When applying for legal permanent residency a “public charge” is an intending immigrant who is expected to primarily subsist off public cash assistance. These individuals are often denied green cards when they apply for residency, but the definition of a public charge...
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Year: 2018
USCIS Increases I-907 Premium Processing Filing Fee on October 1, 2018
On October 1, 2018, USCIS increased the I-907 premium processing service filing fee to $1,410 from $1,225. USCIS also released a new Form I-907 (10/01/18 edition). The old version of Form I-907 (06/26/18 edition) can be filed until 12/02/2018. Premium Processing...
Extended Conditional Residence Validity Times for Removal of Conditions Petitioners
The USCIS has announced exciting news for Conditional Permanent Residents seeking to remove conditions on their conditional legal permanent residence. Starting June 11, 2018, USCIS will begin to issue receipt notices extending conditional residence for 18 months...
Rapid H1B Approvals from the 2019 Cap
On May 7, 2018 our office received the first H1B approval for the 2019 cap. Since that time, we have received numerous approvals for the H1B’s that were submitted on April 1, 2018. While we have only received approvals for a portion of the cases we have...
The Fastest Way to Check If You Have Been Selected For the H-1B Lottery
We are pleased to announce that as of Monday, April 23, 2018, our office has begun receiving receipt notices for the H-1B’s we have submitted for the FY 2019 cap. Typically, we will receive additional receipt notices for at least the next few weeks. For this past...
FY 2019 H-1B Cap Reached – How Does This Years H-1B Cap Compare with Previous Years?
On April 12, 2018, USCIS announced that it had received enough H-1B petitions to reach the statutorily mandated 65,000 regular cap, and the 20,000 master’s cap petitions, thus using the entire available cap quota for FY 2019. The total number of H-1B petitions...
The Current Status of the International Entrepreneur Rule
In early July of 2017, the Trump administration delayed the commencement of the International Entrepreneur Rule, which would have allowed certain start-up founders to stay in the United States for 30 months (with possible extensions), so they could build and grow...
Can a Small Start-up Sponsor an H-1B? Strategies for H-1B Approvals for Start-ups
With H-1B season fast approaching, we are beginning to receive inquiries from small start-ups asking if they can qualify as H-1B sponsors for their employees. The short answer is “Yes,” with the caveat that a start-up-based H-1B case has additional issues to consider...