On March 17, 2015, the VSC began issuing two-year work permits under 8 C.F.R. sec, 274a.12(c)(14) to U applicants granted Deferred Action under the conditional grant program. If there is an I-765 application based on 274a.12 (a)(19) or on (a)(20) submitted with the U visa application then it may be changed to a (c)(14) to…

H-1B Filing Tips On April 1, 2016, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will begin accepting H-1B petitions subject to the fiscal year (FY) 2017 cap. The congressionally mandated cap on H-1B visas for FY 2017 remains at  65,000. The first 20,000 H-1B petitions filed for individuals with a U.S. master’s degree or higher are…

NATIONAL FOUNDATION FOR AMERICAN POLICY NFAP POLICY BRIEF  » M A R C H 2 0 1 6 IMMIGRANTS AND BILLION DOLLAR STARTUPS BY STUART ANDERSON EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Immigrants play a key role in creating new, fast-growing companies, as evidenced by the prevalence of foreign born founders and key personnel in the nation’s leading privately-held…

Lomi Kriel, Houston Chronicle, Mar. 15, 2016 – “The backlog in Houston’s overwhelmed downtown immigration court grew more than 460 percent between 2010 and 2016, swelling from about 6,400 to 36,100 pending cases, according to a new analysis released Tuesday.  With only six immigration judges on the bench, Houston’s court could see its case load double again in…

USCIS will host a webinar on March 16, 2016, to discuss T and U visas and the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), immigration relief for victims of human trafficking, domestic violence, and other serious crimes. Representatives from USCIS’s Office of Policy and Strategy and the Vermont Service Center (VSC) will provide an overview of T and…

The Fiscal Year 2017 H-1B season will end at the end of this month March 2016. USCIS will start accepting H-1B visa petitions on April 1, 2016. We anticipate that the cap will be reached during the first week it is opened, which was the case last year as well. For that reason we strongly…

Deferred Action by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) stops the unjust deportation of promising youth. To be eligible for deferred action the applicant must: Have arrived in the U.S. when they were under the age of sixteen; Have continuously resided in the U.S. for at least five years prior to June 15, 2012 and…