USCIS Extends Flexibility to Respond to Certain Notices as the Pandemic Continues The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) further extends flexibility regarding delays in responding to the following documents if the date of issue listed on the request, notice, or decision is between March 1, 2020, and June 30, 2021, inclusive. Requests for Evidence […]

DOL Delays the Wage Rule and DOS Expands Interview-Waiver Eligibility    Delay of the effective date and transition period of the Wage Rule  The Department of Labor (DOL) will propose a regulation to further delay the Wage Rule that will significantly increase wage levels for H-1B and certain other workers as well as PERM applicants. Under […]

Petitioners Can Now Challenge Certain USCIS’ Decisions Based on Rescinded Memos  The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced this week that it may reopen and/or reconsider adverse decisions regarding H-1B petitions that were based on three rescinded policy memos.  These three rescinded policy memos are: (i) Determining Employer-Employee Relationship for Adjudication of H-1B Petitions […]

Trump’s Public Charge Rule Invalidated  The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), through its guidance on March 10, 2021, confirmed that visa applicants no longer need to provide documentation required under the Department of Homeland Security’s 2019 Public Charge Rule (“DHS 2019 PCR”).  As a result, USCIS’ 1999 field guidance on public charge admissibility, which […]

Privileges Under India’s OCI Scheme Curtailed The Indian Government drastically curtails the privileges granted to Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) cardholders in India. This has come in the wake of several instances where OCI cardholders have approached the courts to exercise their privileges, especially with regard to admission into institutes of higher education, research and […]

H-1B Program Changes to be Implemented Soon The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has sent a new H-1B regulation to the Office of Management and Budget for their final review.  This regulation is expected to toughen eligibility criteria for foreign nationals and impose new obligations on employers.  The regulation will be published as an “interim […]

In-Person Interviews Waived in Certain Cases at U.S. Consulates According to the latest statement put out by the Department of State (DOS), consular officers will have the authority to waive the in-person interview requirement for individuals applying for a nonimmigrant visa (such as H-1B, L-1, F-1, H-4) in the same classification, and whose previous visas expired […]

Travel and Visa Restrictions | India | August 31, 2020 1. All scheduled international commercial passenger services will remain closed until September 30, 2020. However, international scheduled flights may be permitted on select routes on a case-by-case basis. 2. All Indian visa services (excluding in-country registration, visa extension and other in-country services) remain suspended until […]