VISA2US Blog

Foreign nationals who enter the US via the temporary visa route, like a work or student visa, often decide to stay permanently. They must apply for lawful permanent residency and obtain a green card to do this. Not all visas permit this path, but the H-1B category, also called a dual-intent visa, does, all without needing to leave the country. You just need to file an Adjustment of Status (AOS) and go through the green card process, and we’ll explain how to do that here.

Premium processing is an optional part of filing certain forms as part of your immigrant or nonimmigrant petition. Although it’s not essential, this feature is often beneficial for those who need their forms adjudicated quickly. Through the expedited processing of your case, you may be able to push your application ahead of others. However, the categories that allow premium processing are limited and frequently changing. USCIS’s latest adjustment to this feature was announced in June 2023, and we have the information that you need to know here.

While many foreign workers envision the United States as their ultimate workplace, there are many other countries ready to embrace immigrants and nonimmigrants with easier immigration policies. One of these nations is Canada, and the new H-1B immigration rules established in June 2023 are creating ripple effects felt throughout the world. How do these changes affect you? Read on to find out.

The Visa Bulletin is the go-to resource for millions of people as they wait for progress on their Green Card and other legal documents. Although it’s an essential part of the process, it can be challenging to understand this bulletin when you’re new to the system or if you simply want to know about your specific country and visa category. Here, we’ve summarized the highlights of the July 2023 visa bulletin to let you know if your work visa is on the move, stagnant, or possibly retrogressed.

Changes to how the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services department handles premium processing have begun, and the latest round began on April 3, 2023. These adjustments directly affect students in certain F-1 categories and those petitioning for nonimmigrant foreign worker visas. This blog explains how you may be affected by the new regulations for premium processing.

Petitioning for an employment-based green card typically requires a sponsor. Applicants on a general path to this target can’t petition for themselves. The process includes receiving job offers and perm labor certification approvals, as well as completing various other forms and awaiting approval. But if you qualify, you can avoid these delays and sponsor yourself under a National Interest Waiver (NIW), which may cut down the processing time for your green card significantly.

It’s no secret that this year’s cap filing numbers were substantially higher than predicted or that many registrations are being inspected for potential fraud. Whether the fraudulent claims are based on legitimate abuse or simply careless mistakes remains to be seen, but the fact is that you want your H-1B registration to stand up to scrutiny. To ensure your petition is adjudicated successfully, avoid these common filing mistakes in the future.

Occasionally in the immigration visa world, there is more demand from a particular country than the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services expected. When that happens, a retrogression may occur. In those circumstances, the State Department pushes back the final action dates for the EB-2, moving them backward instead of the typical forward momentum. This retrogression was recently announced in the USCIS May 2023 Visa bulletin as necessary to keep the number of immigrant visas under the FY 2023 limit.

Obtaining a green card is a challenging endeavor. Most people use this path to US residency when they have a family member sponsoring them or a job offer from an employer willing to support their green card journey. But if neither of those options applies to you, you could qualify for a national interest waiver. What is this document, and what are the qualifications for foreign nationals? We have everything you need to know right here!

The H-1B visa is designed for skilled foreign workers to fill vacancies in the United States. When a US employer can’t find an employee with the qualifications to do the job or one willing to fill that role, the employer can reach out to foreign nationals and extend a job offer. The fees those employers pay are used in part to create training programs for Americans to prepare them for high-skilled jobs.  While foreign nationals aren’t eligible for these training sessions, understanding what goes into them can help you prepare your resume if you want to qualify for an H-1B visa in the future.