Citizenship Archives - Law Office of Thomas V. Allen

#Uncategorized - Dec 31, 2020

Expansion of Interview Waiver Eligibility

Mike Pompeo, the Secretary of State, has temporarily expanded the ability of consular officers to waive the in-person interview requirement for ind...

#Uncategorized - Dec 18, 2020

USCIS Extends Flexibility for Responding to RFE’s, NOID, NOIR, and Filing Motion to Reopen

In response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is extending the flexibilities it announced on March ...

#Uncategorized - Dec 1, 2020

Federal Court set aside the DOL wage hike rule and the DHS rule revising the specialty occupation and the employer-employee definitions

The U.S District Court, Northern District of California, in the matter of Chamber of Commerce v. DHS, has set aside the interim rule by the Departm...

#Uncategorized - Nov 25, 2020

USCIS announces major changes to the Naturalization Test

USCIS recently announced significant changes to the civics test mandatory for most applicants seeking to obtain U.S. Citizenship. The new test wil...

#USCIS Updates - Sep 25, 2020

Significant change in the cutoff dates for Employment based categories for October 2020 visa bulletin

The U.S. Department of State has released the October 2020 Visa Bulletin after delaying it for more than a week, which is the first visa bulletin o...

#Executive Order - Sep 6, 2020

USCIS Extends Flexibility for Responding to RFE’s, NOID’s, NOIR’s and other Agency Requests until January 1, 2021

This flexibility applies to the above documents if the issuance date listed on the request, notice, or decision is between March 1, 2020, and Jan. ...

#Student - Sep 4, 2020

SEVP to issue notices to students who have not reported employer information

The Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) is conducting a review of SEVIS records for OPT participants and is mailing notices directly to stu...

#Executive Order - Sep 4, 2020

U.S Consulates in India are now accepting dropbox application for H, L and J nonimmigrant visa categories

The US Consulates across India are now accepting drop box applications for renewals of all nonimmigrant visa categories at Visa Application Centers...

#Nonimmigrant - Aug 25, 2020

DOS waives in-person interview requirement for individuals applying for a nonimmigrant visa in the same classification.

On August 25, 2020 Secretary Pompeo, in consultation with the Department of Homeland Security, has temporarily expanded the ability of consular off...

#Nonimmigrant - Aug 25, 2020

USCIS Averts Furlough of its Workforce until the end of FY 2020

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services today announced that the agency will avert an administrative furlough of more than 13,000 employees, sche...

#Executive Order - Aug 24, 2020

Applying for an Expedited Appointment at the US Consulates in India

The U.S Consulates in India has announced that consular sections at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi and the Consulates in Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad,...

#Nonimmigrant - Aug 24, 2020

USCIS Implements new policy changes on DACA

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services today provided guidance on how it will implement Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf’s July 2...

#Nonimmigrant - Aug 21, 2020

USCIS wrongly rejecting H-1B petitions for insufficient funds

We have learned that the USCIS is wrongly rejected several H-1B petitions claiming insufficient funds in the bank account to honor the check issued...

#Nonimmigrant - Aug 20, 2020

USCIS has recognized EAD approval notice [I-797 Notice of Action] as an acceptable document confirming the employment authorization

On August 8, 2020, USCIS announced that Form I-797 Notice of Action showing approval of the I-765 application will be an acceptable document confir...

#Nonimmigrant - Aug 18, 2020

National Interest Exceptions to Presidential Proclamations for H-1B non-immigrants

The Proclamation does not apply to applicants who were in the United States on the effective date of the Proclamation (June 24), or who had a valid...

#Nonimmigrant - Aug 6, 2020

USCIS is re-interpreting the Public Law 113-114 to charge employers $4000/$4500 for every H-1B/L-1 extension filed effective October 2, 2020

As per the current interpretation of the Public Law 113-114, H-1B and L-1 employers who employ 50 or more employees in the United States with a wor...

#Immigrantion - Jul 31, 2020

USCIS Filing fee to increase from October 3, 2020.

Today, the Department of Homeland Security announced a final rule that adjusts fees for certain immigration and naturalization benefit requests to ...

#Immigrantion - Jul 29, 2020

U.S District Court of NY Issues Nationwide Injunction on Both DOS and DHS Public Charge Regulations Due to COVID-19 pandemic

The U.S. District Court of New York (Southern District) on July 29, 2020 issued an order temporarily blocking the public charge rule during the COV...

#Executive Order - Jul 15, 2020

Major Lawsuit filed challenging Presidential Proclamation issued by Donald Trump suspending the entry of foreign nationals on H-1B, L, H-2B and J temporary visas until at least December 31, 2020.

A major lawsuit has been filed challenging Presidential Proclamation issued by Donald Trump suspending the entry of foreign nationals on H-1B, L, H...

#Student - Jul 14, 2020

Trump Administration rescinds the policy on F-1 students barring online classes

The Trump Administration on Tuesday 07/14/2020, rescinded its directive issued last week that would bar the international students on F-1 status fr...

#Uncategorized - Jul 13, 2020

Effective July 15th the Consulates May Begin Phased Resumption of Visa Services based on local conditions

The U.S. Department of State on 07/11/2020 has announced that beginning July 15, US Embassies and Consulates may begin the phased resumption of rou...

#Student - Jul 8, 2020

Harvard, MIT seek temporary halt to Trump administration rule on international students

University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology have filed a lawsuit seeking the federal court to temporarily block a Trump administrat...

#Student - Jul 7, 2020

SEVP Modifies Temporary Exemptions for Nonimmigrant Students Taking Online Courses

SEVP Modifies Temporary Exemptions for Nonimmigrant Students Taking Online Courses The ICE and SEVP announced that it would no longer provide exemp...

#Uncategorized - Jun 24, 2020

Texas Service Center Moving to New Address on June 26, 2020

On June 26, the Texas Service Center will move to a new address. Although the move is scheduled for June 26, USCIS cannot accept mail at the new ad...

#Executive Order - Jun 22, 2020

Flash News!!! Executive Order signed suspending the entry of H-1B, H-2B, J & L non-immigrants and their dependants.

The Amended Executive Order signed by President Trump suspends and limits the entry of certain non-immigrants until December 31, 2020. The Executi...

#Nonimmigrant - Jun 18, 2020

USCIS Rescinds 2010 Neufeld Memo and 2018 itinerary and contract memo

USCIS has now officially rescinded the 2010 Determining Employer-Employee Relationship memo and the 2018 Contract and Itinerary Memorandum. ...

#Uncategorized - Jun 12, 2020

Visa revocation emails from U.S. Consulates to certain F-1 OPT Students

Since June 1, 2020, several students have received notification emails from the U.S. Consulates mentioning that their F-1 visas have been revoked. ...

#Uncategorized - Jun 10, 2020

Cap-Gap: Automatic extension of work eligibility

Current regulations allow certain students with a pending or approved cap-subject H-1B petition to remain in F-1 status during the cap-gap period. ...

#Uncategorized - Jun 10, 2020

Tracking the rumor: Possible extension of Presidential Proclamation banning Suspending Entry of H-1B, H-2B, L-1, J-1 and other non-immigrants

AILA [American Immigration Lawyers Association] has informed its members that there have been credible rumors regarding possible Extension and Expa...

#Uncategorized - Jun 4, 2020