Tag: H-1B

Attorney Spotlight: Nancy Shalhub of Ogletree Deakins

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By Ryan Mernin Ryan recently caught up with Nancy Shalhub of Ogletree Deakins to discuss the relatively new H-1B lottery and other potential immigration policy changes. This entry in our Attorney Spotlight series continues our focus on emerging challenges and changes in the business immigration world. Q: What visas does your firm typically handle? Nancy: Ogletree Deakins has one of the nation’s largest business immigration practices, providing premier immigration services for nearly 28 years. Our largest corporate immigration clients are Fortune ...

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Attorney Spotlight: Shehryar Chaudhry at BAL

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By Shail Sturm and Ryan Mernin Business immigration can present interesting challenges to immigration attorneys and their industry partners. Seasonal workloads and annual changes to the regulatory rhythm of petition filings sometimes disrupt the day-to-day operations even for industry leaders - not to mention delays and difficulties brought on by the global pandemic. But recent updates from USCIS seem to point toward a smoother process and more responsive regulatory environment. This week, Ryan and Shail spoke with Shehryar Chaudhry at Berry Appleman & Leiden to focus in on regulatory updates, USCIS' efforts to address consulate backlogs, and other upcoming ...

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Attorney Spotlight: Hiba Anver of EIG

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By Shail Sturm and Ryan Mernin Despite pandemic shocks, business immigration continues to be a strong route for the world's talent to enter the United States. Shail and Ryan caught up with Hiba M. Anver at Erickson Immigration Group to provide clarity on current trends and obstacles facing foreign nationals seeking entry to the United States on the H-1B visa. This entry in our Attorney Spotlight series continues our focus on emerging challenges and changes in the business immigration world. Park Evaluations: What visas do your firm typically handle and what trends have ...

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Reopening Continues: Impact on H-1B Visa Petitions

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By Ben Chappelow With Mark Rogers  Special thanks to Susanne Heubel, Special Counsel with Duane Morris, for contributing to this post. Be sure to follow Park Evaluations on LinkedIn for future updates. Introduction As vaccination rates increase and COVID-19 restrictions ease, companies will be looking to safely reopen offices. Reopening continues to present challenges as business leaders, especially in spaces served by foreign nationals immigrating the United States on a non-immigrant work visa, work hard to keep up with the latest guidance to ensure safe and effective workplaces. Leading IT services companies are transitioning to a hybrid model, where select employees will come into the office on designated workdays. Industry watchers believe this return-to-work model of work will have a comparative advantage ...

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Second Lottery for 2022 H-1B Applicants Conducted by USCIS

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By: Hannah Welbourn A second round of H-1B seekers has been selected to submit their petitions for the highly sought-after visa. This is the second year in a row that USCIS has conducted a second lottery, releasing a statement Thursday reading: “We recently determined that we needed to select additional registrations to reach the FY 2022 numerical allocations.” Last year’s decision to make another round of selections was largely affected by the initial COVID-19 outbreak, as many who were offered employment early in the year were not able to be hired as a result of the pandemic. The Trump Administration’s travel ban also impacted the decision, as many who had been initially selected were then unable to get into the US. Following ...

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H-1B CAP Season Preview: An Interview with Head Evaluator Howard Borenstein

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By: Joseph Catrone As attorneys and businesses are preparing for the upcoming, annual  H-1B lottery and CAP season, they are also bracing themselves for the months of fast-paced, high-volume environments, knowing there's little room for error, delay, or discrepancy in the process of requesting academic credential evaluations. Fortunately, the team at Park Evaluations is deeply committed and fully equipped to aid in these crucial steps of the H-1B filing process—an attitude reflected first and foremost through the dedication of our head credential evaluator, Howard Borenstein. We asked Howard to share his expertise on academic evaluations, as well as the many insights gained from nearly 20 years in the industry. What can people expect from Park’s Credential Reports and services? HB: Certainly, ...

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Latest USCIS Announcements Suggest Leniency

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By: Rachel Horner USCIS has recently made several announcements that suggest the possibility of more relaxed H-1B policies in the future, contrary to the organization’s attempts at restrictions under the previous presidential administration.   Extension Eligibility First, it was announced that USCIS will be extending their flexibilities originally posted on March 30, 2020. These conditions have been renewed several times since, meaning that USCIS will potentially continue to uphold these measures for as long as COVID-19 is a pressing issue.   The initial decision made by USCIS was to grant a 60-day extension for applicants responding to agency requests. This ...

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Federal Judge Blocks the Trump Ban on Foreign Worker Visas During the Course of the Pandemic

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By: Rebecca Anderson Last week, a Federal judge ruled that President Trump and his administration had “overstepped” their authority after suspending issuance of specific work visas during the COVID-19 pandemic. Judge Jeffrey S. White of the U.S. District Court of Northern California granted a preliminary injunction to temporarily block the implementation of the order, issued in June. According to The New York Times, the sweeping order applied to thousands of companies seeking to bring workers to the United States on a wide array of visas, including the H-1B for high-skilled workers, seasonal employees on guest-worker visas and others, such as au pairs, who enter the country on cultural exchange visas. “The entry of additional workers through the H-1B, H-2B, J, ...

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Indian national arrested in $21 million H-1B visa scandal. How did it go unnoticed?

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By: Rebecca Anderson An Indian National was caught in a $21 million scam and arrested on charges of conspiracy to commit visa fraud. Well, that escalated quickly. Arrested last week, 48-year-old Ashish Sawhney allegedly used four separate companies in Virginia to submit illegal visa applications, federal prosecutors said. The incident was first reported in the Times of India publication. According to prosecutors, Sawhney was charged with two counts of conspiracy, three counts of inducing an alien to come to and reside in the U.S. for commercial advantage or private financial gain, and one count of attempted naturalization fraud—the illegal admittance of a foreigner to the citizenship of a country. Sawhney allegedly gained gross profits of approximately $21 million over the span of five years from 2011 to 2016. So, how did it go unnoticed all this time? Court documents claim that statements ...

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What You Need to Know About the Hike in H-1B Visa Costs

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By: Rachel Horner The Actual Numbers Starting in October, the basic H-1B Visa fee will increase from $460 to $550 -- a 21% increase.  The H-1B visa is one of many visa categories that will see a change in price. The proposal put forth in November of 2019 states that there will be different fees for form I-129, depending on which visa category is used. The proposal will also directly affect “50/50” employers (employers who have 50% of their workforce on the H-1B or L -1 Visa.) For these employers, the extension fee will double in price -- specifically $4,000 for an extension of an H-1B visa (previously $2,000), or $4,500 (previously $2,250) for an L visa. Why the Increase? After a back-and-forth with the ...

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