USCIS has issued policy guidance, clarifying that the use of marijuana or working in the cannabis industry could be a basis for denying naturalization applications, even where such conduct would not be an offense under state law.

The Social Security Administration (SSA) has re-started its practice of  issuing “no match” letters to employers this past month. Also known as “Employer Correction Requests,” these letters inform an employer when an employee’s W-2 information such as their name and Social Security do not match the SSA’s records.  If employers receive such a notice, they should investigate and take the appropriate corrective action.

The U.S. Embassy in Israel has confirmed that Israeli citizens will be eligible for the E-2 Treaty Investor Visa effective May 1, 2019. This development opens new possibilities for Israel’s robust start-up culture.

In a strange reversal of long-standing practice, Customs and Border Patrol (“CBP”) has started refusing to adjudicate subsequent L-1 petitions presented by Canadians at certain ports of entry and preclearance locations along the US-Canada border.  CBP says that amendment and extension petitions now need to be filed with US Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”). This new policy affects both individual and blanket L petitions.

USCIS announced yesterday that it received 201,011 H-1B petitions the first week of April, and had reached the 65,000 limit for H-1B regular petitions and the 20,000 limit for the U.S. advanced degree H-1B petitions for fiscal year 2020.  Despite the surge in Requests for Evidence, denials, and processing times over the past year, the number of H1B petitions filed this year increased slightly from 199,000 last year. USCIS also announced that, on April 10, it had completed the random lottery for the selection of the 65,000 regular H-1B petitions and 20,000 U.S. advanced degree petitions.