Immigration

This memorandum provides guidance on the process of entering the United States in nonimmigrant status; obtaining your I-94 admission record; and confirming admission in the proper status.

Read about USCIS change of address notification requirements, options for informing the agency, and best practices for USCIS applicants reporting address changes.

Individuals who hold H-1B and L-1 nonimmigrant status need to be aware of their “max-out” date – the date by which they will no longer be eligible for that visa status.  These visa classifications have a fixed limit on how long a person may stay in the United States.  H-1B and L-1 visa holders should plan well in advance of their max-out date in order to ensure that they can remain in the United States without interruption.

The Department of State’s Visa Waiver Program (VWP) allows citizens of designated countries to travel to the United States as a visitor for business or pleasure for up to 90 days, without requiring a visa. Individuals who wish to travel to the U.S. on VWP must have a valid ESTA approval.

In order to apply for a new nonimmigrant visa, with limited exceptions, an individual must attend an interview at a U.S. Consular Post abroad. The U.S. Department of State conducts extensive background checks on all applicants before issuing visas. If the Consular officer conducting the interview cannot immediately establish eligibility for the visa, the application may be placed in administrative processing during which the application will undergo further review.

A Conditional Permanent Resident (CPR) who obtained his or her CPR status through marriage (of less than two years) to a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident must file an Application for Removal of Conditions (using Form I-751) to remove conditions on his or her status and maintain Lawful Permanent Resident status.

In general, individuals applying for advance parole on the basis of a pending AOS application must be approved for advance parole prior to leaving the United States in order to avoid the abandonment of the pending AOS application. It is therefore critical that individuals obtain the proper documentation before leaving the United States.

In general, anyone who travels to the United States in a nonimmigrant status (e.g. H-1B, L-1, O-1, B-1/B-2) must possess a valid nonimmigrant visa stamp in his or her passport, issued by a U.S. consular post abroad. The visa application process generally consists of two steps: (1) completing Form DS-160, Application for a Nonimmigrant Visa; and (2) paying the visa application fees and scheduling the visa interview at a U.S. embassy or consulate abroad.

This alert covers USCIS’s December 6, 2019 announcement that, as expected, it will be implementing a new electronic registration process for the FY2021 cap season.

This alert provides tips for employers preparing for the upcoming FY2021 H-1B cap season and reviews the requirements of the new H-1B registration system.

There are several ways that a United States permanent resident can jeopardize their permanent resident status. These issues include failure to maintain a residence in the United States; failure to properly file U.S. tax returns; and by committing certain crimes.

Under the automatic visa revalidation rule, nonimmigrants with expired nonimmigrant visas who seek to return to the U.S. may be admitted at a U.S. port of entry after brief travel to Canada or Mexico if they meet certain requirements.  

Anyone who works in legal or HR and handles work authorizations for their employees will agree that hiring foreign nationals or international transfers has become much more difficult under the current administration and its interpretation of President Trump’s Hire America/Buy America (BAHA) Policy, which he issued by Executive Order in April 2017. The latest statistics issued by USCIS confirm the difficulty of processing H-1B Petitions over the past three years.

In a historic decision on travelers’ rights to privacy at the U.S. border, U.S. District Court Judge Denise Casper in Boston ruled that suspicionless searches at U.S. ports of entry (airports and border crossings) of travelers’ electronic devices violate the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. 

This November, the United States Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments on the case that will decide the fate of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. This program, established through executive action, has offered a temporary reprieve from removal (deportation) to nearly 800,000 students and young professionals raised in the United States. While the program protects a generation categorically denied opportunity to gain legal status, it is very limited in scope. Remarkably, DACA does not confer any immigration status itself nor offer a separate pathway to any other status including permanent residency.

This alert covers a November 7, 2019 announcement by DHS that effective December 9, 2019, USCIS will collect a $10 filing fee for each H-1B cap registration.

Read about United States Citizenship and Immigration Services’ announced fee increase for premium processing, to $1,440 from $1,410, which takes effect on December 2.

This alert covers a November 1, 2019 announcement from the Department of Homeland Security that it will extend the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) documentation of foreign nationals from El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, and Sudan until January 4, 2021.

This immigration alert covers DHS’s October 28, 2019 announcement that it will be extending TPS protections for Salvadoran citizens living in the United States.