High Skilled

Recent Features

Guides & FAQs
Practical Guides and FAQs for the Federal STEM Initiatives

Learn how institutions, employers, or talented researchers and other highly skilled individuals in the STEM fields can take advantage of the Early Career STEM Research Initiative.

READ MORE

All High Skilled Content

  • Blog

Trump Administration to Announce H-1B Visa Changes

April 17, 2017

Several media outlets have reported that on Tuesday, April 18, President Trump will sign an executive order mandating that the immigration agencies undertake a review of the H-1B visas...

  • Blog

H-1B Annual Cap Reached in First Week for Fifth Consecutive Year

April 7, 2017

U.S. employers are vying for the chance to hire skilled foreign workers, but once again, the annual H-1B cap has been reached within five business days. USCIS began accepting H-1B petitions on...

  • Blog

Halt to Premium Processing of H-1B Visa Petitions Hurts Workers, Business and USCIS

March 7, 2017

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced it will halt premium processing of H-1B visa petitions on April 3, for up to six months. Through the H-1B visa category,...

  • Blog

Five Things to Look for on Immigration in the 115th Congress

January 9, 2017

When President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in later this month, for the first time in a decade, the Republican Party will have control of the House of Representatives, U.S. Senate, and the...

  • Blog

Immigrant Potential Is an Expensive Thing to Waste

December 8, 2016

High-skilled new Americans often face obstacles in obtaining jobs appropriate to their skill level. There are many reasons for this. Those who are educated outside the U.S. may fail to have their...

  • Blog

Immigration a Boon to U.S. Economy Finds National Panel of Experts

September 22, 2016

Immigrants and their descendants make valuable contributions to the U.S. economy, according to a new report just released by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine entitled...

  • Blog

What to Expect Now That Congress Is Back

September 8, 2016

Congress returned to work this week after a six week recess. While September promises to be a busy month for lawmakers, it is unlikely that immigration reform will be high on their “to do” list....

  • Blog

How Can the U.S. Attract and Retain STEM Graduates?

July 28, 2016

International doctoral students are significantly more likely than native-born U.S. students to major in and graduate from STEM fields In fact, international students make up about 40 percent of...

  • Blog

Lawsuit Against DHS and USCIS Seeks Transparency in H-1B Lottery Process

May 23, 2016

Each year, U.S. employers seeking highly skilled foreign professional workers submit petitions on the first business day of April to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for the...

  • Blog

What You Need to Know About the Temporary Worker Bill Introduced by Senator Flake

May 2, 2016

Last week, Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) introduced the Willing Workers and Willing Employers Act of 2016, which would establish a 10-year guest worker pilot program. According to Flake, the bill...

  • Blog

The H-1B Registration Period Has Ended. How Did the New System Handle It?

March 26, 2020

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) completed its first registration period on March 20 for H-1B petitions. The H-1B visa category allows highly educated foreign workers to...

  • Blog

Immigrant Health Care Workers Play a Vital Role in the United States’ COVID-19 Response

March 24, 2020

As the COVID-19 pandemic unfolds, the U.S. health care system will likely be pushed to its limits. During this time, it is important to remember the role that immigrant health care workers play...

  • Blog

As Trump Slashes All Immigration, Other Countries Open Their Doors

March 4, 2020

The Trump administration has worked to close the door on all types of immigrants—including people trying to come to the United States on visas. Consequently, the United States is experiencing a...

  • Blog

H-1B Registration Is Almost Here: What We Do and Don’t Know About USCIS’ New Process

February 26, 2020

For the first time, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is requiring U.S. employers to register in order to have a chance to file an H-1B petition that is subject to the annual...

  • Blog

What We Know About USCIS’ New H-1B Cap Registration System

January 16, 2020

The new process for petitioning for highly educated H-1B workers will officially begin on March 1, 2020. For the first time, a U.S. employer who wants to file a petition that is subject to the...

  • Amicus Briefs

Council Submits Amicus Brief Supporting Reversal of USCIS’ Misinterpretation of the First Regulatory Test for an H-1B Specialty Occupation

Publication Date: 
December 16, 2019
The American Immigration Council filed this brief in support of a U.S. employer’s challenge to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service’s denial of a computer programmer H-1B petition.
  • Blog

USCIS Announces Major Change to H-1B ‘Cap’ Filing With Electronic Registration

December 12, 2019
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently announced that U.S. employers will have to pay a $10 fee and register to have a chance at filing an H-1B petition subject to the statutory “...
  • Blog

USCIS’ Denial Rates for H-1B Petitions Have Quadrupled

November 8, 2019

The Trump administration, acting through U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), is disrupting the process by which U.S. employers obtain work authorization for highly skilled foreign...

  • Blog

The Artificial Intelligence Industry Thrives on a Global Workforce

November 1, 2019

At a time when skills related to the burgeoning field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) are in very short supply, the U.S. government is making it harder to recruit highly trained professionals from...

  • Blog

US Visa Policies Prevent Tech Startups From Hiring Foreign Workers

September 17, 2019

Tech startups are engines of innovation, economic growth, and job creation. Yet U.S. visa policies may be preventing startups from hiring the highly skilled foreign professionals they need to...

Most Read

  • Publications
  • Blog Posts
  • Past:
  • Trending