McCandlish Holton’s Top 5 From 2021

As we prepare to welcome 2022, we revisit five memorable McCandlish Holton moments from 2021 worth sharing, celebrating and commemorating during a globally challenging year, complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The following is a list of inclusion, not order,  featuring our firm’s top five from 2021:

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Impact on Visa Holders from Proclamation Suspending Entry of Aliens

Summary of Impact on Current Visa Holders from Proclamation 10014 “Suspending Entry of Aliens Who Present a Risk to the U.S. Labor Market Following the Coronavirus Outbreak”  Effective June 24, 2020.  Processing of applications will continue in the US for ALL visa categories, including permanent residence.

The White House has issued another Proclamation “Suspending Entry of Aliens Who Present a Risk to the U.S. Labor Market Following the Coronavirus Outbreak” effective June 24, 2020 and remains in effect through December 31, 2020.  The Proclamation has far less of an impact than was rumored in advance of the Proclamation. 

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Who is impacted by White House Proclamation Suspending Immigration for 60 days?

Summary of 4/22/20 White House Proclamation Regarding Immigration

The White House has issued “Proclamation 10014” suspending travel to the US by individuals who will seek entry to the United States using an “immigrant visa” (a visa issued to individuals entering the US to become permanent residents).

[UPDATE: Proclamation 10014 is revoked 2/24/2021.]

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US CIS Has Completed the H1B Lottery

SELECTED APPLICANTS WILL BE NOTIFIED FOR FURTHER PROCESSING

The US CIS has completed the selection process for H1B pre-registrations.  Cases selected for processing will be notified, and will have 90 days to prepare and submit H1B petitions.  We will notify clients of updates as soon as we receive them. 

The following is the notification from the US CIS:

USCIS has received enough electronic registrations during the initial period to reach the FY 2021 H-1B numerical allocations (H-1B cap). We randomly selected from among the

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Fraud Alert - Phone Numbers from the Ombudsman's Office Being Used in Scam Calls

View Homeland Security Bulletin

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Fee Increase For Premium Processing of Immigration Petitions

The US Department of Homeland Security will announce an increase in the Premium Processing fee for many immigration petitions from $1410 to $1440.  Premium Processing allows certain immigration filings (such as I-129 filings for H1B or other work visas; and I-140 petitions for Immigrant Workers) to be processed in 15 days instead of many months.  The proposed rule increasing the fee will be published in the federal register on October 31, and will take effect 30 days from then.  The fee increase will apply to any petitions postmarked on or after November 29, 2019. Read the Final Rule.

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USCIS Completes the H-1B Cap for FY 2020

The US Citizenship & Immigration Services has met the H-1B visa cap for both the “regular” quota of 65,000 and the “advanced degree” quota of 20,000 for fiscal year 2020. USCIS has also received a sufficient number of H-1B petitions to meet the 20,000 visa U.S. advanced degree exemption, known as the master’s cap.

The USCIS alert reads as follows:

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Jennifer Minear Interviewed in Forbes

Firm Director Jennifer Minear was interviewed in Forbes today regarding the new USCIS policy. 

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