Applicants who wish to apply to become a U.S. citizen can now use a credit card to pay for the necessary government filing fees.On the USCIS website, you can now find form G-1450, Authorization for Credit Card Transactions, which can be included instead of a check or money order to pay for the filing fees.
This form can only be used in connection with the N-400 Application for Naturalization and not to pay any other filing fees at this time.
Certain H-4 dependent spouses may now apply for employment authorization under the H-4 rule. Effective May 26, 2015, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has begun accepting applications for employment authorization from certain H-4 dependent spouses of H-1B nonimmigrants who are seeking employment-based lawful permanent resident status.
Please read the announcement here.
Eligible H-4 spouses can find more information and the application form here.
This just posted by USCIS:
Release Date: April 07, 2015
WASHINGTON – U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has reached the congressionally mandated H-1B cap for fiscal
year (FY) 2016. USCIS has also received more than the limit of 20,000 H-1B petitions filed under the U.S. advanced degree
exemption.
USCIS will use a computer-generated process, also known as the lottery, to randomly select the petitions needed to meet the caps of 65,000 visas for the general category and 20,000 for the advanced degree exemption.
USCIS will first randomly select petitions for the advanced degree exemption. All unselected advanced degree petitions will become part of the random selection process for the 65,000 general limit. The agency will reject and return filing fees for all unselected capsubject petitions that are not duplicate filings.
Before running the lottery, USCIS will complete initial intake for all filings received during the filing period, which ended April 7. Due to the high number of petitions, USCIS is not yet able to announce the date it will conduct the random selection process. USCIS will continue to accept and process petitions that are otherwise exempt from the cap. Petitions filed on behalf of current H-1B workers who have been counted previously against the cap, and who still retain their cap number, will also not be counted toward the congressionally mandated FY 2016 H-1B cap. USCIS will continue to accept and process petitions filed to:
• Extend the amount of time a current H-1B worker may remain in the United States;
• Change the terms of employment for current H-1B workers;
• Allow current H-1B workers to change employers; and
• Allow current H-1B workers to work concurrently in a second H-1B position. U.S. businesses use the H-1B program to employ
foreign workers in occupations that require highly specialized knowledge in fields such as science, engineering and computer
programming.
We encourage H-1B applicants to subscribe to the H-1B Cap Season email updates located on the H-1B Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 Cap
Season Web page. For more information on USCIS and its programs, please visit uscis.gov or follow us on Facebook (/uscis), Twitter (@uscis), YouTube (/uscis) and the USCIS blog The Beacon.
Last Reviewed/Updated: 04/07/2015
USCIS posts today that it will begin accepting FY2016 H-1B petitions on 4/1/15.
USCIS expects to receive more petitions than the 65,000 H-1B cap during the first five business days of this year’s program and as in previous years will randomly select the cap-subject petitions for processing using a lottery system. All petitions not selected or submitted after the first 5 days will be rejected.
Please find the complete USCIS Press Release here: http://www.uscis.gov/news/uscis-will-accept-h-1b-petitions-fiscal-year-2016-beginning-april-1-2015
Notice on the U.S. Department of State website:
Important Notice: The Department of State Bureau of Consular Affairs is currently experiencing technical problems with our passport and visa system. We are operational, but currently issuing documents at a reduced capacity. This issue is worldwide and is not specific to any particular country, citizenship document, or visa category. We apologize to applicants who are experiencing delays or are unable to obtain a passport, Report of Birth Abroad, or visa at this time. We are working urgently to correct the problem and expect our system to be fully operational again soon. Routine passport services are not affected at this time. We will be posting updates to Travel.State.Gov as more information becomes available.
Update from July 31, 2014, at 4pm ET on the U.S. Department of State website:
The CCD is still performing below its normal operational capacity. However, to give you an idea of the progress we have made, from the start of the operational issues on July 20 through July 28, we issued more than 220,000 nonimmigrant visas globally. Based on our average production figures, we would have anticipated issuing closer to 425,000 nonimmigrant visas in that time period, indicating we have been able to print nonimmigrant visas for about half of all approved travelers. It will take some weeks before we are back to normal turnaround times on issued visas. We continue to prioritize immigrant visas, adoption cases, and emergency nonimmigrant visa cases. We are printing visas for these cases with very few delays.
Today USCIS started accepting new H-1B visa petitions again for a starting date of the employment on the first day of the next fiscal year, October 1, 2014. Just like in the previous years, we expect that the available H-1B visa will all be used up before long so that potentially interested employers and employees need to immediately contact an immigration practitioner to evaluate their options.
The DV-2015 Program will begin on Tuesday, October 1, 2013 at 12:00 noon EDT, and conclude on Saturday, November 2, 2013 at 12:00 noon, EDT. Please see the official announcement in the Federal Register [DV_2015_Federal Register notice].
The official DV Lottery entry site is at: www.dvlottery.state.gov.
If you need help or are unsure if you qualify, please contact us.
During the next 30 days, U.S. Customs and Border Protection will implement the new paperless system of capturing the I-94 arrival/departure information from individuals visiting the United States. This system will be implemented at all air and sea ports, while travellers using the land borders, will continue to receive a paper form I-94 to complete.
Please see a press release here.
Travellers who wish to receive a hard copy of their admission data that is electronically captured will be able to access the website www.cbp.gov/I94.
USCIS announced in a press release on 4/8/2013 that the H-1B visa cap has been reached.
Here the text of the announcement:
For the first time since 2008, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has reached the statutory H-1B cap of 65,000 for fiscal year (FY) 2014 within the first week of the filing period. USCIS has also received more than 20,000 H-1B petitions filed on behalf of persons exempt from the cap under the advanced degree exemption.
USCIS received approximately 124,000 H-1B petitions during the filing period, including petitions filed for the advanced degree exemption. On April 7, 2013, USCIS used a computer-generated random selection process (commonly known as a “lottery”) to select a sufficient number of petitions needed to meet the caps of 65,000 for the general category and 20,000 under the advanced degree exemption limit. For cap-subject petitions not randomly selected, USCIS will reject and return the petition with filing fees, unless it is found to be a duplicate filing.
The agency conducted the selection process for advanced degree exemption petitions first. All advanced degree petitions not selected were part of the random selection process for the 65,000 limit.
As announced on March 15, 2013, USCIS has temporarily adjusted its premium processing practice. To facilitate the prioritized data entry of cap-subject petitions requesting premium processing, USCIS will begin premium processing for H-1B cap cases on April 15, 2013. For more information on premium processing for FY 2014 cap-subject petitions, please see the related USCIS Alert.
USCIS will continue to accept and process petitions that are otherwise exempt from the cap. Petitions filed on behalf of current H-1B workers who have been counted previously against the cap will not be counted towards the congressionally-mandated FY 2014 H-1B cap. Accordingly, USCIS will continue to accept and process petitions filed to:
extend the amount of time a current H-1B worker may remain in the U.S.;
U.S. businesses use the H-1B program to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise in specialized fields including, but not limited to: scientists, engineers, or computer programmers.
Important for all US employers: USCIS released a revised version of the Form I-9 today and posted the following press release:
WASHINGTON – U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today published a revised Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9 for use. All employers are required to complete a Form I-9 for each employee hired in the United States.
Improvements to Form I-9 include new fields, reformatting to reduce errors, and clearer instructions to both employees and employers. The Department of Homeland Security has published a Notice in the Federal Register informing employers of the new Form I-9.
Effective 03/08/13:
The revision date of the Form I-9 is printed on the lower left corner of the form. Employers should not complete a new Form I-9 for current employees if a properly completed Form I-9 is already on file.
A Spanish version of Form I-9 (Rev. 03/08/13)N is available on the USCIS website for use in Puerto Rico only. Spanish-speaking employers and employees in the 50 states, Washington, D.C., and other U.S. territories may use the Spanish version for reference, but must complete the English version of the form.
The revised forms are available in English and Spanish online at www.uscis.gov. For more information, please call 888-464-4218. Representatives are available Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET. USCIS maintains a website, I-9 Central, to support Form I-9 users. USCIS has also scheduled free webinars to help employers learn about the new form.
To order forms, call USCIS toll-free at 1-800-870-3676. For downloadable forms and information on USCIS programs, immigration laws, regulations, and procedures, please visit www.uscis.gov. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter (@uscis), YouTube (/uscis) and the USCIS blog The Beacon.
