US Immigration News

Speaking at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on March 17, Chairman Chuck Grassley said that a bill, sponsored by Senator Orrin Hatch to increase the number of H-1B visas - "does not close the program's loopholes or stop abuse. It does not ensure that American workers are put ahead of foreign workers. It only serves to increase cheap foreign labour."

Speaking at the same hearing, Senator Orrin Hatch, representing Utah, said he would raise the H-1B visa cap from 65,000 to a shifting cap of 115,000 – 300,000.

A US appeals court in Washington DC has set a date of May 4 to hear arguments concerning a challenge against President Barack Obama's immigration executive actions.

In December 2014, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by Joe Arpaio, an Arizona sheriff, who described Obama's sweeping changes as 'unconstitutional'. Apario lodged an appeal with the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Texas judge, Andrew Hanen, the man responsible for placing an embargo on plans to protect some undocumented migrants from deportation, said on 9 March 2015 that the matter will not be looked at again until at least 19 March. The Obama administration had requested an emergency stay of the injunction on 23 February 2015.

Good news for some. US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will permit H-4 spouses of certain H-1B principal non-immigrants to receive employment authorization in the US from 26 May 2015. The change is to help spouses of H-1B visa holders who are in the process of obtaining a Green Card and who already have an approved immigrant worker petition.

Millions of applications were expected to be lodged by illegal immigrants seeking legal immigration status in the US before 18 February 2015. However, U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen in Brownsville, a city along the Texas border with Mexico, issued a temporary court order on Monday 16 February stopping Obama's executive actions from going ahead. This would have benefited some illegal immigrants who came to the US as children (DACA) and illegal immigrant parents of US Citizens or permanent residents (DAPA).

New H-1B visa applications will be accepted from April 1st, United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) have announced. With an annual quota of 85,000, employers wishing to bring in graduate level overseas nationals into the country are being urged to start preparations now to be ready to submit an H-1B visa application at the beginning of April 2015.