Archive

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that it will resume premium processing for Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker and Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers, in the following phases over the next month:

June 1, 2020 – USCIS will accept Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing Service for all eligible Form I-140 petitions.

June 8, 2020 – USCIS will accept premium processing requests for:

• H-1B petitions filed before June 8 that are pending adjudication and are cap-exempt (for example, petitions filed by petitioners that are cap-exempt and petitions filed for beneficiaries previously counted toward the numerical allocations).
• All other Form I-129 petitions (non H-1B petitions) for nonimmigrant classifications eligible for premium processing filed before June 8 that are pending adjudication.

June 15, 2020 – USCIS plans on resuming premium processing for:

• H-1B petitions requesting premium processing by filing an I-907 concurrently with their I-129 (or request for a petition filed on or after June 8) and are exempt from the cap because:
  • The employer is cap-exempt or because the beneficiary will be employed at a qualifying cap-exempt institution, entity or organization (such as an institution of higher education, a nonprofit research organization or a governmental research organization); or
  • The beneficiary is cap-exempt based on a Conrad/IGA waiver under INA section 214(l).

June 22, 2020 – USCIS plans on resuming premium processing for all other Form I-129 petitions, including:

• All H-1B cap-subject petitions (including those for fiscal year 2021), including change of status from F-1 nonimmigrant status, for both premium processing upgrades and concurrently filed I-907s.
• All other Form I-129 petitions for nonimmigrant classifications eligible for premium processing and requesting premium processing by filing an I-907 concurrently with their I-129.

If you choose to request the premium processing service, USCIS will guarantee a 15-day processing time. If USCIS does not take certain adjudicative actions within the 15‑calendar day processing time, USCIS will refund the premium processing service fee and will continue with the expedited processing of the petition.

If you have any questions regarding the premium processing service, please feel free to contact our firm.

Updated 06/02/2020

每年的H1B申请，始于四月递交，正式开始于十月或之后。在这六个月或者更久的时间里，宋和孟律师事务所经常会收到一些刚毕业学生的提问，集中在对于手头H1B工作不满意，但是又不舍得放弃H1B的身份，于是左右为难，寻求建议。这个情况，也时常发生在已经获得了H1B的雇员身上。在这个过程中，孟小洁律师发现，一些常见的对于H1B身份的误解，可能加深了这部分学生的选择困难。

USCIS announced it will resume premium processing on Tuesday, March 12, 2019 for all H-1B petitions.

If you had an H-1B petition filed on or before December 21, 2018, premium processing will be available for your H-1B petition. USCIS announced it will resume premium processing on Tuesday, February 19, 2019 for all H-1B petitions filed on or before December 21, 2018.

2019年1月30日早上，美国国土安全部公布了广受关注的H1B抽签改革新政，并会于2019年4月1日起正式生效。

这次的新政先前于2018年12月3日公布草案，详情请见宋和孟律师事务所的上一篇相关文章《H1B抽签改革，究竟是喜是忧》。

这次正式公布的H1B抽签改革方案，从对今年2019年的影响上来看，简单归纳来讲，主要是两点：

• 抽签顺序的变化今年立即生效，即美国研究生学位者先和所有人一起抽签，抽不上的在研究生群体中再用研究生名额抽签，这样的抽签顺序变化，可以增加有美国研究生学位者大约16%的中签几率。
• 电子注册系统延后执行，也就是说，今年2019年的抽签方式照旧，先递材料后抽签。在先前的草案中，国土安全部提出了先通过电子注册系统进行登记注册，抽上者再行递件的方案。在大家的评议反馈中，国土安全部决定今年抽签的H1B暂不使用新方法。

由于电子注册系统暂不执行，所以对于今年抽签的申请人而言，具体要做的事项和往年申请的流程没有变化。孟小洁律师提醒各位今年的申请人，目前已经进入二月，建议开始尽快抓紧准备今年的材料。

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced a final rule amending regulations governing the H-1B visa program. The rule will go into effect on April 1, 2019.

USCIS announced its resumed premium processing on Monday, Jan. 28, 2019, for all fiscal year (FY) 2019 H-1B cap petitions.

2018年12月3日，国土安全部（DHS）公布了一份关于H1B抽签制度改革的草案，目前在收集公众评议阶段，截止时间是2019年1月2日。

这份关于H1B的抽签改革方案，国土安全部雄心勃勃地想在2019年的H1B申请季就投入使用。距离政府收集公众评议的截止时间还剩最后两天了，对于还在观望中的各位读者，宋和孟律师事务所在此和大家分享本所律师向政府提交的评议原文供参考（DHS’s Proposed Registration Requirement for H-1B Petitions and Its Potential Adverse Impact on U.S. Employers and Prospective H-1B Employees），希望大家也可以向政府提出自己的意见，尤其是指出在该草案中被忽视的改革对于整体处理时间的影响。

By Xiaojie (Marta) Meng, Alex Kim

On December 3, 2018, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a proposed regulation in the Federal Register that would impose an internet-based registration requirement for cap subject H-1B petitions.

自从川普上台后，移民政策的重磅炸弹就没有断过。2018年7月又是美国移民局多是非的一个月，从6月28日移民局扔出重磅的NTA（Notice to Appear，遣返出庭通知）备忘录，几乎要大规模的把合法移民变成非法；7月13日又发布新政表示，凡是9月11日以后收到的申请，都根据新政策，在移民局官员的自由裁量下，可以不经过补件直接被拒绝。Read More