First, a bit of background for those unfamiliar with the Kafkaesque absurdity which people in the U.S. global mobility world are forced to deal with each April Fool’s Day. Since the mid-1990s, the demand from employers to sponsor temporary work visas for what are commonly referred to as “H-1B Specialty Occupation Professional Workers” has far […]

ICYMI … it’s that time of year again! Registration to enter your name into the annual “Diversity Visa” (greencard) lottery drawing is open (see below). If you are from one of the eligible countries, and otherwise qualify, you should apply now! Remember, even if your employer is sponsoring you for agreencard too, there’s almost no reason […]

…But at least we finally got a new #I-9 form, which isn’t quite as horrible to use! Following up on our I-9 #compliance post earlier this year, we have some more positive news to report from the USICE agency. Yesterday, they formally published new regulations/rules creating a somewhat limited option for employers to do virtual […]

It’s that time of year again! With January and February being the busiest hiring months, we want to take this moment to remind all you employers out there of the importance of Form I-9 compliance. Not only is employer liability for incomplete, incorrect, or missing I-9s an integral part of the law (yes, even with […]

While the U.S. immigration system is still a hot mess overall, you take any small victories you can get, right?!… Over the past week or so, the USCIS immigration agency announced three notable changes in policy/procedure. Each of those changes impact a relatively small population of people in the country. But, for each of those […]

The USCIS immigration agency announced a policy change last Friday, which takes effect today (December 12, 2022). It’s a relatively minor policy tweak, but with major benefits for some Lawful Permanent Residents (“LPRs”) filing Form N-400 to apply for Naturalization, saving them both time and money in the New Year. “Naturalization” is the application-based process […]

The USCIS confirmed this week that it is no longer requiring duplicate copies of most Form I-129s (the form used for H-1B, L-1, and other common temporary work visa sponsorships). This is a USCIS procedural change we’ve been anxiously anticipating for years. Your H-1B petitions are about to look a lot smaller! Now, if we could just […]

ICYMI … registration to enter your name into the annual “Diversity Visa” (greencard) lottery drawing is open for another 3 weeks or so (see below). If you are from one of the eligible countries, and otherwise qualify, you should apply now! Even if your employer is sponsoring you for agreencard too, there’s almost no reason not […]