On March 8, 2019, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a new and revised edition of the Form I-539, Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status. Starting on March 22, 2019, the March 8, 2019 edition of the Form I-539 will be the only acceptable edition of the Form I-539. Thus, any prior edition of the Form I-539 filed on or after March 22, 2019, will be rejected.
On March 11, 2019, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) resumed premium processing for all H1B petitions. Premium processing of certain H1B petitions had been suspended for extended periods over the past couple of years.
On February 26, 2019, Reuters reported that the Department of State (DOS) refused more than 37,000 visa applications in 2018 under President Donald Trump’s Presidential Proclamation 9645, colloquially known as the “travel ban.” DOS denied 21,645 applications for nonimmigrant visas and 15,384 applications for immigrant visas in 2018 under the travel ban. The DOS granted approximately 2,200 waivers of the entry restrictions for nationals from affected countries.
On February 25, 2019, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) advised customers that the USCIS Contact Center is experiencing higher than normal wait times for callers to speak to a USCIS representative.
Submitted by Eliza Grinberg on February 27, 2019 - 7:24pm
On February 22, 2019, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it received enough H2B petitions to meet the H2B cap for the second half of fiscal year 2019. February 19, 2019, was the final receipt date for H2B petitions requesting an employment start date before October 1, 2019. Accordingly, the USCIS will reject any new cap-subject H2B petitions requesting an employment start date before October 1, 2019.
On January 8, 2019, President Donald Trump issued a memorandum for the Secretary of State authorizing him to close the United States Consulate General in Jerusalem and merge its functions into the United States Embassy for Israel. The President’s memorandum was published at 84 FR 3961 (Feb. 13, 2019).
On February 14, 2019, the United States Senate confirmed William P. Barr as the 85th Attorney General of the United States by a vote of 54-45. Attorney General Barr was sworn in on the same day. He previously led the Department of Justice as the 77th Attorney General during the administration of former President George H.W. Bush from November 26, 1991, to January 20, 1993.
On January 28, 2019, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) that affirmative asylum applicants with pending applications can now check the status of their applications at uscis.gov/casestatus.
On January 18, 2019, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in consultation with the Department of State (DOS), published the list of countries whose nationals are eligible to participate in the H2A and H2B nonimmigrant visa programs in 2019. In this article, we will examine the 2019 H2A and H2B eligible countries list.
