San Francisco Immigration Law Blog

Beginning April 3, 2017, USCIS will make targeted H1B site visits across the country to H-1B petitioners and the worksites of H-1B employees for: • Cases where USCIS cannot validate the employer’s basic business information through commercially available data; • H-1B-dependent employers (those who have a high ratio of H-1B workers as compared to U.S. workers, as defined by statute);

WASHINGTON – U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will begin accepting H-1B petitions subject to the fiscal year 2018 cap on April 3, 2017. All cap-subject H-1B petitions filed before April 3, 2017, for the FY 2018 cap will be rejected. The H-1B program allows companies in the United States to temporarily employ foreign workers in occupations that require the application

USCIS Confirms a FY2018 H-1B Cap Lottery USCIS confirms the process for receiving and receipting H-1B cap cases for Fiscal Year 2018 will be the same as with prior years, including a random lottery. If 65,000 H-1B Regular Cap and / or the 20,000 U.S. Masters Cap are received between April 3-7, 2017. As in the past, a random computer

March 23, 2017, NSC Announces Delays For Concurrent H-4/EAD filed With H1B Premium Processing The Nebraska Service Center (NSC) has advised that, due to the high volume of incoming premium processing requests, H-4 I-539 and H-4 I-765 EAD applications concurrently filed with premium H-1B petitions before the April 3, 2017, premium processing suspension may not be adjudicated concurrently with the

We met with a nurse last week who had heard and read reports that certain nurses were being denied admission in TN status. We took the opportunity to ask CBP whether there is a Trump policy change for TN admissions generally and TN nurse admissions particularly. CBP provided the following response: U.S. Customs and Border Protection has not had any

Update from March 10, 2017: OFLC updated its website with the following alert on March 10, 2017: In light of stakeholder input, which the Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) is considering, OFLC has temporarily removed from its website PERM FAQ Round 14 regarding Actual Minimum Requirements, originally published on March 6, 2017. OFLC will clarify and republish PERM FAQ

USCIS has resumed the processing of EB-2 Waiver of the Labor Certification Requirement in the National Interest (EB-2 NIW) cases affected by the Matter of Dhanasar precedent decision. EB-2 NIW case processing was temporarily on hold pending guidance and training of USCIS staff. On December 27, 2016, the USCIS Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) announced in Matter of Dhanasar, 26 I&N

March 6, 2017. PERM FAQ Round 14. DOL released FAQ Round 14 requiring skills to be quantified on the PERM actual minimum requirements entered in Section H.14 of ETA Form 9089, Application for Permanent Employment Certification. Guidance is applicable to applications filed on or after 3/20/17. The Round 14 FAQs are posted on the PERM Program Page on the OFLC

Employers are required to maintain I-9 records even if not maintained by USCIS. Employers must maintain I-9 records for employees for at least 3 years or 1 year from the date of termination whichever is greater. In April 2017, USCIS will dispose of transaction records that are over 10 years old; dated on or before Dec. 31, 2006. Download Historic

March 6, 2017. PERM FAQ Round 14. DOL released FAQ Round 14 Required Skills to be Quantified on the PERM actual minimum requirements entered in Section H.14 of ETA Form 9089, Application for Permanent Employment Certification. Guidance is applicable to applications filed on or after 3/20/17. The Round 14 FAQs are posted on the PERM Program Page on the OFLC