USCIS has published a final rule revising the H-1B cap procedures. The changes are as follows: New Process for H-1B Lottery: The new procedure will comprise of a lottery in which 65,000 H-1B petitions will be chosen from the applications that have been submitted. This “first lottery” will take place for Bachelor degree holders or “Regular Cap” petitions. When that lottery is completed, the rest of the recipients, who have Master’s degrees from U.S. colleges, will be placed in the second lottery; and 20,000 Master's degree cases will be selected. This new process will take effect on April 1, 2019. Electronic Pre-enrollment: USCIS has proposed that employers will have an opportunity to pr
In his second State of the Union (SOTU) address on February 5, 2019, President Trump addressed immigration. Some of his remarks on immigration included: 1. Merit-Based Immigration. Trump made a strong pitch for merit-based immigration, which is a point system that would assign each applicant a certain number of points based on their qualifications; and this points system would determine their qualifications for US permanent residency. The proposed bill is being called the Reforming American Immigration for Strong Employment Act or the RAISE Act; and the Act states that one must get at least 30 points to qualify for a Green Card in the U.S. 2. Chain Migration. Trump called for ending “
On February 3, 2019, our Managing Attorney, Ms. Simone Williams appeared on the premiere episode of “Raising the Bar with the MBBA” on the Manhattan Neighborhood Network, a local New York television station. Ms. Williams discussed pressing immigration issues and important updates to federal immigration law. The show was hosted by the Metropolitan Black Bar Association (MBBA), in honor of Black History Month 2019, to celebrate the accomplishments of African American lawyers throughout the month of February. See below for full broadcast.
