NEWS

Employment Authorization for Foreign Workers with Compelling Circumstances

If you have heard that USCIS issues employment authorization documents (EADs) based on compelling circumstances, you may be wondering if you qualify. In this blog post, we will explain eligibility for these EADs and how USCIS defines compelling circumstances. USCIS issues EADs based on compelling circumstances to help foreign workers who are employed in the READ MORE

Premium Processing for Immigration Cases Expanded

Frustrated by lengthy processing times for visas and employment authorization? USCIS offers a solution, but it comes at a price and does not affect your chances of success. With premium processing, USCIS guarantees that it will take adjudicative action on your petition within a shortened time frame. That action must either be an approval notice, READ MORE

USCIS Clarifies the L-1 Intracompany One-Year Foreign Employment Requirement

USCIS published a policy memorandum clarifying the requirement for L-1 intracompany status that the qualifying organization employ the beneficiary abroad for at least one year continuously within the past three years of the L-1 petition filing, as opposed to when the L-1 beneficiary is admitted into the US. L-1 visas are available to persons who READ MORE

Approval of L-1B Specialized Knowledge Intracompany Transferee Visas

“Remarkably” I was able to recently obtain approvals for several L-1B specialized knowledge petitions for an IT company.  It was remarkable since USCIS has created such a narrowly restrictive interpretation of specialized knowledge and now defines specialized knowledge as knowledge that is unique or rare in an organization.  They pulled this from an old dusty case READ MORE

New $2,000/$2,250 H-1B/L-1 Fee for Certain Employers

On August 13, 2010, USCIS implemented a new $2,000 fee, under Public Law 111-230, for H-1B petitioners with 50 or more employees and more than 50% of its employees in H-1B and L-1 nonimmigrant status. This new law also imposes an additional $2,250 fee for L-1A and L-1B petitioners with 50 or more employees and more READ MORE