On November 18, 2016, USCIS issued an extensive set of revisions to immigration regulations affecting highly skilled workers. The new rules, which go into effect on January 17, 2017, clarify longstanding agency practices and create several process improvements that impact highly skilled immigrant and nonimmigrant workers. Among the most significant changes are new 60-day grace periods for certain nonimmigrants following cessation of employment, automatic 180-day extension of work eligibility for those who timely file extensions of their work authorization cards, a uniform process for applying the “portability rule” for green card applicants who change employers and/or jobs, and a new discretionary work authorization category for green card applicants adversely impacted by immigrant visa backlogs. These new rules impact employers of nonimmigrants in the H-1B, H-1B1, E-1, E-2, E-3, L-1, O-1, P, and TN categories and EB-1, EB-2 and EB-3 immigrants (including PERM labor certification beneficiaries) as well as their dependents.
Please see full publication below for more information.