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U.S. CIS has released a new version of the I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, form.  Effective April 3, 2009, all employers must use the new version of the Form I-9,dated February 2, 2009, and accept only those documents now listed on the revised Form I-9.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has recently confirmed that if you employ an F-1 nonimmigrant student on post-completion optional practical training (OPT) and that student is the beneficiary of a pending or approved, cap-subject H-1B petition, the student may be able to continue working beyond the expiration date on his or her employment authorization document (EAD).

The current economic situation appears to be driving down demand for H-1B visas this year as the H-1B cap was not hit during the preliminary filing window.  USCIS reports that as of April 27th it had received approximately 45,000 H-1B petitions that count toward the Congressionally-mandated 65,000 cap. 

On March 12, 2009, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) announced that the Immigrant Investor Pilot Program (the EB-5 Investor Program) had been extended through September 30, 2009.  The extension was part of the "Fiscal 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Bill," H.R. 1105.