The following additional items may be of interest to our readers:

Cap-Subject H-1Bs Filed April 2018 Remain Pending; Premium Processing Now Available for H-1B Petitions Filed on or Before 12/21/2018: Inexplicably, numerous FY 2019 H-1B cap-subject petitions (filed in April 2018 for visas that became available on October 1, 2018) remain pending with the California Service Center. USCIS has indicated that it is unable to provide a timeframe for the processing of these cases but that it is working diligently to process them as soon as possible. Presumably, in response to this processing delay, USCIS recently announced that it would permit premium processing for all H-1B petitions filed on or before December 21, 2018.

Lawsuits Challenge Trump’s National Emergency Declaration: The American Civil Liberties Union, environmental groups, Texas landowners, and 16 states have filed lawsuits challenging President Donald Trump’s declaration of a national emergency on the U.S.-Mexico border as an unconstitutional overreach of executive authority. More have vowed to join their ranks.