The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is implementing new policies and rules that will affect green card holders or lawful permanent residents (LPR) starting this year. The new green card rules for 2020 include: • Failure to identify yourself an LPR on your taxes or accurately report your income may now lead to deportation. Note: If you use an accountant to prepare your taxes, he/she may assume you are a U.S. citizen. It is your responsibility to correctly identify yourself. • Men between the ages of 18 and 25 who hold a green card must register with the U.S. Selective Service; failure to do so could lead to deportation (see www.sss.gov). • The rules regardi

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. Williams worked closely with key executives of the Company, to make their transition into the U.S. a smooth and seamless process! Pictured to the left, Simone Williams with Darrell Corbett, Vice President of JJ Waste and

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 France and the American continent. The organization's mission is to be the privileged meeting point of the Franco-American elites of the world of diplomacy, business, finance, research, defense, and culture. DETAILS: Forum

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 lottery, but unlike past years they will be included in the initial lottery of 65,000 visas. If they are not selected in that general lottery, they will then be included in a master's only lottery for the remaining 25,0

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 applying the new standards, which critics say would place a burden on poor immigrants from non-English-speaking countries, while legal challenges continue in lower courts. The rules establish new criteria for who can be conside

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 countries failed to meet U.S. security and information-sharing standards, which necessitated the new restrictions. Nigeria has begun working on the security and information-sharing requirements for the lifting of a U.S. tr

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 nonimmigrant visa applicant who seeks medical treatment in the United States must demonstrate, to the satisfaction of the consular officer, the arrangements for such treatment and establish the ability to pay all costs ass

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 not used up or are not close to using up their per-country annual visa allotment. Applicants from countries where visas are immediately available will now be better able to use their annual per-country allocation of EB-

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, including specialty occupation, temporary agricultural and non-agricultural, and other workers. • USCIS processed more than 40 million cases through E-Verify.