Immigration Alert

April 9, 2008

• USCIS Announces Changes to the F-1 OPT Regulations

November 16, 2007

• Travel Information for Yale International Students and Scholars

• 2009 Green Card Lottery The U.S. Department of State (DOS) announced that applications for the 2009 Diversity Visa (DV) Lottery will be accepted between 12 p.m. (E.D.T.) Wednesday, October 3, 2007 and 12 p.m. (E.S.T.) Sunday, December2, 2007.    For more information, including who is eligible for the DV lottery, please visit http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/types/types_1318.html.

June 28, 2007

• New USCIS Fees Effective July 30, 2007

  The US Citizenship & Immigration Service recently announced application fee increase schedule which will take effect July 30, 2007. Most USCIS non-immigrant and immigrant application filing fees will increase significantly. The increases that will most affect international students and scholars include:

  Application/Form	Current Fee	New Fee
  Form I-129 (H-1B petition)	$190	$320
  Form I-539 (Application to Change or Extend Status)	$200	$300
  Form I-765 (Employment Authorization)	$340	$340
  Form I-140 (Immigrant Worker Petition)	$195	$475
  Form I-485 (Petition to Adjust Status)	$325	$1010
  Form I-131 (Advance Parole Permit)	$170	$305

  For a complete list, please see the USCIS Fee Schedule

May 9, 2007

• On May 4, 2007, USCIS announced that H-1B Master's Degree Cap Reached April 30, 2007. For more information, visit USCIS website.

January 24, 2007

• New 5 Year Rule for J-1 Exchange Visitor Research Scholars/Professors

April 21, 2006

• e-Passport Requirement