Pauly P.A. – German-American Law Firm

Tag: visa

  • 2019 DV Lottery Program to Restart October 18, 2017 !

    The State Department issued a news release that the 2019 DV Lottery Program will begin again on October 18, 2018. All earlier entries have been deleted and all applicants will have to submit new applications again:

    See announcement here: https://www.dvlottery.state.gov/ (as of October 16, 2017):

    Due to a technical issue, the DV-2019 entry period that began on October 3 has been closed. Entries submitted during October 3-10 are not valid and have been excluded from the system; they will not count as a duplicate entry. The technical issue has been resolved and a new full entry period will begin at noon, U.S. Eastern Daylight Time on Wednesday October 18, 2017 and will run until noon Eastern Standard Time on Wednesday November 22, 2017. Only entries submitted during this period will be accepted and considered for selection in the lottery. Please throw away any confirmation number or other documentation that you have if you submitted an entry during Oct. 3-10.

    Our earlier post on this topic:

    Sep. 14, 2017

    The Department of State issued a notice providing information on how to apply for the 2019 Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, under which 50,000 immigrant visas will be available. The notice includes information on eligibility, entry period, completing the electronic entry form, selection of applicants, photo requirements, and FAQs. (82 FR 43068, 9/13/17)

    Applicants must submit entries for the DV-2019 program electronically at dvlottery.state.gov between noon, Eastern Daylight Time (EDT), Tuesday, October 3, 2017, and noon, Eastern Standard Time (EST), Tuesday, November 7, 2017. The Department warns not to wait until the last week of the registration period to enter, as heavy demand may result in Website delays.

    Starting May 1, 2018, applicants will be able to check the status of their entry by returning to dvlottery.state.gov, clicking on Entrant Status Check, and entering the unique confirmation number assigned to the entry and personal information. Entrant Status Check will be the sole means of informing applicants of their selection for DV-2019, providing instructions on how to proceed with the application, and notifying applicants of their appointment for their immigrant visa interview.

  • Revised Form I-765 with Option to Apply for SSN

    For foreigner’s applying for temporary employment authorization in the United States, obtaining a social security number was previously a separate step, requiring a separate application to be filed with the Social Security Administration. As of October 2, 2017, the revised version of form I-765, Applicati0n for Employment Authorization now includes a section, allowing the applicants to request the issuance of a Social Security card at the same time they apply for an employment authorization document.

  • Department of State Emails from clientverification@state.gov are Legitimate

    US employers, please see a recent alert from the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA):
    AILA has recently received reports that employers have received emails from a contractor at the Department of State (DOS) via clientverification@state.gov requesting confirmation that a beneficiary will be providing services at the company. AILA’s DOS Liaison Committee confirmed with DOS Visa Office that clientverification@state.gov is a legitimate email address. As such, employers should respond to the request accordingly.
    AILA Doc. No. 17070537 | Dated July 5, 2017

  • USCIS has released Redesigned Green Cards and Employment Authorization Documents

    Following its announcement on April 19, 2017 USCIS started printing newly designed Green Cards and Employment Authorization Documents [EAD] on May 1, 2017.

    The new front and back of the Green Card looks like this:

    Green Card

    The new design of the EAD looks like this:

    EAD Card

    [See more information and description of the design at https://www.uscis.gov/greencard and https://www.uscis.gov/green-card/green-card-processes-and-procedures/employment-authorization-document]

  • H-1B visa cap reached for FY 2018

    Today U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has announced that it has reached the congressionally mandated 65,000 visa H-1B cap for fiscal year 2018. USCIS has also received a sufficient number of H-1B petitions to meet the 20,000 visa U.S. advanced degree exemption, also known as the master’s cap.

    The agency will reject and return filing fees for all unselected cap-subject petitions that are not duplicate filings.

    See the official press release here: https://www.uscis.gov/news/news-releases/uscis-reaches-fy-2018-h-1b-cap

  • President Trump’s Executive Action – A Recommendation to All Employers to Audit their I-9 forms

    President Trump’s Executive Action – A Recommendation to All Employers to Audit their I-9 forms

    As the President issued a number of Executive Orders, one of the Executive Orders entitled “Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States” dated January 25, 2017 states in part as follows:

    >>Sec. 6.  Civil Fines and Penalties.  As soon as practicable, and by no later than one year after the date of this order, the Secretary shall issue guidance and promulgate regulations, where required by law, to ensure the assessment and collection of all fines and penalties that the Secretary is authorized under the law to assess and collect from aliens unlawfully present in the United States and from those who facilitate their presence in the United States. [Emphasis added]<<

    Please find the full text here: https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/01/25/presidential-executive-order-enhancing-public-safety-interior-united [last accessed 01/27/2017]

    This mandate presumably includes the agency’s fresh look at the collection of possible civil fines and penalties that can be levied against US employers who fail to properly document that their employees are authorized to work in the US.

    Every US employer knows, or should know, that the employer has the duty to verify the identity and employment authorization of every employee. Detailed information concerning the proper completion of the mandatory form I-9 can be found here: https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central

    The civil money penalties for violations are listed in INA section 274A(e)(4) and range from $250 up to $10,000 per employee for who a violation is detected.

    The minimum length that employers must store and retain the I-9 forms can be easily calculated using this form: https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/retain-store-form-i-9/retaining-form-i-9

    US employers who have not recently reviewed their personnel records and I-9 forms, should take this Executive Order as an important reminder and incentive to conduct an internal I-9 audit right away to ensure that they are in compliance or become compliant right away.

  • Visa Fees Increased on December 23, 2016

    Right in time for the holidays, immigration fees increased by a weighted average of 21%

    Examples include:

    Form New fee
    I-90 – application to replace permanent resident card $455
    I-129 Petition for Nonimmigrant Worker $460
    I-129F Petition for Alian Fiance(s) $535
    I-130 Petition for Alien Relative $535
    I-131 Application for Travel Document $575
    I-140 Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker $700
    I-485 Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status $1,140
    I-485 for applicants under 14 years $750
    I-526 Immigrant Petition by Alien Entrepreneur $3,675
    I-539 Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status $370
    I-751 Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence $595
    I-765 Application for Employment Authorization $410
    I-829 Petition by Entrepreneur to Remove Conditions $3,750
    N-400 Application for Naturalization $640
    N-600 Application for Certificate of Citizenship $1,170
    USCIS Immigrant Fee $220
    Biometrics Services Fee $85

    To see a complete list of the current filing fees, please follow this link:

    https://www.uscis.gov/forms/our-fees

  • 2018 Diversity Visa Lottery Runs Until November 7, 2016

    Online registration for the DV-2018 Program began on Tuesday, October 4, 2016 at 12:00 noon, Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) (GMT-4), and concludes on Monday, November 7, 2016 at 12:00 noon, Eastern Standard Time (EST) (GMT-4); please find current instructions here:

    https://travel.state.gov/content/visas/en/immigrate/diversity-visa/instructions.html

    This link takes you to the only official webpage by the U.S. Department of State.

  • USCIS Reaches FY 2016 H-1B Cap

    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 Will Accept H-1B Petitions for FY 2016 Beginning April 1, 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