USCIS has announced that the fees for certain H-1B and L-1 visa petitions will increase.

This week we have two seminars (Oct 13th and 15th) titled Introduction to Business Immigration. See http://www.immisolver.com/seminars/ for more information and to RSVP.

Read Kathryn N. Karam's latest article for Oilpro.com on Oil and Gas Companies' options after the H-1B cap filled up yesterday.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that the FY 2016 H-1B cap has been reached. All petitions submitted between April 1st and 7th of 2015 will be placed in a lottery for random selection.

In an opinion piece appearing in the Houston Business Journal, the Business Journals' Washington Bureau Chief discusses why he believes that IT companies' recent push for increased H-1B numbers will likely fail.

USCIS issued an announcement that it will begin accepting H-1B petitions for the fiscal year 2016 on April 1, 2015.

Read Kathryn N. Karam's latest publication in OilPro Magazine: As Businesses Expand & Contract, Companies Need To Be Mindful Of Employees On Work Visas

Read Kathryn N. Karam's article on p. 4 of the latest issue of Houston Oil Patch Magazine.

At the annual conference of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) in June, the U.S. Department of Labor released statistics about the Labor Certification applications in process and Labor Condition Applications filed in preparation for submitting H-1B petitions. Interesting points include:

The Office of Foreign Labor Certification released its latest statistics regarding the Permanent Labor Certification (commonly called "PERM" or "Labor Certification") Program for the Fiscal Year 2014. So far, the Department of Labor (DOL) has received 53,325 applications, a 15% increase from last year. Of the 53,325 applications received, 47,257 have been certified, 3,618 denied, and 2,981 withdrawn. Among the certified applications, the top 5 occupation categories were Computer and Mathematical (56%), Architecture and Engineering (12%), Management (8%), Business and Financial Operations (7%), and Education, Training, and Library (5%); the top 5 work site States are California (24%), Texas (10%), New York (8%), New Jersey (7%), and Washington (7%); and the top 5 countries of citizenship are India (56%), China (7%), Canada (5%), South Korea (5%), and Philippines (3%). The vast majority of Beneficiaries of certified Labor Certifications are in H-1B status (83%), with L-1s coming in second at 5%. Finally, it is worth noting that 55% of the certified PERM applications required an Advanced Degree and 38% required a Bachelor’s degree. Only 2% of these applications required less than a Bachelor’s degree. Click here for the full report.