Tag: H-1B Visas

H-1B season is once again upon us – H-1B petitions should be filed by April 1, 2016, so don’t delay! Berardi Immigration Law assists numerous clients each year with the preparation and filing of these petitions, and we are now accepting H-1B cases. Each year, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services allots 65,000 regular H-1B cap […]

The American Competitiveness in the Twenty-First Century Act, (AC21) provides that a non-immigrant with H-1B non-immigrant status may begin working for a new H-1B employer as soon as the new employer files a “non frivolous” H-1B petition on the non-immigrant’s behalf. A “non frivolous” petition is one that is factually or lawfully based. Portability provisions: […]

Maintaining a public access file is an integral part of complying with H-1B laws. The purpose of a public access file is to create a singular file in the employer’s place of business that contains documents that prove the employer is satisfying the minimum legal H-1B requirements. Once a public access file compliance system is […]

Partner Jennifer Behm was the featured interview during the All Things Considered Newscast with Mike Desmond last Friday, September 18th in a segment titled, “You and the Law: Staying Here For a Job.” The interview aired on radio station WBFO 88.7 at 5:45 p.m. To listen to the interview please click here. In the interview, […]

On Wednesday, August 12, 2015, U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle vacated a 2008 ruling that extended the Optional Practical Training period for foreign students with STEM degrees by 17 months for an overall work period of 29 months. In the wake of this new ruling, many believe the Obama administration is likely to act […]

On Tuesday, USCIS issued final guidance on a recent decision requiring new H-1B petitions for workers who change job sites, stating the agency will generally not punish employers that don’t file new petitions based on location changes that occurred before April 9. According to the new guidance, if an H-1B employee was moved to a […]

On May 26, 2015, USCIS temporarily suspended its 15-day premium processing service for Form I-129 H-1B extension of stay petitions. The purpose of this suspension was to allow the agency to implement its final rule regarding employment authorization for certain H-4 spouses. While USCIS originally suspended the premium processing service until July 27, 2015, the […]

USCIS recently announced that beginning May 26, 2015, it will temporarily suspend premium processing for all H-1B Extension of Stay petitions until July 27, 2015. This temporary change has been implemented so that USCIS will have the time and workforce to put into effect the new rule allowing certain H-4 spouses to apply for work […]

In June of 2013, the Supreme Court decided in United States v. Windsor that restricting U.S. federal interpretation of “marriage” and “spouse” to apply only to heterosexual couples under the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional. Since the repeal of DOMA, U.S. citizens and green card holders are able to petition for their same-sex […]

USCIS announced on May 4, 2015, that it had completed data entry of all fiscal year 2016 H-1B cap-subject petitions selected through its computer-generated random process. At this time, USCIS will now begin returning all unselected H-1B cap-subject petitions. Due to the high volume of filings, the time frame for returning these petitions remains uncertain. […]