The U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) reported today that as of yesterday’s count, 34,900 H-1B visa applications have been accepted for Fiscal Year (FY) 2011.  The USCIS will continue to accept applications until the annual quota of 65,000 authorized by Congress is reached. The application period for FY 2011 H-1B visas began on April 1, 2010.  Based on the [...]

The U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) reported that on August 13, 2010, President Obama signed into law the Southwest Border Security Bill, also known as the Border Bill. The law contains a provision to raise the filing fees effective immediately for certain H-1B  and L-1 visa applications. The additional fees of $2,000 for H-1B visa and $2,250 for L-1 visa applications are applicable only to petitioning employers that [...]

Congress recently passed the Border Security Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2010. It was was passed by the House of Representatives on July 28, 2010 and then by the Senate on August 5, 2010.  The bill will be forwarded to the President and he is expected to sign it into law. Out of the $ 540 million that was authorized by Congress, the U.S. Customs [...]

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced yesterday that it will conduct an agency-wide policy review to examine and potentially change its policies concerning the adjudication of applications for benefits and customer service. The USCIS has selected the following ten (10) areas to examine in its policy review: National Customer Service; H-1B visas; Citizenship & Naturalization; Employment based green cards in general; Employment [...]

The U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) reported that they have accepted about 13,600 H-1B visa applications for Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 in the 25 days that the application period has been open. In our last post on April 9, 2010, we reported that the USCIS has accepted about 13,500 applications.  It seems that the number of [...]

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reported today that it will continue to accept H-1B visa applications the Fiscal Year 2011 (FY 2011) cap. So far, the USCIS received about 13,500 H-1B applications towards the  65,000 quota mandated by Congress. Meaning a little over 1/5 of the quota has already been reached in the nine (9) days the application period has [...]

We at Pappas & Associates, P.A. remind the public that the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) will be accepting applications for H-1B visas for Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 beginning April 1, 2010.  The visas will become effective October 1, 2010. For the past 2 years, the number of H-1B visa applications has dwindled in light of the [...]

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reported today that on April 1, 2010, applications for H-1B visas for Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 will be accepted.  The USCIS will consider a case as accepted only when the USCIS’ mail room takes possession of a properly filed petition with the correct filing fee. The numerical limitation on H-1B petitions for FY 2011 [...]

The Orlando Sentinel reported today that the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services  (USCIS) has increased its resources and reorganized anti fraud operations to include an Office of Fraud Detection and National Security in light of the passage of the H-1B Visa Reform Act of 2004, to identify and investigate false claims in connection with green card applications based on marriage, H-1B and L-1 work visas, [...]

The U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) reported last week that it has issued additional guidance for businesses who received funding under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) in connection with their application to petition potential employees for an H-1B visa. Recipients of TARP funding are automatically deemed an H-1B dependent employer.   As such, those businesses are [...]