The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will begin accepting new H-1B visa petitions for professionals that count against the FY2010 cap on April 1, 2009. These professionals will be eligible to begin H-1B employment on October 1, 2009. Employers looking to hire new H-1B professionals are urged to begin…
The Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals (BALCA) recently upheld the final determination of a Certifying Officer (CO) denying labor certification (LC) for an alien worker for the position of Manager/Video Technician. This LC was filed prior to the effective date of the “PERM” regulations. The employer, a video parlor…
If you have received a transfer notice from one of the USCIS service centers that your case is being transferred to the National Benefits Center (NBC), do not be alarmed . The reason your case is being transferred is that it is being scheduled for an interview. For interview waiver…
The H-2B visa category allows U.S. employers in industries with peak load, seasonal or intermittent needs to augument their existing labor force with temporary workers. Congress has set the numerical limit for H-2B visas at 66,000 per fiscal year. The Save Our Small and Seasonal Businesses Act of 2005 (SOS…
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) submitted to the Federal Register an interim final rule that will streamline the Employment Eligibility Verification process. The interim final rule narrows the list of acceptable identity documents and further specifies that expired documents are not considered acceptable forms of identification. Specifically, the interim…
The nursing shortage in the United States is becoming increasingly problematic and may adversely affect the health care industry. The Citizenship and Immigration (CIS) Ombudsman has been fully informed by nursing organizations and stakeholders about the period of time it takes for a foreign nurse to be admitted to the…
The Department of State has released its latest Visa Bulletin. The January 2009 visa bulletin still shows employment based third preference (EB-3) visas as oversubscribed while the employment based second preference (EB-2) is current for all areas of chargeability except for China and India. Click here to view the January…
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently issued a final rule in the Federal Register amending various aspects of the religious workers program. The final rule amends the regulations to improve the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS’s) ability to detect and deter fraud and other abuses in the…
The Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals (BALCA) recently upheld the final determination of a Certifying Officer (CO) denying labor certification (LC) for an alien worker for the position of Dispatcher. This LC was filed prior to the effective date of the “PERM” regulations. The employer, a limousine company filed…
The Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals (BALCA) recently upheld the final determination of a Certifying Officer (CO) denying labor certification (LC) for an alien worker for the position of Accountant. This LC was filed prior to the effective date of the “PERM” regulations. The employer filed a LC on…