As of April 23, 2024, Portugal has joined the coveted list of countries eligible to participate in the E-2 Treaty Investor program via the passage of the Advancing Mutual Interests and Growing Our Success (AMIGOS) Act. E-2 nonimmigrant visas are reserved for investors who are nationals of a treaty country.…
Recently the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced new changes to the International Entrepreneur Rule effective October 1, 2024. What is the International Entrepreneur Rule The International Entrepreneur Rule (IER), was first established by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in 2017. The program allows noncitizen entrepreneurs to live and work in…
The H-1B cap season for FY 2023 is almost here! USCIS has just announced that the H-1B initial registration period for the FY 2023 cap is scheduled to open at noon ET on March 1, 2022 and will remain open until noon ET on March 18, 2022. As our readers are aware, in 2020…
Welcome back to the Visalawyerblog! We have a very exciting announcement for you this afternoon. The International Entrepreneur Parole Program is back and in full force! Today, May 10, 2021, USCIS announced that it will no longer pursue Trump era efforts to terminate the International Entrepreneur Parole Program and will…
It is an exciting and busy time at the Sapochnick Law Firm! Our Firm is gearing up for the long awaited H-1B season to kick off on Monday, April 1, 2019. To help you put your best foot forward, we are sharing the ultimate running checklist for H-1B- cap-subject petitions.…
Earlier this year, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) suddenly changed the regulations governing the Optional Practical Training Program (OPT). According to the USCIS website, a U.S. employer who has hired an international student under the STEM OPT program may not assign, or delegate training responsibilities to a…
Today, May 25, 2018, the Department of Homeland Security announced that it will be publishing a proposed rule in the Federal Register on May 29th to end the International Entrepreneur Rule, a program that gives foreign entrepreneurs the opportunity to apply for parole to come to the United States for…
What are some alternatives to the H-1B visa? So, you’ve applied for the H-1B visa, and by now you are well aware that the cap has been reached. You may be wondering what you will do if you are not selected in the lottery. Have no fear, we have you…
Great News! Today, USCIS announced that the computer-generated selection process has been completed to select the H-1B petitions necessary to fulfill both the general cap and master’s cap for this H-1B season. The randomized lottery was completed yesterday April 11, 2018. This H-1B season, USCIS received 190,098 H-1B petitions for…
Today April 6, 2018 the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that the H-1B general bachelor’s cap has been reached for fiscal year 2019. In addition, USCIS received more than 20,000 petitions for the advanced degree exemption. Sometime within the next week, USCIS will conduct a random computer-generated process,…