happened in the past in such large numbers,” Economic times quoted Rajiv S Khanna, Managing Attorney of Immigration.com.

For more on this news please see the attachment.

USCIS Urges Eligible Applicants to Switch Employment-Based Categories

Release Date 

02/18/2022

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services encourages eligible applicants to consider requesting to transfer the underlying basis of their adjustment of status application to the first (priority workers) or second (noncitizens in professions with advanced degrees or with exceptional ability) employment-based preference categories, because there is an exceptionally high number of employment-based immigrant visas available in these categories during this fiscal year (October 2021 through September 2022).

Success in responding to a Request for Evidence after filing an E-3 Petition

We assisted in responding to an RFE questioning the employer’s educational requirements for an E-3 (Specialty Occupation Workers from Australia) Petition filed for a software developer position. USCIS sought clarification as to how the position could be a specialty occupation where the employer required a minimum of a bachelor’s degree in business, information systems, computer science or equivalent with related experience.

PERM Processing Times (as of 1/31/2022)

The dates reflect the month and year in which applications were filed (request date) or submission date of the appeal request for Redeterminations or Center Director Review. The Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) encourages employers to request a prevailing wage determination for the H-2B program at least 60 days before the date the determination is needed. For various reasons, OFLC may be completing the processing of applications filed prior to the month posted.