USCIS today confirmed that they have received enough petitions to reach the congressionally mandated 65,000 H-1B visa regular cap and the 20,000 H-1B visa U.S. advanced degree exemption, known as the master’s cap, for fiscal year (FY) 2025. They will send non-selection notices to registrants through their online accounts over the next few days. When … Read more
The State Department will begin accepting online registrations for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 Diversity Visa (DV) lottery starting Wednesday, October 2, 2024 at noon EDT. Foreign nationals who wish to enter the lottery have until Tuesday, November 5, 2024 at noon EST to file online. For FY 2026, the DV lottery program will make … Read more
USCIS has announced that the agency has now selected a sufficient number of registrations to reach the regular cap for the remaining FY 2025 H-1B lottery registrations. Our office has already notified all petitioners and employees of any newly selected registrations. Should there be any future developments, we will be sure to provide an update. … Read more
USCIS has announced that the agency will conduct a second H-1B lottery for the FY 2025 regular cap numerical allocation. USCIS will select additional registrations from previously submitted electronic registrations using a random selection process. USCIS clarified that it will not be conducting a second selection for the advanced degree exemption (the master’s cap), as … Read more
On Tuesday, June 18, 2024, President Biden announced executive actions that will allow certain noncitizen spouses and children of U.S. citizens to obtain work authorization and lawful permanent resident (LPR) status. A second executive action will provide eligible DACA recipients and other Dreamers with a path to receive a work visa. The first will … Read more
USCIS has announced that the FY 2025 H-1B cap registration period will run from noon ET, March 6, 2024 to noon ET, March 22, 2024. This year, there will be a few changes to the registration process. A few key changes are noted below: USCIS will be introducing a new online organizational account system that will go live at noon … Read more
USCIS has published the final rule related to the anticipated filing fee increases. For a table summary of the fee increases, see here: USCIS Final Rule – Fees. The new fees will go into effect on April 1, 2024. A few important notes: USCIS will now charge different fees for Form I-129, Petition for a … Read more
As background, on January 4, 2023, USCIS issued a proposed rule on adjusting their fee schedule, which included increasing application fees by a 40% overall weighted average increase. On Monday, January 8, 2024, the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) received the Final Rule outlining the increased fees for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration … Read more
USCIS has confirmed that they have received a sufficient number of petitions needed to reach the 85,000 combined regular and master’s cap for fiscal year (FY) 2024. Non-selection notices will be sent through registrants’ online accounts over next several days. Please reach out to discuss any questions or concerns about next steps or further options.
Today, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), through U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that would modernize the H-1B specialty occupation worker program. One item of particular importance in the proposed rule is that the government seeks to change how USCIS conducts the H-1B registration selection process, and … Read more