Santhosh Rao, Author at Gokare Law Firm

by Santhosh Rao

H-1B CAP SEASON! H-1 electronics registration is officially here for FY2021 H1-B CAP Season!

INTRODUCTIONUSCIS has announced implementation of New H-1B electronic registration process beginning fiscal year 2021, for both Regular and Master’s quota cases. The Registration process will include a $10 H-1B registration fee. Petitioners are now required to first electronically register and pay

by Santhosh Rao

USCIS to increase filing fees by 21 percent

DHS will be publishing a notice adjusting the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Filing Fees. DHS last adjusted the fee schedule on December 23, 2016. The fees would be raised by a weighted average of 21% and would affect most employment-based

by Santhosh Rao

Filing I-485 an aging-out child using filing date chat does not guarantee child will get “Green Card”

GLF has prepared this Newsletter using AILA Practice Pointer (Doc N. 19093001). According to the October 2019 Visa bulletin, USCIS will honor the "Dates for Filing" chart for this month. So, for India (EB-1) filing date is March 15, 2017 while

by Santhosh Rao

State department’s update on visa date movement for EB-1 India

In the last few years we have usually seen full recovery of the EB-1 India Final Action Dates, in October when a new Fiscal year starts. It was anticipated that EB-1 India Final Action visa dates would at least move to

by Santhosh Rao

USCIS issues policy alert redefining “Residence” in statutory provisions related to citizenship

INTRODUCTIONUSCIS issued a Policy Alert (PA-2019-05) on August 28, 2019 to improve definition of “Residence” and also clarify the distinction between Residence and Physical Presence. Many of the statutory provisions related to citizenship require US residence and there were inconsistencies between

by Santhosh Rao

DHS proposes a $10 fee for H-1B fiscal year registration

INTRODUCTIONDHS is proposing to amend its regulations by bringing in a fee requirement for each registration submitted for the H–1B Fiscal Year petition. DHS is proposing a fee of $10 per registration to recover the operating costs that would be involved

by Santhosh Rao

USCIS issues final rule on inadmissibility on public charge grounds

INTRODUCTIONOn August 14, 2019, USCIS published an advance copy of a final rule regarding Inadmissibility on Public Charge Grounds. This rule amends DHS regulations by prescribing how DHS will determine whether an alien applying for admission or adjustment of status is

by Santhosh Rao

EB-5 investment amounts increasing from November 21, 2019

INTRODUCTIONUSCIS has published the final rule that has brought about significant changes to the existing EB-5 Program. The final rule which was published on July 24, 2019 takes effect from November 21, 2019. The immediate effect of the Final Rule is

by Santhosh Rao

USCIS announces expansion of FOIA’s digital system called “FIRST”

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Immigration Records System (or FIRST) is an online system for USCIS to process FOIA, Privacy Act, and Privacy Act amendment requests. FIRST is the only system in the U.S. government that allows users to submit and

by Santhosh Rao

USCIS to reject from I-129 for not including petitioner’s address

INTRODUCTIONBeginning August 5, 2019, USCIS will start rejecting Form I-129, Petition for a non-immigrant worker which lacks the petitioner’s primary U.S. office address. USCIS currently rejects Form I-129 based on several reasons which includes but are not limited to: lack of

Author: Santhosh Rao

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