Foreign Exchange Student Visas to the U.S.

7 03, 2021

It’s the Time of the Season, When Love of the H-1B Runs High

By |2021-03-07T16:08:28-06:00March 7th, 2021|Categories: General, DHS / Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Employment-Based Immigration Law, Foreign Exchange Student Visas to the U.S., Non-Immigrant Visas for Temporary Workers / H-1B|

Published March 7, 2021 By Richard Hanus, Esq. It’s H-1B work visa registration season, and by the end of this month, US Department of Homeland Security/Citizenship and Immigration Services (US CIS) will have completed its selection of 85,000 lucky registrants for the H-1B visa lottery.  Starting Noon EST on March 9, 2021, the online H-1B visa registration period will open for the fiscal year 2022 - which itself starts October 1, 2021.  The registration period will last a little over two weeks, and close at Noon, EST on March 25. During this period, petitioning employers and their representatives will complete petitioner and prospective foreign worker information and submit [...]

16 07, 2020

10 Years Just Happened in 3 Months – An Unprecedented Volume of Immigration Law Events

By |2020-11-14T12:40:40-06:00July 16th, 2020|Categories: Amnesty for Immigrants in the U.S., Asylum in the United States, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), DHS / Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Employment Authorization / Work Cards in the U.S., Employment-Based Immigration Law, Family-Based Immigration Law, Foreign Exchange Student Visas to the U.S., Immigrant Health Care Workers in the U.S., Immigrant Visas for Spouse / Fiancee / Child Visas, Immigration and PERM / Labor Certification, Non-Immigrant Visas for Temporary Workers / H-1B, U.S. Immigration Law and Legislation, Undocumented Immigrants and Workers in the U.S., United States Embassies Abroad|

Published July 16, 2020 By: Richard Hanus, Esq. In my 25+ years as an immigration lawyer, my area of practice has never been as important or relevant as it is today.  This Administration has made it this way, bringing U.S. immigration law into the spotlight as one of the bedrock issues of its campaign and presidency.   Whether it really merits this level of attention is questionable, given other more pressing problems plaguing this nation.  Loud, news attracting immigration policies are released every other day, and whether their legality is held up in court seems to be beside the point.   The policies touch on illegal immigration [...]

23 06, 2020

A Chokehold On Legal Immigration: 6 Things to Know About the Extended Immigration Ban and Where Things are Headed

By |2020-11-14T12:42:04-06:00June 23rd, 2020|Categories: Customs and Border Patrol / Travel to and from the U.S., DHS / Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Employment-Based Immigration Law, Family-Based Immigration Law, Foreign Exchange Student Visas to the U.S., Green Cards, Immigrant Health Care Workers in the U.S., Immigrant Visas for Spouse / Fiancee / Child Visas, Lawful Permanent Residence in the U.S., Non-Immigrant Visas for Temporary Workers / H-1B, U.S. Immigration Law and Legislation, United States Embassies Abroad|

Published June 23, 2020 By: Richard Hanus, Esq. 1. The Administration says it is looking to protect or create American jobs with the latest immigration ban and eventually seek to establish a merit based immigration system.  But a close look at the Administration's actions for the past 3+ years will reveal a methodical strategy to thwart practically every process available for individuals and companies to utilize established immigration laws.  With the latest Immigration Ban/Executive Orders and other measures implemented since this Administration took office, the U.S. has sent an unmistakable signal to the world’s most talented students, future business and scientific [...]

28 05, 2020

Another Federal Court Win For Work Visa Employers and Workers; Do We Really Want to Put Out the Unwelcome Mat for Talented Foreign Students?

By |2020-11-14T12:43:26-06:00May 28th, 2020|Categories: DHS / Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Employment Authorization / Work Cards in the U.S., Employment-Based Immigration Law, Foreign Exchange Student Visas to the U.S., Non-Immigrant Visas for Temporary Workers / H-1B, U.S. Immigration Law and Legislation|

Published May 28, 2020 By: Richard Hanus, Esq. Securing approval of an immigration petition filing to facilitate the employment of a foreign professional and issuance of an H-1B visa has only gotten harder over the years, especially under the current administration. But in response to lawsuits filed challenging the legality of  denials of H-1B petitions for workers assigned to 3rd party work locations, the federal government has agreed to settle the dispute and essentially give in to the principal claims the plaintiff petitioning employers asserted.   This outcome marks another victory in a series of recent court challenges to federal policy on work visa petitions. [...]

23 04, 2020

The New Executive Order on Immigration: 6 Essential Insights

By |2020-11-14T12:44:58-06:00April 23rd, 2020|Categories: Customs and Border Patrol / Travel to and from the U.S., DHS / Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Employment-Based Immigration Law, Family-Based Immigration Law, Foreign Exchange Student Visas to the U.S., Green Cards, Immigrant Health Care Workers in the U.S., Immigrant Visas for Spouse / Fiancee / Child Visas, Lawful Permanent Residence in the U.S., Non-Immigrant Visas for Temporary Workers / H-1B, U.S. Immigration Law and Legislation, United States Embassies Abroad|

Published April 22, 2020 By: Richard Hanus, Esq. 1. It was the evening of April 20, 2020 and President Trump tweeted an ominous new policy on immigration - a measure as sweeping and extreme as it gets: “In light of the attack from the Invisible Enemy, as well as the need to protect the jobs of our GREAT American Citizens, I will be signing an Executive Order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States!”  To “temporarily suspend immigration” is no small undertaking, and the news came as a big surprise, including for many top governmental officials working in the immigration [...]

11 08, 2019

H-1B Visas Make News in the Courts

By |2020-05-01T14:22:38-05:00August 11th, 2019|Categories: DHS / Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), DHS / Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Employment Authorization / Work Cards in the U.S., Employment-Based Immigration Law, Foreign Exchange Student Visas to the U.S., Immigration and Criminal Law / Detainees, Non-Immigrant Visas for Temporary Workers / H-1B, U.S. Immigration Law and Legislation|

Published August 24, 2019 D.C. Federal Court Reverses H-1B Visa Petition Denial In the past week, a federal judge in Washington D.C. ruled that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security/Citizenship and Immigration Services (US CIS) must reverse its decision denying an H-1B visa petition filed on behalf of a data analyst by Lexis Nexis, a legal publishing company.  The court concluded that the petitioning employer, Lexis Nexis USA, presented sufficient evidence to demonstrate that the position qualified as a “specialty occupation” and thus was approvable for classification for H-1B visa status. U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan ruled that US CIS [...]

10 01, 2019

How Are Immigration Related Services and Offices Impacted By the Government Shutdown?

By |2020-05-01T15:51:06-05:00January 10th, 2019|Categories: Citizenship / Naturalization and the N-400 Application, Conditional Permanent Residence Based on Marriage, Customs and Border Patrol / Travel to and from the U.S., DHS / Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), DHS / Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Employment Authorization / Work Cards in the U.S., Employment-Based Immigration Law, Family-Based Immigration Law, Foreign Exchange Student Visas to the U.S., Green Cards, Immigrant Health Care Workers in the U.S., Immigrant Visas for Spouse / Fiancee / Child Visas, Immigration and Criminal Law / Detainees, Immigration and PERM / Labor Certification, Lawful Permanent Residence in the U.S., Non-Immigrant Visas for Temporary Workers / H-1B, Removal / Deportation Proceedings and Court Hearings, U.S. Immigration Law and Legislation, Uncategorized, United States Embassies Abroad|

  Published January 10, 2019 As our nation is headed toward the longest government shutdown in our history, many of the players impacted, including companies petitioning foreign workers as well as individuals in all our immigrant communities, are asking questions about how the shutdown impacts immigration system related processing.  Can I obtain a U.S. passport?    Is my Green Card application interview in the U.S. still going to be conducted?  Can I still apply for a visa at a U.S. consular post abroad?  These and other questions are answered below – and with the answer usually dependent on whether the applicant is […]

9 01, 2018

The H-1B Visa Rush Is On – Start Preparing Now

By |2020-05-01T17:14:17-05:00January 9th, 2018|Categories: DHS / Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Employment Authorization / Work Cards in the U.S., Employment-Based Immigration Law, Foreign Exchange Student Visas to the U.S., General, Non-Immigrant Visas for Temporary Workers / H-1B, U.S. Immigration Law and Legislation, Uncategorized|

Published January 9, 2018   Starting April 1, 2018, employers and their foreign worker employees will get a chance at one or more of the 85,000 H-1B visas available each fiscal year, with the new fiscal year starting on October 1, 2018.    The time to start preparing is now, as the supply of available visas is usually exhausted almost immediately, and with special attention and planning needed to combat the obstacles the Trump administration’s “Buy American, Hire American” initiative presents. For an employer or a prospective foreign worker to have a chance at one of these H-1B visas, the parties must […]

31 01, 2017

This Past Weekend’s Executive Action, Shock and Awe

By |2017-01-31T09:58:04-06:00January 31st, 2017|Categories: Customs and Border Patrol / Travel to and from the U.S., DHS / Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Foreign Exchange Student Visas to the U.S., General, Green Cards, Lawful Permanent Residence in the U.S., Non-Immigrant Visas for Temporary Workers / H-1B, Removal / Deportation Proceedings and Court Hearings, U.S. Immigration Law and Legislation|

Published January 31, 2017   Lightning struck, in a bad way, for U.S. based or U.S. bound nationals of seven countries this past weekend.  Citizens and nationals from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen and who are:  a) current or prospective U.S. lawful permanent residents or refugees or b) current or prospective temporary U.S. visa holders, find themselves in the most toxic of immigration scenarios they could have ever imagined, at least for the next 90 days. For prospective Syrian refugees, the door to the U.S. has been shut indefinitely.   With the stroke of a pen, President Trump immediately interrupted […]

4 04, 2016

Undercover Federal Investigation Nabs Students and Recruiters Associated with Fake University

By |2016-04-04T11:48:06-05:00April 4th, 2016|Categories: DHS / Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), DHS / Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Employment Authorization / Work Cards in the U.S., Foreign Exchange Student Visas to the U.S., Green Cards, Immigration and Criminal Law / Detainees, Removal / Deportation Proceedings and Court Hearings|

Published April 4, 2016 The University of Northern New Jersey in Cranford, New Jersey was a sham from the start.   It was set up by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as part of a sting operation to catch criminal recruiters and brokers who, for a fee, would arrange for their foreign national customers – legitimate international students already in the U.S. on an F-1 student visa – to be admitted to their fake university program.  From there, the students would have their status converted to that of enrolled F-1 students of this sham university, and thus have the cover of […]

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