Compliance Management

The U.S. diplomatic mission to Russia announced on August 21, 2017, that "Due to the Russian government-imposed cap on U.S. diplomatic personnel in Russia, all nonimmigrant visa operations across Russia will be suspended on August 23. Nonimmigrant visa operations resumed in Moscow on a reduced scale

On August 8, 2017, DOS revised its FAM guidance on assessing residence abroad for F-1 students, by removing helpful prior language that had encouraged consular officers to consider the "inherent difference" between a young F-1 visa applicant and a short-term B visa applicant. The new FAM entry now

On January 23, 2019 and April 1, 2019, DOS tweaked the 90-day rule language in the Foreign Affairs Manual (FAM) in a positive direction, by removing a reference that was thought to unfairly flag students.

September 24, 2017 Presidential Proclamation implementing an indefinite entry bar for nationals of eight countries: Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela, Yemen, and Somalia.

The Department of State's Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs has been systematically reviewing J exchange visitor categories for several years. On September 29, 2017, DOS sent a broadcast message to J program stakeholders, notifying them that it has begun reviewing the College and University

The Exchange Visitor Subcommittee of NAFSA's International Student and Scholar Regulatory Practice Committee (ISSRP) prepared a summary of the questions and responses from the 2017 Annual Conference session, "U.S. Department of State and Exchange Visitors: Current Issues," presented at the

NAFSA's Employment-Based Subcommittee has come up with a short list of key takeaways for practitioners in higher ed. from the DOL Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) Stakeholder meeting on PERM, H-1B and Prevailing Wage issues, held on 9/12/2017 in Washington, DC.

NAFSA Practice Resource on H-1B Requests for Evidence (RFEs) related to the use of Wage Level I prevailing wage determinations (PWDs) and eligibility for H-1B classification. The resource provides some basic information on what is currently known, and a “back-to-basics” reminder of the legal

NAFSA asks SEVP and USCIS to consider 60-day OPT grace period in H-1B cap-gap denial and revocation decisions made after October 1, 2017.