On February 17, 2017, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services updated its H-2B cap count for FY2017, stating that it received 15,106 beneficiaries towards the 33,000 cap for the second half of FY2017, with 6,731 beneficiaries approved and 8,375 beneficiaries pending. - AILA Doc. No. 16110861 Matthews Immigration Group exists to deliver high-value immigration strategies and solutions to its individual and business clientele throughout the United States. Contact our offic

On February 20, 2017, Secretary John Kelly signed a memorandum implementing the President’s Executive Order entitled “Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States,” issued on January 25, 2017. Issued today, the memo, and accompanying Fact Sheet and Q&A, are designed to answer some questions about how the Department will operationally implement the guidance provided by the President’s order, summarized as follows: Enforcing the law. Under this executive order,

On February 20, 2017, Secretary John Kelly signed a memorandum implementing the President’s Executive Order entitled “Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements,” issued on January 25, 2017. Issued today, the memo, and accompanying Fact Sheet and Q&A, are designed to answer some questions about how the Department will operationally implement the guidance provided by the President’s order, summarized as follows: Enforcing the law. Under this executive order, with

As stated in the MIGblog post of February 13, 2017 (link here), the Immigration and Nationality Act ("INA") sets annual worldwide and per-country numerical limits on employment-based and family-sponsored immigrant visas. These visas are supply-side "products," allocated on a first-come, first-served basis (in sequential order, based upon applicants' priority dates). The March 2017 Visa Bulletin is issued on the basis of reported demand received from the DOS (visa applicants)

Earlier today, President Trump held a news conference to announce his new Labor Secretary pick, Alexander Acosta. During the news conference, Trump stated that he will issue a new Executive Order on immigration next week to "protect our country," and also mentioned that the government would appeal the Ninth Circuit's ruling against his travel ban. When asked about rescinding DACA, the president again promised to "show great heart," adding that "DACA is a very, very difficult

The Immigration and Nationality Act ("INA") sets annual worldwide and per-country numerical limits on employment-based and family-sponsored immigrant visas. These visas are supply-side "products," allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. The March 2017 Visa Bulletin is issued on the basis of reported demand received from DOS (visa applicants) and CIS (adjustment applicants) by February 8, 2017. This month's bulletin shows backlogs (demand > supply) in the EB-2, EB-3, EB

In response to rumors of plans to expand the travel ban to other countries, the State Department ("DOS") has informed the American Immigration Lawyers Association ("AILA") that there is no addendum, annex, or amendment now being worked on to expand visa revocations or the travel ban to countries other than those currently implicated in Executive Order 13769, "Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States." This includes Colombia and Venezuela, whic

The latest of President Trump's first three immigration-related Executive Orders ("EO") entitled "Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States" (link here) impacts an already crippled business immigration system as well as family immigration and refugee programs. This New EO: Imposes a travel ban on individuals who are from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. The ban applies to individuals with visitor and work visas (e.g., B-1/B-