Tag: USCIS

Starting this January, USCIS will be replacing the sticker issued to lawful permanent residents (“LPRs”) to extend the validity of their Green Card with a revised Form I-797, Notice of Action.  When a LPR’s Green Card expires or is about to expire, they must file a Form I-90, Application to Replace Permanent Resident Card. Previously, […]

The outbreak of the coronavirus has presented several challenges for applicants seeking to enter U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) field offices for interviews. For instance, it has become a norm for USCIS to reschedule interviews if any party physically present at an interview states they have traveled outside the U.S. in the last 14 days. […]

The L-1 (“intracompany transferee”) classification is utilized by employers to transfer executives, managers, and specialized knowledge employees to the United States from an affiliated office abroad. To qualify, there are requirements that must be satisfied by both the petitioning employer and foreign employee. Employee Requirements To qualify for L-1 status, an employee must: Have been […]

The L-1 (“intracompany transferee”) classification is utilized by employers to transfer executives, managers, and specialized knowledge employees to the United States from an affiliated office abroad. To qualify, there are requirements that must be satisfied by both the petitioning employer and foreign employee. Employer requirements include:  Must be doing business as an employer in the […]

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has extended the flexibilities it announced on March 30, 2020, in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. At the outset of the coronavirus outbreak, USCIS announced it would give certain applicants, petitioners, and requestors more time to respond to certain agency requests and notices. Specifically, USCIS granted applicants, petitioners, […]

On December 4, 2020, U.S. District Court Judge Nicholas Garaufis issued an order requiring the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to reinstate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. The DACA program is an Obama-era initiative that has allowed undocumented foreign nationals who came to the U.S. as children to stay in the country and work legally. Under the […]

USCIS will be issuing new policy guidance in the USCIS Policy Manual regarding Schedule A designations. The purpose of the new guidance is to describe and clarify current Schedule A requirements, and it will not represent any policy changes. When it comes to filing employment-based petitions, current regulations require many employers to obtain a labor […]

USCIS recently amended its policy manual with a table of factors for officers to consider in exercising their discretion over whether to approve an adjustment of status (AOS) application. This update highlights the role of a USCIS officer’s discretion in adjudicating AOS applications based on the totality of the circumstances (aka considering all the available […]

On October 2, 2020, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a notice of proposed rulemaking outlining suggested changes to the Affidavit of Support process. Petitioning sponsors for most family-based and some employment-based immigrants are required to file Form I-864, Affidavit of Support Under Section 213A of the INA (or it’s shorter version, I-864EZ , for […]

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, on March 30, 2020, USCIS announced that it would allow flexibility in responding to certain agency requests. USCIS has recently announced that they are extending this courtesy to cases in which notices were issued between March 1, 2020, and January 1, 2021.  This flexibility applies to the following: Requests for […]