Following his inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025, President Trump issued a number of immigration-related Executive Orders (EOs) sure to have impact on employers and their business operations. So far, the focus in the media has...more
1/30/2025
/ Citizenship ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Authorization Documents (EAD) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Executive Orders ,
Foreign Workers ,
Green Cards ,
H-1B ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Migrants ,
Temporary Protected Status ,
Trump Administration ,
Undocumented Immigrants ,
USCIS ,
Vetting ,
Visas
As many expected, President Donald Trump has not only issued Executive Orders (EOs), but he has also rescinded many EOs issued by the Biden Administration concerning immigration, including the following: “The Restoring Faith...more
1/24/2025
/ Biden Administration ,
Compliance ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Donald Trump ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Enforcement ,
Executive Orders ,
Foreign Workers ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Immigration Reform ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Rescission ,
Trump Administration ,
USCIS ,
Visas
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) updated its policy guidance on Jan. 15, 2025, to clarify how it will evaluate candidates’ eligibility for second preference employment based (EB-2) immigrant visa with a...more
This order directs federal agencies to refuse to recognize U.S. citizenship for children born in the United States to mothers in the country illegally, or who are present in the United States on non-immigrant visas, if the...more
1/21/2025
/ Cartels ,
Catch and Release ,
Customs and Border Protection ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Executive Orders ,
Foreign Workers ,
Immigrants ,
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ,
Immigration Enforcement ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Immigration Reform ,
Ports of Entry ,
Refugees ,
Terrorist Organizations ,
Trump Administration ,
USCIS ,
Vetting ,
Visas
The Department of State (DOS) revised the J-1 Skills List, which lists home countries to which foreign nationals are subject to a two-year foreign home residency requirement.
•The 37 countries that have been removed from...more
1/15/2025
/ Foreign Nationals ,
Foreign Workers ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Immigration Reform ,
International Relations ,
J-1 Visas ,
Non-Immigrant Visas ,
Policy Updates ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Residency Requirements ,
US Department of State ,
USCIS ,
Visas
The Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) Proposed Rule to add new occupations to the Schedule A list is “dead,” at least for now. Stakeholders see this as a disappointment and a missed opportunity.
•The failure to move forward...more
1/14/2025
/ Biden Administration ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Final Rules ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Foreign Workers ,
H-1B ,
Immigrants ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Labor Reform ,
Labor Shortage ,
PERM ,
Proposed Rules ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
STEM ,
Trump Administration ,
USCIS
On Dec. 18, 2024, USCIS released the Modernizing H-1B Requirements, Providing Flexibility in the F-1 Program, and Program Improvements Affecting Other Nonimmigrant Workers Final Rule. First proposed in October 2023, the Biden...more
In January 2025, the settlement agreement that returned USCIS to its practice of “bundling” adjudication of extensions of stay and applications for employment authorization documents (EADs) for dependent spouses of H-1B and...more
The Schedule A list of occupations that do not require the employer to conduct a labor market test (a PERM labor certification) as part of a green card application process has not been updated in at least 20 years. Almost a...more
By September 30, 2023, Congress will again have to fund the government. Despite ongoing efforts by the administration and Congress, indications are that a shutdown may occur at the beginning of the fiscal year, on October 1....more
Proper completion of the Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9 is one of the most important responsibilities of employers, including retailers, at the beginning of the hiring process. Saying it learned from the...more
8/8/2023
/ E-Verify ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Eligibility Verification ,
Foreign Workers ,
Form I-9 ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Immigrants ,
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Required Forms ,
USCIS
On July 21, 2023, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced a final rule, which will be officially published on July 25, 2023, that will provide eligible employers filling out the Employment Eligibility Verification...more
7/24/2023
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
E-Verify ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Eligibility Verification ,
Foreign Workers ,
Form I-9 ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Required Forms ,
USCIS
The H-1B cap season for Fiscal Year 2024 is fast approaching. USCIS announced on January 27th that cap registration begins on March 1st. Employers should assess their hiring needs and determine if they will sponsor foreign...more
On April 18, 2022, USCIS announced that it had received 483,927 registrations for the FY 2023 H-1B Cap. This is the largest number ever received – almost 200,000 more than the total count of 308,613 for FY 2022....more
Just as the Biden Administration is proposing increased funding for USCIS to help reduce the agency’s backlog, USCIS is announcing future new actions to improve processing times....more
Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Alejandro N. Mayorkas has issued a policy directive to immediately discontinue mass worksite enforcement operations.
These involve large-scale law enforcement...more
10/13/2021
/ Audits ,
Customs and Border Protection ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Foreign Workers ,
Form I-9 ,
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ,
NLRB ,
Trump Administration ,
USCIS
Once again, at the last moment, ICE has extended “flexibility” for I-9 employment verification. This time, for four more months, until the end of the year, December 31, 2021, due to continuing COVID-19 precautions...more
ICE has announced that I-9 flexibility will be continued for another 60 days, until May 31, 2021. Here is ICE’s full announcement.
With this extension, ICE specifically noted that employees hired on or after April 1,...more
Once again, ICE has announced a further extension of flexibility in its rules related to I-9 compliance. The extension will continue through March 31, 2021.
This means that:
•Employers may continue to inspect Section...more
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced it is implementing an electronic registration process in the next H-1B visa lottery. Employers seeking to file fiscal year 2021 H-1B cap-subject petitions...more
On December 6, 2019, USCIS announced it is implementing the registration process in the next H-1B lottery. H-1B employers have been awaiting confirmation of and details regarding the new registration process for H-1B...more
A merger or acquisition in the works means not only needing to determine whether any acquired foreign nationals (including key employees) will be able to transfer seamlessly into the new entity, but also what to do about...more
Since at least 2013, there have been efforts to make the Conrad 30 J-1 visa waiver program for physicians permanent. But that has not happened and it continues to be necessary to reauthorize the program every year....more
Further to President Donald Trump’s Buy American and Hire American executive order, which directs the DHS to protect the interests of U.S. workers and make sure that there is no fraud, abuse, or circumvention of the laws,...more