Applicants for US visitor, student, and work-related nonimmigrant visas, as well as family-based and employment-based immigrant visas (“green cards”), now have to provide information about the social media platforms used over the preceding 5-year period.  The updated visa application forms seek information about the most popular social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube.  Applicants also have the opportunity to provide information about social media platforms not listed in the drop-down menus.  For each…

Now that the Fiscal Year 2020 H-1B cap season is over, it is a good time for an internal review and update of public access files (PAFs). What is a Public Access File? U.S. employers who sponsor H-1B employees must make certain records available, on request, to government auditors, members of the public, and the H-1B employee.  The PAF must establish that the employer is paying the higher of: (a) the prevailing wage; or (b)…

Thought the Social Security Administration (SSA) no-match letters were a thing of the past? Check your snail mail. In March, SSA began sending Employer Correction Request Notices – officially called EDCORs – to employers whose payroll records do not match SSA records. SSA has not released official numbers, The New York Times and other media have reported that more than 575,000 employers received EDCORs over the last two months.…

The Visa Bulletin is released monthly by the Department of State and is used to determine when a sponsored foreign national can submit the final step of the green card process. The complete visa bulletin can be found here. Below is a summary of the June Visa Bulletin, including Final Action Dates and changes from the previous month. China: EB-1 remains stalled at February 22, 2017, EB-2 leaps forward nearly three months to August…

Starting in May 2019, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will issue I-94 numbers with letters in addition to numbers. The new format will include nine numbers, followed by one letter and one number. Current I-94 numbers also have eleven characters, but only numbers. Examples of new I-94 numbers include: 111111111A1; 000000001B2; 123456789C3. I-94s in the current number-only format will remain valid through the listed “Admit Until Date”. As a reminder, an I-94 record not…

The Visa Bulletin is released monthly by the Department of State and is used to determine when a sponsored foreign national can submit the final step of the green card process. The complete visa bulletin can be found here. Below is a summary of the May Visa Bulletin, including Final Action Dates and changes from the previous month. China: EB-1 remains stalled at February 22, 2017, EB-2 advances six weeks to May 15, 2016,…

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has just announced that it has completed what is commonly known as the “master’s cap” H-1B lottery.  The agency confirmed, as was widely anticipated, that sufficient petitions were received during the first five business days of April 2019 to satisfy this additional pool of 20,000 H-1B numbers, which are set aside for workers who possess an advanced degree from a U.S. college or university.  As we previously reported, the…