Category: Live In The US

On September 5, 2017 the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) initiated a gradual phase out of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). Over the next six months, DHS will consider certain requests for DACA and applications for work authorization. Q: Is there a grace period for DACA recipients with expiring EADs to make arrangements […]

Beginning October 3, 2017, USCIS will resume premium processing for all H-1B petitions. Premium processing was temporarily suspended by USCIS back on April 3, 2017 in an effort to reduce overall H-1B processing times. Individuals with a pending Form I-129 can now file Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing Service, and a copy of their […]

Clients commonly ask who is required to pay the fees associated with filing an H-1B or a green card petition through an employer. The answer is not always straightforward. Below is a breakdown of the fees linked to each petition and who is required to pay. H-1B When filing an H-1B petition, there are two […]

Sunday night, President Trump issued a new executive order indefinitely banning almost all travel to the United States from seven countries, including most of the nations covered by his original travel ban and adding North Korea, Chad and Venezuela. Sudan has been dropped from the list. The new order cites threats to national security posed […]

The Russian Government recently imposed a personnel cap on the U.S. mission in Russia. As a result, the U.S. Embassy and Consulates now lack the personnel to handle the normal influx of nonimmigrant visa (NIV) applicants, and NIV issuance has been temporarily suspended beginning Aug. 23, 2017. Operations are set to resume on Sept. 1 […]

If arriving by air or sea, foreign nationals traveling to the U.S. no longer need to complete paper Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Form I-94 Arrival/Departure Record or Form I-94W Nonimmigrant Visa Waiver Arrival/Departure Record. Upon arrival, a CBP officer will stamp the travel document of each arriving non-immigrant with the admission date, the class […]

On January 25, President Trump ordered the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to hire an additional 15,000 law enforcement officers. Since then, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) has been conducting a special report to determine whether that is even possible. So what did the OIG find? The OIG has determined that without comprehensive staffing […]

Berardi Immigration Law has recently unveiled a brand new website with a completely different look and feel. We wanted to be sure our website was as easy to navigate as possible and was also a source of information for our clients. We invite you to spend some time on our new website and check out […]

One of the underlying rationales driving immigration policy in the United States is family unity. The law allows U.S. citizens to petition for certain qualified relatives. If approved, this petition would permit a spouse, unmarried child under the age of 21 or a parent to come and live permanently in the U.S. These immediate relatives […]

Premium processing has been suspended for all H-1B petitions since April 3, 2017. The program was put on hold in an effort to reduce overall H-1B processing times. A high volume of premium processing requests over the past few years put a strain on USCIS making it difficult to process long-pending petitions and to prioritize […]