USCIS

Questions & Answers: USCIS Issues Guidance Memorandum on Establishing the "Employee-Employer Relationship" in H-1B Petitions

Introduction

This memorandum provides instruction to Immigration Service Officers who adjudicate R-1 nonimmigrant petitions for aliens who are coming to the United States temporarily to perform religious work, and their dependents. This memorandum outlines the procedure to be used for recapturing time spent outside the United States by R-1 nonimmigrants when seeking an extension of their R nonimmigrant status.

Please check the attachment to read memo.

Re-registration Open Until March 12, 2012

Released Jan. 10, 2012

WASHINGTON—Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano has extended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for eligible nationals of El Salvador for an additional 18 months, beginning March 10, 2012, and ending Sept. 9, 2013.

USCIS has resumed sending the original I-797 receipt and approval notices to the attorney or accredited representative listed on the Form G-28, Notice of Entry of Appearance as Attorney or Accredited Representative, and copies to the applicant or petitioner. All Forms I-129 currently being filed should list the petitioner’s address as the mailing address.

Agency kicks off effort to ensure that immigration pathways for foreign entrepreneurs are clear and consistent, and better reflect today’s business realities

WASHINGTON—U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Alejandro Mayorkas hosted an Information Summit today at the NASA Research Park in Moffett Field, Calif., to launch the USCIS Entrepreneurs in Residence (EIR) Initiative.

USCIS is considering changes that would allow certain immediate relatives (the spouse, children or parents of a U.S. citizen) who can demonstrate extreme hardship to a U.S. citizen spouse or parent to receive a provisional waiver of the unlawful presence bars before leaving the United States.

The “tenant-occupancy” methodology seeks credit for job creation by independent tenant businesses that lease space in buildings developed with EB-5 funding. USCIS continues to recognize that whether it is economically reasonable to attribute such “tenant-occupancy” jobs to the underlying EB-5 commercial real estate project is a fact-specific question. Each case filed will depend on the specific facts presented and the accompanying economic analysis.

USCIS’s Lockbox provides filing tips for Forms N-600, N-600K, and N-336, to help stakeholders ensure that applications are properly accepted at the Lockbox facility.

February 15, 2012, Alejandro N. Mayorkas, Director USCIS, testified before the House Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement.

Please check the attachment to read Testomony.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today announced that Self Check, a free online service of E-Verify that allows workers to check their own employment eligibility status, is now available in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands.