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 […]

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it will avert the anticipated furlough of more than 13,000 employees, which was scheduled to begin August 30.  The agency avoided this furlough owing to spending cuts and a steady increase in its incoming revenues.  The USCIS expects to be able to maintain operations through the […]

Foreign nationals have been approved for work authorization in due course but have not received their EAD cards for several months.  There have been delays since December last year. On August 19, 2020, the USCIS announced that until December 1, 2020 employers will be permitted to accept certain Approval Notices (Form I-797, Notice of Action) […]

India is now permitting the entry of Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cardholders from the U.S., the UK, Germany, and France.  These are countries that India has signed ‘air bubble’ arrangements. However, OCI cardholders who are nationals of all other countries are permitted to travel to India only under specific circumstances.  The following category of […]

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has further extended flexibility in completing Form I-9 procedures because of the COVID-19 situation and employers and employees operating remotely.   The ICE guidance allows employers who are operating 100% remotely to verify employee documents virtually, e.g., using fax, email or video link, for the purpose of Form I-9 employment […]