As the holidays approach doesn’t it seem as if things are moving at warp speed? If you are like me, you have several lists going: work projects to finish before the end of the year, gifts to purchase, cards to send, things to pack, and more! As we have in prior years, we thought it would be helpful to give foreign nationals who are traveling internationally one additional list (sorry) to ensure all goes as smoothly as possible and that you can enjoy the holiday season without being overly worried about immigration status and visa stamps. Now that we’ve made this list, make sure you check it twice (as the song says)!
Read moreBloomberg Law: “Businesses Challenging Visa Denials Seeing Early Successes”
Around mid-2017, many immigration attorneys noticed a shift in treatment of H-1B visa petitions, the only visa type specifically named in President Trump’s “Buy American and Hire American” executive order. Requests for Evidence (RFEs) and denials by US Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) dramatically increased by the end of fiscal year 2017, according to an analysis of USCIS data. Last year, some immigration attorneys adopted a new strategy: suing the government over visa petition decisions and RFEs. Now, it looks like those efforts may be paying off for some employers. According to immigration attorney H. Ronald Klasko, the majority of complaints he filed in the last year to a year and a half have resulted in decisions in favor of the employer. Klasko argues that litigation is now a necessary part of the practice of immigration law, especially in regard to H-1Bs.
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