Articles Posted in STEM

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USCIS Announces Final Rule Abandoning H-1B Lottery System For New Wage Ranking Selection Process

Welcome back to Visalawyerblog! In today’s post, we discuss a newly released final rule announced by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on January 7, 2021. The new rule entitled “Modification of Registration Requirement for Petitioners Seeking to File Cap-Subject H-1B Petitions,” will modify the H-1B cap selection…

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UPDATE: Trump Administration Rescinds Policy Requiring International Students to Attend In-Person Classes

We are very happy to announce that yesterday July 14, 2020, the Trump administration backed down and agreed to cancel a new set of federal guidelines that would have required international students to attend classes in-person during the upcoming Fall 2020 semester. As you may be aware, on Monday July…

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Harvard-MIT Student Lawsuit UPDATE – A Federal Judge Could Block New Guidelines by Wednesday

We continue to have good news for international students. As you already know, on July 8th Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) filed a lawsuit to stop the government from enforcing new guidelines on international students that would prohibit them from taking online classes during the Fall semester,…

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Looming Executive Order Affecting L-1, H-1B, H-2B, and J-1 Nonimmigrants? What’s being said?

New rumors are yet again circling regarding the possibility of a future executive order banning the entry of certain non-immigrants from the United States. An official speaking on condition of anonymity has fueled these rumors divulging information that the Trump administration is getting ready to issue a new executive order…

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Senate Republicans Introduce Bombshell Bill Targeting the H-1B and L-1 Visa Program

A brand-new bill called the H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act of 2020 (S. 3770) sponsored by Republican Senator Chuck Grassley has recently surfaced. As you might have already guessed, the bill seeks to make changes to the current H-1B and L visa programs to reduce fraud and abuse within…

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Republicans Urge President Trump to Restrict Immigration Further for New Petitions for H-1B Workers, H-2B Workers, OPT Students, and EB-5 Investors

On May 7th just days after the President signed his controversial April 22nd executive order limiting the immigration of certain aliens to the United States for 60 days, Republican senators rallied together to urge the President to pass more immigration restrictions—this time targeting nonimmigrant foreign workers. Republican Senators Tom Cotton…

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Proposed Rule: Mandatory Registration Requirement for H-1B Petitioners

Today, November 30, 2018, the United States Department of Homeland Security announced a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that seeks to impose a registration requirement for H-1B petitioners seeking to file an H-1B petition on behalf of beneficiaries under the regular cap and advanced degree exemption.  An unpublished version of…

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USCIS Extends Temporary Suspension of Premium Processing to February 19, 2019

During March of this year, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced the temporary suspension of premium processing services for all fiscal year 2019 cap-subject petitions, including petitions requesting an exemption from the general cap. USCIS announced that the suspension would last until September 10, 2018, in order…

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STEM OPT Students: Changes to USCIS Policies Prompt Wave of Lawsuits

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…

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Senators Introduce Immigration Innovation Act of 2018 Affecting H-1B Workers

In this post, we bring you information regarding the major provisions of the Immigration Innovation Act of 2018 affecting H-1B workers and employment-based immigrants. The Immigration Innovation Act of 2018 is a piece of legislation that was recently introduced before Congress by Republican Senators Orrin Hatch and Jeff Flake on…

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