F-1 Visa Holder Travel Abroad (OPT/H-1B) Post completion OPT (First Year)   OPT applied and pending       You can travel, but NOT recommended            What if There is an RFE?             What if the OPT is denied?                You will not be able to enter the USA on F-1 if your OPT is denied.     OPT approved         You CAN travel if:        ..read more

3 April 2020 Our association, AILA, has filed a lawsuit against the USCIS today requesting the court to order the USCIS to freeze all immigration deadlines for: Initial applications Responses to all Requests for Evidence or other responses due on or after March 1, 2020 Requests for extension of status, maintenance of status Reprieve from any expiration of status or employment authorization; Maintaining the status quo for purposes of eligibility for protection from removal, work authorization, and immigration benefits from the date the President declared that a national emergency began ..read more

On 10 March 2020, a Washington DC Federal Court overturned the USCIS highly restrictive standards applied to the consulting industry. This decision has a major positive impact on the IT industry. Judge Rosemary M. Collyer held that the USCIS must not administer justice through random memoranda and must, if it wishes to change the regulations, do so through a formal process.  In fact, the USCIS seems to have illegally targeted the IT industry (“special treatment”):    “Congress designed the H-lB visa in 1990 to permit speedy processing and temporary placement of foreign workers in specialty oc ..read more

International  students can breathe a sigh of relief. The USCIS has lost another case against its attempts to assault legal immigration.  A federal court has held that its attempts to create artificial, three year or ten bars from reentry by students into the USA are illegal. This decision is laudable in three respects. First, the court correctly interpreted the law and held that the USCIS had implemented a policy against the plain language of the statute. Second, the court invalidated incorrect procedures. And finally, this decision refused to accept all the standard arguments the governm ..read more

International  students can breathe a sigh of relief. The USCIS has lost another case against its attempts to assault legal immigration.  A federal court has held that its attempts to create artificial, three year or ten bars from reentry by students into the USA are illegal. This decision is laudable in three respects. First, the court correctly interpreted the law and held that the USCIS had implemented a policy against the plain language of the statute. Second, the court invalidated incorrect procedures. And finally, this decision refused to accept all the standard arguments the governm ..read more

One of the biggest problems in transactions with the USCIS is uncertainty and inconsistency. We are often confronted with decisions that are contrary to long-standing policy and may even be illegal. One such decision recently arose in an adjustment of status case where the beneficiary (employee) had moved from one job to another after the approval of the I 140 but before I 485 had been pending 180 days. The USCIS interviewed this gentleman and proceeded to issue a notice of intent to deny based upon a finding that he had no intention to stay with the green card sponsoring employer as is evid ..read more