The recent military coup in Burma has deepened the humanitarian crisis in the country, preventing Burmese nationals and habitual residents from returning home safely. In light of the ongoing violence in Burma, the Biden administration has decided to grant Temporary Protected Status to nationals of Burma currently residing in the US for a period of 18 months.
We are delighted to report that USCIS will no longer apply the new rules for determining whether a foreign national is at risk of becoming a “Public Charge” effective March 9, 2021.
Read MoreIt's that time of the year again! The registration period for this year's H-1B visa lottery runs from Tuesday, March 9 at 9 AM PST / 12 PM EST to Thursday, March 25 at 9 AM PST / 12 PM EST. We highly recommend registering early on during this period so there is time to accommodate any system glitches or crashes before the registration period closes on March 25.
Read MoreThe Department of State (DOS) has issued its March 2021 Visa Bulletin. Both employment-based and family-based priority dates are detailed below.
Read MoreDemocrats have introduced an ambitious and comprehensive immigration bill in both houses of Congress titled the US Citizenship Act of 2021. While the bill is predicted to pass the House of Representatives, the likelihood of it passing the Senate is unclear because this would require every single Democratic Senator and 10 Republican Senators to vote for the bill. These are tough odds to achieve, especially because this bill has controversial elements that have failed to pass before.
USCIS has announced that the online registration period for this year’s H-1B lottery will open on March 9, 2021, and run through March 25, 2021. During this period, employers seeking to file H-1B petitions in this year’s lottery must first complete an online registration process that requires basic information about their company and each prospective foreign national worker, and pay the associated $10 H-1B registration fee. USCIS will notify employers of selected registrations by March 31, 2021, after which employers will have 90 days to file the H-1B petition.
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) has just announced that it will not rank H-1B registrations by salary in this year’s H-1B visa lottery. Instead, it will continue with the previous method of randomly selecting the H-1B registrations in the annual lottery.
Read MoreThe Department of Homeland Security has extended Temporary Protected Status (“TPS”) for nationals of Syria for a period of eighteen months until September 30, 2022. TPS designation for Syria was scheduled to end on March 31, 2021.
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