As part of our Spotlight series, we invited Shannon Donnelly, a partner in our Washington, DC office who works with clients on a wide range of complex global immigration and mobility issues, to discuss the proposed H1B...more
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently released a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) with respect to the regulations governing the H-1B nonimmigrant visa classification. The proposed rule seeks to improve the...more
A federal government shutdown will impact some, but not all, US immigration and visa programs. The principal distinction is between those programs that are fee-funded and those that rely on congressional appropriations for...more
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced on May 4, 2023 that employers will have until August 30, 2023 to complete the physical inspection of identity and...more
With the recent announcement from the Biden administration that the COVID-19 national and public health emergencies will end this May, the temporary US Department of Homeland Security guidance that permitted businesses...more
A new travel policy requiring foreign nationals traveling to the United States to demonstrate proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 will take effect November 8, as announced by the White House on October 15. The accepted...more
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has extended a policy permitting acceptance of remote employment eligibility verification in limited circumstances through December 31, 2021.
On August 31, the day the current...more
Effective June 30, 2021, the US Department of Labor will determine the prevailing wage for permanent labor certifications and labor condition applications based on a new formula for computing prevailing wage levels, resulting...more
1/13/2021
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
E-3 ,
Foreign Workers ,
H-1B ,
H-1B1 ,
Immigrants ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Labor Condition Applications ,
PERM ,
Prevailing Wages ,
Wage and Hour
A policy permitting acceptance of remote verification in limited circumstances has been extended 30 days through August 19.
The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced on July 18 that it has extended the...more
Via its verified Twitter account, the US Department of State confirmed, “If you were in the US on June 24th but left and your visa expired, you are not subject to the Proclamation [and] may renew your visa before December 31,...more
The US Department of Homeland Security and US Customs and Immigration Enforcement have announced extensions of previously implemented measures and flexibilities relating to coronavirus (COVID-19), specifically nonessential...more
President Donald Trump on June 22 issued an amendment to the Presidential Proclamation previously released in April, which suspended the admission of immigrant aliens to the United States. The amendment limits entry into the...more
The US Department of Homeland Security published new instructions on Form I-9 completion for employees with expired identity documentation on May 1, 2020, as well as a revised employer Form I-9 handbook. ...more
5/13/2020
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
E-Verify ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Eligibility Verification ,
Foreign Workers ,
Form I-9 ,
Handbooks ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Immigrants ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Required Forms ,
USCIS
President Donald Trump signed a proclamation on April 22 suspending entry into the United States of certain groups of immigrants who would otherwise be eligible to enter the United States as permanent residents....more
In light of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, here are some questions for employers to consider with regard to Form I-9 compliance. Have government agencies announced any relaxation of the rules related to Form I-9...more
3/17/2020
/ China ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Crisis Management ,
E-Verify ,
Emergency Management Plans ,
Employment Eligibility Verification ,
Form I-9 ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Immigrants ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Public Health ,
Telecommuting ,
Workplace Safety
President Donald Trump expanded the ban on March 14 on US admissions to include all individuals who have traveled to the United Kingdom and/or Ireland during the 14-day period preceding their anticipated entry to the country....more
3/16/2020
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Crisis Management ,
Emergency Management Plans ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Health and Safety ,
Immigrants ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Public Health ,
Screening Procedures ,
Travel Ban ,
Travel Restrictions ,
Trump Administration
In the March 2020 Visa Bulletin issued by the US Department of State, EB-2 worldwide employment-based classifications, excluding China and India, remain available and current; the Dates for Filing Chart sees no advancement;...more
2/26/2020
/ China ,
EB-2 ,
EB-3 ,
El Salvador ,
Filing Deadlines ,
Final Action ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Foreign Workers ,
Guatemala ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Honduras ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Immigration Reform ,
India ,
Mexico ,
Philippines ,
US Department of State ,
Vietnam ,
Visa Applications ,
Visa Bulletins ,
Visas
The outbreak of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) has created a number of questions and compliance challenges for employers in the United States as well as across the globe. This is a fluid and rapidly changing...more
2/5/2020
/ Airline Passengers ,
Airplane Accidents ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
China ,
Confidential Information ,
Customs and Border Protection ,
Discrimination ,
Emergency Management Plans ,
Emergency Response ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Foreign Nationals ,
General Duty Clause ,
Harassment ,
Health and Safety ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Incident Response Plans ,
Infectious Diseases ,
International Travel ,
Labor Regulations ,
Medical Records ,
OSHA ,
Personal Protective Equipment ,
PHI ,
Public Health ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Risk Management ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Screening Procedures ,
Travel Restrictions ,
Traveling Employee ,
Workplace Illness and Injury Reporting ,
Workplace Safety ,
World Health Organization
A new US Department of State policy that took effect on January 24 makes it more difficult for pregnant women to obtain B nonimmigrant visas to visit the United States if the consular officer has reason to believe that the...more
1/30/2020
/ ESTA ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Immigration Reform ,
Non-Immigrant Visas ,
Path To Citizenship ,
Pregnancy ,
Tourism ,
US Department of State ,
Visa Applications ,
Visa Waiver Program ,
Visas
Now is the time for employers to begin assessing their FY2021 H-1B needs. Employers should review the immigration status of their current and potential foreign national employees and identify any individuals for whom H-1B...more
The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on November 7 that it has issued the final rule requiring payment of a $10 nonrefundable fee for each H-1B registration upon implementation of the new electronic...more
Now is the time for employers to assess their FY2020 H-1B needs and start preparing their petitions for submission on April 1. It is very likely that the cap for H-1B petitions will be reached in early April of this year, so...more
A registration program proposed by US Citizenship and Immigration Services would eliminate the need for paper filings prior to the lottery process for cap-subject H-1B petitions, and increase the chance of selection for...more
US Citizenship and Immigration Services has announced without warning that it will extend its suspension of premium processing for cap-subject H-1B petitions and, beginning September 11, expand it to include additional H-1B...more
The announcement from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services came as a surprise and could create significant uncertainty for H-1B petitioners and the beneficiaries of cap-subject H-1B petitions....more