On Tuesday, July 30, 2024, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it will conduct a second H-1B cap lottery. The agency will select an additional number of H-1B registrations from the remaining...more
On February 2, 2024, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will issue a final ruledesigned to improve the integrity of the H-1B registration program. The rule, titled, “Improving the H-1B Registration Selection Process...more
On January 31, 2024, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a final rule to adjust filing fees for most petitions and applications. The new fees take effect for petitions and applications filed...more
On December 12, 2023, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it has received a sufficient number of H-1B petitions to reach the annual quota of 85,000 new H-1B filings for the FY2024 H-1B cap for H-1B...more
On October 23, 2023, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that would significantly modify the H-1B visa program. According to the DHS announcement, the proposed rule would...more
10/24/2023
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Eligibility ,
Employment Eligibility Verification ,
Exemptions ,
F-1 Visa ,
FDNS ,
H-1B ,
Labor Condition Applications ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Quotas ,
USCIS ,
Visas
A SHRM article posted yesterday indicates that USCIS has discovered potential collusion among a number of technology companies to submit multiple H-1B registrations on behalf of the same beneficiaries. According to the...more
USCIS posted updates on the H-1B registration process to its registration portal between March 25, 2023, and today, March 27, 2023. As expected, USCIS has received more electronic H-1B cap registrations than available H-1B...more
A number of attorneys and employers have reported issues in accessing the USCIS online H-1B cap registration system at https://my.uscis.gov/. Most recently, a number of company representatives have been unable to access...more
According to a Bloomberg Law article, the Department of State (DOS) plans to pilot a program to allow for the renewals of certain nonimmigrant visas from within the U.S.
Nearly two decades ago, DOS ended the practice...more
On Friday, January 27, 2023, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that the online registration period for H-1B quota selection for the upcoming fiscal year will begin on March 1 at 12:00 pm (noon) Eastern...more
Employers may already be aware of existing state and city laws regarding “pay transparency,” which require certain employers to publish “pay scales” in job advertisements. These pay transparency laws generally require that a...more
It appears that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will not hold a second H-1B cap lottery. While no formal announcement has been made, USCIS has begun updating unselected H-1B cap registrations as “Not...more
USCIS posted updates on the H-1B registration process to its registration portal on March 26 and 27, 2022. As expected, USCIS has received more electronic H-1B cap registrations than available H-1B numbers under the quota of...more
Employers are reminded that the online registration period for H-1B quota selection for the upcoming fiscal year will begin on March 1 at 12:00 pm (noon) Eastern Standard Time and run through 12:00 pm (noon) Eastern Standard...more
On January 31, 2022, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) began issuing I-94 forms with new designations for L-2 and E visa dependents. The new designations for L-2 and E dependent spouses specifically will serve as evidence...more
On December 28, 2021, the Biden administration issued a proclamation that revoked the travel ban for individuals who had been present in eight countries in Southern Africa. At this time, there are no longer any...more
On December 14, 2021, the Department of Labor (DOL) published a final rule that rescinds a previous DOL regulation implemented in January 2021. The January 2021 regulation would have led to a dramatic increase in prevailing...more
Since the publication of our November 12, 2021 alert, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued policy guidance following the November 10, 2021 settlement agreement and updated the I-9 Handbook providing for...more
11/30/2021
/ Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Dependents ,
E-1 ,
E-2 ,
E-3 ,
Employment Authorization Documents (EAD) ,
Extensions ,
H-4 ,
H-4 Spouses ,
L-2 Visas ,
National Security ,
USCIS
On November 26, 2021, the Biden administration issued a proclamation that bans travel to the U.S. for individuals who have been present in a number of countries in southern Africa within the past 14 days. The travel ban takes...more
On September 20, 2021, the White House announced that it will be revamping travel restrictions for international travelers entering the United States. These changes will take effect in early November, 2021. The new policy...more
April 30, 2021, the Biden administration announced that it will ban travel to the U.S. for individuals who have been present in India within the past 14 days. According to multiple news reports, the administration will make a...more
It has been widely reported that President Biden will not renew the June 2020 Presidential Proclamation, which restricted the entry of H-1B, H-2B, L-1, and certain J-1 travelers into the United States. This nonimmigrant visa...more
4/5/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Foreign Nationals ,
H-1B ,
H-2B ,
Immigration Procedures ,
J-1 Visas ,
L-1 Visas ,
Non-Immigrant Visas ,
USCIS ,
Visas
On March 30, 2021, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) provided the following updates on the H-1B cap registration process...more
On March 2, 2021, the Department of State issued updated guidance on the National Interest Exception (NIE) for the COVID-related travel ban to the United States from individuals who are in the Schengen Area, the U.K. or...more
On Thursday, January 14, the Department of Labor (DOL) published a regulation which will significantly increase prevailing wage requirements effective July 2021....more