March 2024 Visa Bulletin Issued: Final Action EB Cut-Off Dates to be Used This Month; Minor Forward Movement in Some Categories, but Retrogression from Last Month’s Dates for Filing
The U.S. Department of State has released its March 2024 Visa Bulletin imposing per-country cut-off dates that regulate immigrant visa availability and the flow of Adjustment of Status (AOS) applications and consular Immigrant Visa application filings and approvals....
An Employer’s Guide to H-1B Cap Registration for FY2025
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced in a final rule published last Friday that the registration period for the 2025 fiscal year H-1B cap will open at noon Eastern time on Wednesday, March 6, 2024, and will close at noon Eastern time on...
USCIS Issues Final Rule Increasing the Filing Fees for Most Applications and Petitions
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the agency responsible for adjudicating and granting most requests for immigration benefits—including nonimmigrant petitions filed on Form I-129, immigrant petitions filed on Form I-140, Adjustment of Status...
United Kingdom: Massive Increases to the Immigration Health Surcharge Fee, Effective 6 February 2024
A long-awaited proposal to increase the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) in the UK has now been approved by both houses of Parliament and will go into effect starting on 6 February 2024. These changes will increase the IHS from £624 to £1,035 per person per year....
USCIS To Allow Creation of Online Organizational Accounts and the Online Filing of Cap-Subject I-129 H-1B Petitions
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on January 12th that it will allow the creation of “online organizational accounts” in February, and will allow Form I-129 Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker for H-1B petitions for the 2025 fiscal...
February 2024 Visa Bulletin Issued: EB Dates for Filing Cut-Off Dates Unchanged from Last Month
The U.S. Department of State has released its February 2024 Visa Bulletin imposing per-country cut-off dates that regulate immigrant visa availability and the flow of Adjustment of Status (AOS) applications and consular Immigrant Visa application filings and...
South Korea: Digital Nomad Pilot Program Has Begun
On January 1, 2024, the South Korean Ministry of Justice started a digital nomad pilot program to attract foreign tourists to South Korea. The digital nomad visa can be applied for at an overseas Korean consulate. Additionally, an individual who is already in the...
Irish Work Permit Expansion – New roles eligible for employment permits and salary threshold increases, commencing January 17, 2024
The Irish government has announced that 43 additional job titles are now eligible for an employment permit and the government has also increased the salary thresholds required for certain employment permits. The main changes include: 11 roles added to the Critical...
USCIS Announces Inflation-Adjusted Premium Processing Fees for 2024
On December 28, 2023, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a Final Rule that will increase the filing fee for USCIS’s Premium Processing Service, effective Monday, February 26, 2024. The current fees were set by Congress in the USCIS Stabilization Act,...
State Department Formally Announces Pilot Program for the Renewal of H-1B Visas Within the United States
The United States Department of State (DOS) issued a notice in the Federal Register formally announcing the introduction of a pilot program that will allow certain persons holding H-1B nonimmigrant visas to renew them within the United States without having to submit...