Immigration QA

"Grace" is Minnesota's official state photograph. I was State Senator in 2002 when we officially voted for Minnesota's official "state photograph." A more prolific image originating from Minnesota than "Grace," I'm not aware of.  My colleague and friend, Rep. Loren Solberg , was the natural author of the bill since Loren lived in Bovey, Minnesota where the photograph was taken.  I think Loren also liked it because he bears resemblance to Charles Winden, the guy in the photo (Loren and I ribbed each other from time to time).  Read more about the history of Grace here. Speaking of grace, lately I've received a rash of calls from noncitizens who find themselves similarly situated to Mr. Wilden, praying for providential intervention in a recent job loss.  Primarily H1B visa holders, these folks have been laid off and are uncertain about their legal status and how to proceed with potential new employment in the United States.  The influx is prom...

UPDATE06/17/2020:  BREAKING: US government denial of COVID relief to noncitizen students has been blocked by a judge. Check with your DSO! In a letter to colleges last April, the Education Department advised colleges to only give relief funds to students who typically qualify for federal financial aid, excluding international students and beneficiaries of DACA. The letter was not binding at the time. In May, the California community college system filed a lawsuit against the DOE alleging that DeVos exceeded her authority in barring colleges to give aid to whom they please. U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers granted an injunction blocking the Department of Education from enforcing their CARES Act guidance on June 17, 2020. The proposed rule will be up for public comment for 30-days until July 17. During this time period, anyone from the public can file a comment on regulations.gov for the agency to consider. Once the rule is finalized, it will be binding on co...

Much discussed H1B lottery pre-registration process announced. It was expected. Today the USCIS officially announced that, starting next H1B season, not this H1B season, there will be a pre-selection sign up instead of the traditional post-April 1 application submission lottery.  In addition, it announced a major shift in how Masters Degree candidates are selected, by giving priority to masters cap applications after the lottery’s conducted, as opposed to  selecting them in their own lottery process. Mathematically, this is tantamount to giving an approval edge to applications with masters degree candidates. Here is our prior discussion on the pros and cons of this pre-selection process:  Pros and Cons of H1B Pre-Registration Here is the announcement:  H1B Pre-Selection Proces Announcement . Also, here's the hit song from Kim Wilde in honor of H1B Pre-selection's final arrival:

Today the USCIS finally announced a much anticipated rule regarding next year's H1B visa (specialty occupation worker) application process.  At the moment, a computer-aided lottery is required to simply choose which applications may go forward for simple consideration.  This is because the law requires an annual cap on new H1B visas to be issued every year, about 65,000.  Recently, American companies have submitted about 3 to 4 times that number for their potential foreign employees, resulting in some sort of system to pick which applications to even consider.   H1B applications are complicated, requiring multiple steps to even assemble an application to submit to the government.  Also, the fees are quite high, several thousand dollars for small companies and even more for the larger ones.  For a basic run down on the H1B visa, read my previous run down:  H1B Visas Explained . This is an immigration application. So then why go through al...

USCIS completed its lottery. Well, they done did it.  USCIS completed a lottery to select which H1B visa petitions will be considered this year.  This year there was no prior indication that a lottery would be conducted, as there had in previous years.  We simply received the announcement this afternoon that it was done. Hopefully our office’s petitions will be selected.  Here's the announcement if you'd like to read it.   USCIS Completes H1B Cap Random Selection Process for FY19 . More later, but in honor of the lottery announcement, here's a song:

"6 years." Get this stuck in your head. Recently I received the following question:   "My old H1B visa was valid from December 2008 to September 2011.  I only physically stayed in the U.S. on that visa for 9 months.  Now I want to apply for another H1B visa.  Am I eligible for H1B cap-exempt?" Answer:   You are always eligible for a cap-exempt H1B.  That means your petitioning employer is a nonprofit or educational institution, and for that there is no deadline or lottery.  I assume your old H1B was cap-subject?  If you are interested in another cap-subject H1B visa, then it appears the 6 year time limit has expired from your old visa and it can no longer be transferred to a new employer.   It's important to maintain constant awareness of one's time on H1B.  As you approach 5 years, so too does the H1's "final countdown."  An employer must now submit a fresh petition on your behalf for a new cap-subject H1 next year, wh...