Government Accountability Office to Investigate USCIS Processing Delays
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) processing delays have been steadily increasing for many years, but the backlog has reached new highs
Read More »Premium Processing for Remaining FY2020 H-1B Cap-Subject Petitions to Begin on June 10, 2019
Update: At 3:24 pm EST on June 7, 2019, the USCIS announced that premium processing for all remaining FY2020 H-1B cap-subject petitions will begin on June 10, 2019. This
Read More »Immigration Nerds Talk About the New Social Media Account Sharing Requirement for U.S. Visa Applicants
In this week’s Immigration Nerds podcast, we talk about the recently announced requirement for applicants seeking a U.S. visa: sharing your social media account
Read More »Erickson in the News: No one ‘is safe’: H-1B visa approvals plunged 10% last year, feds say
Melia Russell | June 5, 2019 According to new data released by the federal government on the state of the H-1B visa, commonly used for high-skilled workers in tech,
Read More »Mark Koumans Named as Acting Director of USCIS
On Monday, June 3, it was announced that USCIS Deputy Director Mark Koumans had been appointed as the acting director as L. Francis Cissna departs the agency. Mr. Koumans was
Read More »Department of Homeland Security Announces Increased Fees for the Student and Exchange Visitor Program
Effective June 24, 2019, there will be changes to the fees charged by the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) to international students, exchange visitors and
Read More »USCIS 2018 Statistical Annual Report Shows Increase in the Number of Newly Naturalized U.S. Citizens, Decrease in H-1B Approval Rates
On May 31, 2019, USCIS released its 2018 Statistical Annual Report, the first annual report released by the agency in nearly 10 years. The report is limited to show data
Read More »U.S. Visa Applicants Required to Disclose Social Media Presence on Visa Application
As of Friday, May 31, 2019, individuals applying for U.S. Visas are now required to disclose all social media accounts they have managed in the last five years on the
Read More »Immigration Nerds Talk About the Unified Regulatory Agenda
In this week’s Immigration Nerds Podcast, we’re joined by EIG attorneys Storm Estep and Ryan Knight to discuss the recently released Unified Regulatory Agenda and
Read More »USCIS Director L. Francis Cissna Resigns
On Friday, May 24, US Citizenship and Immigration Services Director L. Francis Cissna announced his resignation via email to agency employees. “At the request of the
Read More »Update: H-4 Visa Work Ban to be Published
After months of “will they, won’t they?” speculation, the federal government has announced it will publish a long-promised rule to disallow H-4 visa
Read More »USCIS Goes Digital with eProcessing
On Wednesday, May 22, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced a strategic shift toward a digital business model and the introduction of eProcessing. As
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