On April 4, 2018, the Director of USCIS, Lee Francis Cissna, wrote Congress on USCIS’ efforts to comply with the April 2017 Executive Order, “Buy American, Hire American.” Below is Litwin & Smith’s summary of the existing, pending, and proposed changes that have occurred since the Executive Order: Changes made since the “Buy American, Hire American” Executive Order Extreme Vetting:
For many employers and employees the H-1B Visa has become an elusive thing of the past decade as H-1B approvals have gone from an all-time high of around 87% to an all-time low under 60%.1 These charts tell the story of how the H-1B visa became evermore available over the past ten years to plummet 20% below the numbers 10
In response to the Trumpification of America’s immigration policy, the Department is also adding several additional questions for immigrant and nonimmigrant visa applicants. In response to the Trumpification of America’s immigration policy, the Department is also adding several additional questions for immigrant and nonimmigrant visa applicants: Applicants will be required provide any identifiers used by applicants for a list of
Are you a company owner or a human resources (HR) professional? If so, there may come a point when you want to learn more about sponsoring an employee for permanent resident status. While this sounds simple enough, especially if you know how the process will unfold, there are quite a few details to keep in mind. Thanks to a multi-step
Trade and investments play a large role in international commerce. For foreign nationals interested in trade or investing in the U.S., the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) offers two non-immigration visas to encourage trade and investment opportunities. E-1 Treaty Traders This non-immigrant visa classification allows a citizen of a county with which the U.S. has a treaty of commerce
The L-1A visa is a non-immigrant employment visa that allows a qualifying company to send a qualifying owner, manager, or executive employee to a qualifying related U.S. company with existing offices in the U.S. as an executive or manager or send the owner, manager, executive as manager or executive to the U.S. to establish an office in the U.S. The
This Policy Memorandum (PM) supplements and supersedes preceding 3rd Party Worksite PMs and continues the Trump Thumping of the H1B program to further the Buy American and Hire American Executive Order under the scheme of protecting U.S. workers. The PM compels USCIS officers to request detailed documentation to ensure an employer-employee relationship exists and is maintained while an employee is
USCIS Form I-131 Advance Parole is file with an I-485 Application to adjust status to lawful permanent residence. The general rule is that I-131 advance parole requests are denied where the I-485 applicant travels outside the US before approval of the I-131. An exception to the general rule has existed for decades that an I-131 Advance Parole request accompanying an
The U.S. is a nation of immigrant entrepreneurs. While immigrants make up 13 percent of the U.S. population foreign entrepreneurs start one in four businesses. How does an immigrant entrepreneur start a business in the U.S. and come to the U.S.? While we do not have an entrepreneur visa, there are many visas for startup founders to create and then
Approximately 140,000 employment-based immigrant visas are made available each fiscal year to international applicants seeking work in the United States. If you want to hire a foreign national for employment in the U.S., the process can seem overwhelming. Determining which forms to fill out, what government agency they need to go to and when can be a struggle if you
The employers’ step-by-step guide to
THE H1-B PROCESS
FY2024
5829 Stoneridge Mall Road, Suite 218,
Pleasanton, CA 94588
5201 Great America Parkway,
Suite 320, Santa Clara, CA 95054
