This month, we feature one of our Client Success Stories. Ms. Simone Williams, Managing Attorney of Williams Global Law, represents JJ Richards and JJ Waste & Recycling, one of the largest waste and recycling companies in Australia. The Company recently opened up subsidiaries in the U.S. and was selected as a “Success Story” by Select USA of the U.S. Department of Commerce, due to their significant investment in the U.S. and creation of many jobs for American workers! Ms. W

On March 3, 2020, Simone Williams will be the keynote speaker at a forum, entitled "Changing U.S. Economic & Immigration Policies: New Opportunities for the French Business". The forum will take place at 8:30 am on March 3rd at the headquarters of France-Ameriques in Paris France. Details below. The forum is being hosted by France-Ameriques, an organization founded in 1909 by Gabriel Hanotaux, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, to build and maintain friendships between Fran

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on December 6, 2019, that it will implement a new pre-registration process for the H-1B visa cap lottery in 2020. Employers wishing to file H-1B cap-subject petitions with a start date of October 1, 2020, must first submit a registration online between March 1-20, 2020 through the myUSCIS online portal and pay the $10 filing fee. Those foreign nationals with U.S. master's degrees will still get two chances in the

On January 27, 2020, the Supreme Court announced a ruling that immigration officials will be able to disqualify individuals from receiving a green card if they are perceived as a “Public Charge” — those who spend up to 12 months over a three-year period on forms of public assistance. The decision, issued in response to an emergency petition by the administration, lifts a nationwide injunction imposed by a district judge in New York. That means the government can begin applyin

The Trump Administration’s controversial visa and travel bans have now been extended to include four more African countries. Immigrants from Myanmar, Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, and Nigeria will be banned from the US. Nationals of these countries will be banned from obtaining U.S. permanent residency, otherwise known as "green cards"; however, temporary visas for tourists, business people, students and workers from those nations will not be affected. U.S. officials said the cou

The Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs has amended its regulation governing the issuance of visas in the ‘‘B’’ nonimmigrant classification for temporary visitors for pleasure. The final rule establishes that traveling to the United States with the primary purpose of obtaining U.S. citizenship for a child by giving birth in the United States is an impermissible basis for the issuance of a B nonimmigrant visa. The final rule also codifies a requirement that a B no

On January 29, 2020, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services ("USCIS") announced a process change for Form I-526, Immigrant Petition by Alien Investor, from a first-in, first-out basis to a visa availability approach. According to the USCIS, the new approach will prioritize petitions from individuals connected to countries where visas are immediately available. The idea is that this will help speed up the processing times for underrepresented countries - those that have

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has released its final fiscal year (FY) 2019 agency statistics. Highlights from FY 2019 include: • USCIS naturalized 834,000 new citizens, which the agency said was an 11-year high. • USCIS granted lawful permanent residence to nearly 577,000 individuals. • USCIS received nearly 2.2 million employment authorization applications and approved more than 500,000 petitions for nonimmigrant workers in FY 2019, includin