On December 1, 2020, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California issued a decision overturning two recent Interim Final Rules promulgated by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and U.S. Department of...more
12/3/2020
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Foreign Workers ,
H-1B ,
Interim Final Rules (IFR) ,
Prevailing Wages ,
Specialty Occupations ,
Summary Judgment ,
USCIS ,
Visas
On Oct. 8, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor published a new regulation that significantly raises the required prevailing wage which must be paid to foreign workers in connection with H-1B, H-1B1, and E-3 nonimmigrant visa...more
Beginning October 2, 2020, U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) will be increasing its filing fees for many of the most commonly filed benefit requests. Applications or petitions postmarked on or after that date...more
U.S. immigration law recently has resembled a minefield, with potential risks and obstacles popping up nearly every week. Both employers and employees have been struggling to navigate these new rules and find ways to obtain...more
In an effort to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and tap into available healthcare workers from around the world, on May 5, 2020 a group of six senators introduced bipartisan legislation which seeks to enhance the healthcare...more
6/23/2020
/ China ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Green Cards ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Immigrants ,
India ,
Lawful Permanent Residents ,
Nurses ,
Physicians ,
Proposed Legislation ,
USCIS
On Monday, June 22, 2020, President Donald Trump signed a “Proclamation Suspending Entry of Aliens Who Present a Risk to the U.S. Labor Market Following the Coronavirus Outbreak.” The Proclamation imposes significant...more
6/23/2020
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Foreign Workers ,
H-1B ,
H-2B ,
H-4 ,
Immigration ,
Immigration Procedures ,
J-1 Visas ,
L-1 Visas ,
L-2 Visas ,
Presidential Proclamations ,
Trump Administration
Late Monday night, April 20, 2020, President Trump made another sweeping immigration announcement without much detail, creating widespread panic around the globe. He posted on Twitter: “In light of the attack from the...more
With many employees now working remotely or from home, and with businesses’ operations significantly impacted by government restrictions and social distancing efforts, the American Immigration Lawyers Association has engaged...more
It’s strikingly apparent that the current global pandemic of COVID-19 is impacting travel and visa/immigration processes worldwide. As of right now, all USCIS processing centers for visa petitions remain open and...more
With the increasing reliance of U.S. employers on high-skilled foreign workers, particularly those on H-1B visas, it is important that employers remain aware of the makeup of their workforce and the additional obligations...more
New immigration policy requires all U.S. Consulates to review applicants’ public social media history, past e-mail addresses and recent phone numbers when adjudicating visa applications....more
As another H-1B cap season comes and goes, tens of thousands of hopeful employers and employees will again be informed that their H-1B visa petitions were not among the 85,000 selected in USCIS’s random lottery for processing...more
The denial rate for H-1B petitions spiked through the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2019 to over five times what the rate was just four years ago. That’s according to a report published by the National Foundation for American...more