Cyrus D. Mehta The USCIS has been processing employment authorization requests for H-4 and L-2 spouses so slowly that they have been rendered virtually useless. By the time the applicant receives the employment authorization document (EAD) after 10 months, the job offer no longer exists. The experience is even more harrowing when the spouse begins […]
By Cyrus D. Mehta & Jessica Paszko* Under the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”), U.S. employers wishing to sponsor a foreign worker for employment and permanent residence must first prove to the Department of Labor (“DOL”) that there are no sufficient workers who are able, willing, qualified and available for the prospective job and that […]
By Cyrus D. Mehta and Kaitlyn Box* On October 19, 2021, the U.S. DOJ and DOL announced that they had reached separate settlement agreements with Facebook regarding the company’s purportedly discriminatory PERM labor certification practices. These settlement agreements stem from a December 2020 DOJ complaint, in which the government alleged that Facebook had discriminated against […]
By Cyrus D. Mehta and Brad Banias* Immigration lawyers have filed lawsuits on behalf of several hundred plaintiffs challenging various immigration policies. These lawsuits have involved demanding that the government speed up the processing of work permits, or asking the government to reserve visas before the expiration of the program. Many of the lawsuits have […]
By Cyrus D. Mehta and Kaitlyn Box* On Thursday, October 14, 2021, the Department of State released the November 2021 Visa Bulletin, which has brought significant retrogression in employment-based third preference (EB-3) India dates, among other significant changes. The EB-3 India Date for Filing (DFF) retrogressed to January 22, 2012 and the Final Action Date […]
By Kaitlyn Box* Together with my co-author, Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia, Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, the Samuel Weiss Faculty Scholar, and Founder and Director of the Center for Immigrants’ Rights Clinic (CIRC) at Penn State Law, I recently contributed a chapter to the Frontiers in Human Dynamics e-book “Migration in the Time of […]
By Cyrus D. Mehta, Sung-Min Baik* and Kaitlyn Box** Employers who have filed concurrent “downgrade” I-140 petitions are facing an increasing number of requests for evidence (RFE). These I-140 petitions were concurrently filed with I-485 applications when the India employment-based third preference (EB-3) date in the October 2020 Visa Bulletin advanced ahead of the India […]
By Cyrus D. Mehta & Isabel Rajabzadeh* One of the many benefits of filing an Adjustment of Status Application (AOS) is the ability to concurrently apply for work authorization (Form I-765/EAD). In addition, the applicant can remain in the United States while the AOS is pending without maintaining status, although most opt to maintain their […]
By Cyrus D. Mehta and Kaitlyn Box* It is hard to believe that 20 years have gone by since planes hijacked by terrorists crashed into the Twin Towers in New York, the Pentagon in DC and into a field in Pennsylvania instead of Capitol Hill killing just under 3000 people. These cataclysmic events on September […]
By Cyrus D. Mehta Effective October 1, 2021, with few exceptions, those applying for permanent residence (green card) must be vaccinated against COVID-19, now classified as a “Class A inadmissible condition,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced. The CDC explained that the COVID-19 vaccination meets the criteria for required vaccinations and is […]
