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Effective January 1, 2024, the Department of State has authorized consular officers to waive required in-person interviews for an expanded subset of visa applicants.

Interviews now may be waived for the following categories:

  • Visa applicants applying for any nonimmigrant visa classification, provided that the applicant:
    • was
  • In this Law360 article, Mayer Brown Partner Carl Risch comments on the H-1B visa renewal pilot program introduced by the US Department of State.  “According to Mayer Brown partner Carl Risch, who was assistant secretary of state for consular affairs from 2017-2020, renewals became an issue once the COVID-19 pandemic led to processing backlogs

    To retain the best global talent, many employers leverage the annual H-1B visa lottery to secure work authorization for new employees. The nature of a lottery, however, leads some employers to search for ways to improve their chances of securing that “winning ticket”—and a pathway to retaining key talent in the United States. Recently, the

    On December 23, 2021, the Department of State announced that consular officers are now authorized to waive the in-person interview requirement for certain temporary work visa applicants who have petitions approved by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).  This authorization will expire on December 31, 2022.  Interviews may be waived for temporary workers applying for the following visa types:  H-1, H-3, H-4, L, O, P, and Q.  As the authorization requires a USCIS-approved petition, it does not appear to apply to individual visa applications submitted pursuant to approved “L” blankets.  In order to qualify, an applicant must meet the following requirements:
    Continue Reading State Department Will Waive Interviews for Many Temporary Work Visa Applicants

    In likely its last “midnight rule,” the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) plans to publish a more limited version of its Strengthening the H-1B Nonimmigrant Visa Classification Final Rule (the “Final Rule”). With the twin goals of aligning the H-1B regulations with the Immigration and Nationality Act and improving the integrity of the H-1B program, the Final Rule targets employers who assign H-1B workers to third-party worksites, requiring those employers to establish a valid “employer-employee” relationship.
    Continue Reading Trump Administration Poised to Publish a More Limited H-1B Rule Before Inauguration Day

    On August 3, 2020, President Trump issued an Executive Order (“EO” or the “Order”) directing the heads of all agencies that enter into contracts to review the impact of contractors and their subcontractors employing H-1B visa holders on the wages and employment opportunities of US workers. Specifically, the EO directs all federal agencies to review

    Updated on April 2, 2020.

    On Friday, March 27, 2020, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it received a sufficient number of H-1B registrations through its new electronic registration system needed to reach the annual cap, which includes registrations for both the 65,000 regular cap, as well as the 20,000 allotted US advanced degree exemption (or “master’s cap”).

    USCIS states that it will notify employers no later than March 31, 2020 if any of their registrations have been selected in the lottery.  The process remains as reported in our prior Mobile Workforce post, As March 20 Fast Approaches, Where Do Your H-1B Cap Cases Stand?
    Continue Reading USCIS Announces H-1B FY 2021 Lottery Selection Complete, With Notification to Selected Petitioners Slated for March 31

    USCIS has announced that starting February 19, 2019, it will resume premium processing service for all H-1B petitions (including change of employer or “port” petitions) filed on or before December 21, 2018.  Petitioners seeking to upgrade their pending H-1B petitions to premium processing must submit their request to the service center where the petition is

    Earlier this week USCIS published its final rule introducing an online pre-registration process for H-1B cap petitions and changing the order of the two lotteries for visa beneficiaries.  In reaction to USCIS’s announcement, Law360 spoke with immigration practitioners, including Mayer Brown’s Paul Virtue, about the impact of these changes on employers and the business community.