USCIS announced that starting November 19 it may issue Notices to Appear (NTAs — the first step in the deportation process) based on the denial of the following cases: T visa petitions; U and U-1 visa petitions; I-360 petitions for Amerasian/Widows/Widowers; Special Immigrant petitions (including Violence Against Women Act self-petitions and Special Immigrant Juvenile petitions); I-730…
Read more
The Lottery: The Struggle of International Students The Lottery Work visas have become one of the biggest obstacles for international students, especially under Trump’s executive order, “Buy American, Hire American.” The policy protects American workers’ employment. However, it’s a loss to companies who trained and invested in talented international workers. The chance of getting a…
Read more
Who Qualifies for the Diversity Visa Lottery (DV2020)? Each year, the Department of State administers a Diversity Visa Lottery program that “distributes diversity visas among six geographic regions, and no single country may receive more than 7 percent of the available DVs in any one year.” For the 2020 fiscal year, 50,000 Diversity Visas are…
Read more
F-1 student “Cap-gap” only valid through Sep. 30 If you are in F-1 status and have a pending cap-gap H-1B petition, stop working; continuing to work risks your lawful presence in the U.S. Here’s why: The F-1 student “cap-gap” expired on Sep. 30, meaning that if you have a pending H-1B petition as of Oct.…
Read more
Homeland Security will begin issuing Notices to Appear for certain immigration cases The Department of Homeland Security will begin issuing Notices to Appear (NTA) in certain immigrant visa petitions including but not limited to Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, and Form I-539, Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status. NTAs are the…
Read more
