Yesterday, June 22, 2009, USCIS announced that it will resume the “Premium Processing Service” for certain categories of Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker. Generally, the Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker is the second step in the employment-based Permanent Residency Process. Under the Premium Processing Service, USCIS guarantees petitioners that, for a $1,000 processing [...]

The Department of Homeland Security announced on June 3, 2009 that the effective date of the new rule mandating E-Verify use by certain federal contractors and subcontractors has been delayed again.

On April 22, 2009, House Bill 2028 was introduced by U.S. Representatives Sam Johnson (R-TX) and Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ). H.R. 2028, the New Employee Verification Act (NEVA), would replace the government’s current E-Verify program with the Electronic Employment Verification System (EEVS). The E-Verify program, a partnership of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the [...]

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) announced this morning that the H-1B nonimmigrant cap for fiscal year 2010 has not been reached. Should USCIS receive the necessary number of petitions to meet the respective caps, it will issue an update to advise the public that, as of a certain date (the “final receipt date”), the [...]

As of today, April 3, 2009, all U.S. employers must begin using the updated I-9 form for verifying employment eligibility. The I-9 system of employment verification, created by the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, is the nation’s sole mandatory employment eligibility verification program. All U.S. employers are responsible for the completion and retention [...]

New I-9 Form use delayed: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced last friday that it has delayed by 60 days, until April 3, 2009, the implementation of an interim final rule entitled “Documents Acceptable for Employment Eligibility Verification.” The new I-9 form, originally scheduled for implementation today, February 2, 2009, should not be used [...]