Immigration Updates

On August 3, 2020, U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) published a final rule outlining changes to the fees it charges for immigration and naturalization benefit requests. This rule will go into effect on October 2, 2020. While several fees were actually reduced, the new fees represent an average increase of 20%, and some fees increased […]

Even as U.S. consulates slowly resume visa services, they remain limited in the visa services they can offer due to recent Presidential Proclamations and travel bans that currently remain in place. However, the U.S. Department of State (DOS) has recently provided a list of National Interest Exceptions (NIE) to the Presidential Proclamations that relate to the suspension of admission […]

Click here to view August 2020 Visa Bulletin.  The U.S. Department of State (DOS) published the Monthly Visa Bulletin for August 2020, which again showed significant forward progress for EB-1 for both India and China, as well as EB-3 and Other Workers for all chargeability areas, along with some forward progress across the remaining backlogged categories.    U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) confirmed on its website that beneficiaries […]

Foster first reported in March of 2020 that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was providing flexibility to employers in completing the Form I-9, allowing employee documents presented in connection with the Form I-9 review process to be examined remotely (e.g. via video link, fax, or e-mail, etc.) rather than in the employee’s physical presence under certain circumstances for employers with employees […]