December 2014 Immigration Update

Headlines: 1. Obama Takes Executive Action on Immigration – Shortly after the mid-term elections, President Barack Obama initiated several executive actions on immigration. 2. Labor Dept. To Modernize PERM Recruitment and Application Requirements – DOL will review the PERM program and relevant regulations with a goal of updating them. 3. Labor Dept. Establishes Interagency Working Group on […]

November 2014 Immigration Update

Headlines: 1. Labor Cert News: Atlanta NPC No Longer Forwarding to BALCA All PERM Requests for Reconsideration; Statistical Updates for FY 2014 Q4; H-1B Legacy Docs No Longer Available – The Department of Labor’s Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) recently announced news on several topics. 2. U.S. Court of Appeals for D.C. Circuit Reverses District […]

October 2014 Immigration Update

Headlines: 1.         State Dept. Releases Instructions on Applying for DV-2016 Program – Entries for the DV-2016 DV program must be submitted electronically by noon EST (GMT-5), Monday, November 3, 2014. 2.         USCIS Announces New Secure Blue Ink for Many Stamps – USCIS said employers should be aware of this recent change in secure ink color when examining […]

September 2014 Immigration Update

Headlines: 1.         DOS Announces Major Developments in Availability of China EB-5 Visa Numbers – Effective immediately, the EB-5 category is “unavailable” for investors born in China.  Visa numbers will become available again when the new federal fiscal year starts on October 1, 2014. 2.         DOS Changes Fees for Visa and Citizenship Services – DOS is amending […]

August 2014 Immigration Update

Headlines 1.         Consular Visa/Passport System Crashes – The Department of State’s Consular Consolidated Database, used to print and approve visas and passports, has been having significant problems, including outages.  Backlogs have ensued. 2.         August Visa Bulletin Shows Advances in China and ‘Other Workers’ EB-3 Preference Categories, India EB-2 Preference – Cut-off dates for the China-mainland born employment […]

July 2014 Immigration Update

Headlines: 1.         White House Announces Response to Increase in Unaccompanied Children, Families -On June 20, 2014, President Obama announced that he will take administrative action to correct parts of our broken immigration system.  In the meantime the President directed the start of a government-wide response to an increase in unaccompanied children entering the United States […]