June 2, 2011

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that as of May 20, 2011, it receipted approximately 12,300 H-1B cap-subject petitions... [read more]

On April 15, 2011, the Department of Homeland Security published a final rule in the Federal Register (76 Fed. Reg. 21225) establishing the documents acceptable for employment eligibility verification... [read more]

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) proposed significant changes to the administration of the EB-5 immigrant investor program's intake and review process... [read more]

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) launched "I-9 Central," a new online resource center dedicated to the most frequently accessed form on USCIS.gov: Form I-9, Employee Eligibility Verification... [read more]

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) added 50 science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) degree programs to the list of those that qualify eligible graduates on student visas for an Optional Practical Training (OPT) extension... [read more]

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently announced that it has fully implemented the Secure Mail Initiative (SMI), which uses U.S. Postal Service (USPS) priority mail with delivery confirmation to deliver certain immigration documents... [read more]

The previous Visa Bulletin for May 2011, from the State Department's Visa Office, noted that § 202(a)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) prescribes rules for the use of potentially "otherwise unused" employment numbers. During May, the India employment second preference cut-off date governed the use of such numbers, because India had reached its employment second preference annual limit... [read more]

USCIS announced that as of May 6, 2011, it had receipted 27,173 petitions toward the 33,000 H-2B cap for the second half of fiscal year (FY) 2011... [read more]

H-1B petition filings as of April have dropped precipitously since the same time in previous years, according to reports. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reported that as of April 8, 2011, it had received approximately 5,900 H-1B petitions counting toward the 65,000 cap, and approximately 4,500 petitions toward the 20,000 cap exemption for individuals with advanced degrees... [read more]