Immigration News  |
| Changes in immigration that impact your life. |
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| Deferred Enforced Departure Extended for Liberians |
| March 19, 2010 |
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| U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) automatically extended employment authorization for Liberian nationals covered under Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) through Sept. 30, 2010—following President Obama’s announcement of his decision to extend DED through Sept. 30, 2011, for qualified Liberians and those persons without nationality who last habitually resided in Liberia. |
| H-1B Cap Filing Season For FY 2011 Opens on April 1 |
| March 09, 2010 |
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| U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that it will begin accepting H-1B petitions subject to the fiscal year (FY) 2011 cap on April 1, 2010. The fiscal year cap (numerical limitation on H-1B petitions) for FY 2011 is 65,000. USCIS will monitor the number of petitions received and will notify the public of the date on which USCIS received the necessary number of petitions to meet the H-1B cap. |
| Special Citizenship Ceremony at Historic Justice Department Building |
| March 3, 2010 |
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| USCIS, on March 1 welcomed 50 new citizens at a special citizenship ceremony at the Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice’s Great Hall. Each year, hundreds of thousands of immigrants choose to become American citizens by taking the Oath of Allegiance at naturalization ceremonies across the United States and overseas. USCIS provides the citizenship statics from the year 1907 to 2010. |
| USCIS Provides Additional Information Regarding the Employ American Workers Act (EAWA) to Employers Filing H-1B Petitions |
| February 8, 2010 |
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| USCIS today provides additional guidance regarding the Employ American Workers Act (EAWA) to employers seeking to file H-1B petitions. The EAWA was enacted to ensure that companies that receive funding under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) or section 13 of the Federal Reserve Act do not displace U.S. workers. Under this legislation, any company that has received covered funding and seeks to hire new H-1B workers is considered an “H-1B dependent employer.” An H-1B dependent employer must make additional statements to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) regarding the recruitment and non-displacement of U.S. workers when filing a Labor Condition Application (LCA). |
| USCIS to Issue Revised Approval Notices for Certain Forms I-129 and I-539 |
| February 3, 2010 |
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| USCIS is alerting customers of certain Notices of Approval (Forms I-797) issued between Jan. 20 and Jan. 27, 2010, with incorrect or missing information. The form types impacted are Petition for Nonimmigrant Worker (Form I-129) and Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status (Form I-539). USCIS has started mailing new approval notices with corrected information to affected I-129 petitioners and I-539 applicants. Petitioners and applicants who received incomplete or incorrect approval notices should not attempt to use them. |
| USCIS to Reissue Advance Parole Documents |
| January 27, 2010 |
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| USCIS announced that it will reissue Advance Parole documents (Form I-512) in response to documents that were mailed to applicants with an incorrect issue date of January 5, 1990. All affected documents have been identified and USCIS will automatically reissue documents to individuals who have received a document with the incorrect issue date. |
| Frequently Asked Questions for Form DS-160, the Nonimmigrant Visa Electronic Application |
| January 24, 2010 |
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| All U.S. consulates and embassies will soon require nonimmigrant visa applicants to use Form DS-160, the Department of State’s fully electronic nonimmigrant visa application, instead of Form DS-156, the paper-based application. Considering this, the Department of State (DOS) has released frequently asked questions about using the DS-160 online application. |
| Nationals of 39 Countries Can Participate in H-2A and H-2B Visa Programs |
| January 20, 2010 |
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| The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has published a notice in the Federal Register announcing that the DHS Secretary, in consultation with Department of State (DOS) Secretary has identified 39 countries whose nationals are eligible to participate in the H-2A and H-2B programs for the coming year. Renewed every year, this notice will allow U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to approve petitions for H-2A and H-2B nonimmigrant status for nationals of countries listed therein. |
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