Since March 4, 2013, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has been accepting applications for Provisional Unlawful Presence Waivers (Form I-601A).  USCIS, however, rejected many of these applications because customers did not provide proof that the required Immigrant Visa Application Fee was paid to the U.S. Department of State (DOS).

REMINDER: USCIS cannot accept a Form I-601A unless it includes evidence that the applicant paid the Immigrant Visa Application Fee to DOS.

Please make sure you:

The period of time when an F-1 student’s status and work authorization expire through the start date of their approved H-1B employment period is known as the "Cap-Gap". 

USCIS has resumed processing of all Form I-129 H-2B petitions for temporary non-agricultural workers.  On March 22, 2013, USCIS temporarily suspended adjudication of most Form I-129, Petition for Nonimmigrant Worker, H-2B petitions while the government considered appropriate action in response to the Court order in Comite de Apoyo a los Trabajadores Agricolas et al v.

The Department of Labor is making available Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) to assist filers with complying with the requirements of the joint Interim Final Rule. The FAQs address the applicability of the new prevailing wage methodology, employer wage obligations, requests for review and the processing of pending H-2B prevailing wage requests and H-2B applications for temporary labor certification.

To learn more, please read the FAQs.

Champlain, N.Y. – U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announces a change in the summer operating hours for the Churubusco and Cannons Corners border crossing locations.

Effective May 1, the new hours of operation will be from 8:00 a.m. to midnight. These new hours will remain in effect until October 31, 2013. Please contact the Trout River Port of Entry at (518) 483-0821 or the Port of Champlain at (518) 298-8346 for additional information.

The Department of Labor and the Department of Homeland Security are making available for public inspection a copy of the Interim Final Rule, Wage Methodology for the Temporary Non-Agricultural Employment H-2B Program, Part 2, to be published in the Federal Register on April 24, 2013. This Interim Final Rule, developed jointly by the Departments of Labor and Homeland Security, revises the prevailing wage methodology used by the Department of Labor to calculate certain prevailing wages paid to H-2B workers and U.S.