It is almost time for employers to register their interest to sponsor a foreign national in H-1B status. Initial registration for the Fiscal Year 2024 H-1B cap will open at 12:00 p.m. EST on March 1, 2023 and close at 12:00...more
In response to the Omicron variant of COVID-19, the Biden Administration reinstated travel restrictions for certain foreign nationals through Presidential Proclamation 10315. This new measure is a reverse course of...more
Effective November 12, 2021, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) extended employment authorization for certain E, H, and L dependent spouses. Specifically, USCIS now recognizes that L and E dependent spouses...more
11/30/2021
/ Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Dependents ,
E-1 ,
E-2 ,
E-3 ,
Employment Authorization Documents (EAD) ,
Extensions ,
Form I-9 ,
Form I-94 ,
H-4 Spouses ,
I-140 ,
L-2 Visas ,
USCIS
Effective 12:01 a.m. today, Presidential Proclamation 10294 took effect. That Proclamation rescinds the pandemic geographic travel bans and instead implements certain COVID-19 vaccine requirements for all international air...more
U.S. employers generally must properly complete Form I-9 for each individual they hire for employment in the United States to verify the identify and employment authorization of that individual. As part of that process, the...more
Effective February 24, 2021, US Citizenship and Immigration Services will allow those filing a petition for E-3 status to request premium processing. E-3s are available only to nationals of Australia who are coming to the...more
On February 4, 2021, USCIS announced that it was delaying the effective date of the final rule that would have altered the way H-1Bs were allocated in the lottery process. See here. Under the rule entitled “Modification of...more
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently announced a six-month pilot program that will greatly expand not only the number of charges that are eligible for mediation, but also the time period in which...more
President Trump’s Proclamation suspending the entry of foreign nationals on certain employment based nonimmigrant visas into the United States takes effect at 12:01 EST on June 24, 2020. The Proclamation suspends the...more
Employers should take note of two major updates in the Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, world.
New Version of Form I-9:
From May 1, 2020 onwards, employers will only be permitted to use the Form I-9 with a...more
President Trump late yesterday signed a Proclamation Suspending Entry of Immigrants Who Present Risk to the U.S. Labor Market During the Economic Recovery Following the COVID-19 Outbreak...more
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced today changes to the Form I-9 process due to COVID-19...
Employers with employees taking physical proximity precautions due to COVID-19 will not be required to review the...more
On March 18, President Donald Trump signed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA” or the “Act”), taking a major step to provide paid leave to workers affected by COVID-19 and blunt the effects of the virus on...more
The Senate is expected to vote on an emergency bill early this week that will, among other things, dramatically expand the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) both in terms of coverage and mandating paid leave. Late last week...more
United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) has implemented a new process for the annual H-1B lottery. Employers wishing to file H-1B cap-subject petitions with a start date of October 1, 2020, must first submit...more
1/23/2020
/ Filing Deadlines ,
Filing Fees ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Foreign Workers ,
H-1B ,
Highly-Skilled Workers Visa ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Immigrants ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Lottery ,
USCIS ,
Visa Caps ,
Visas
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it’s implementing changes to the H-1B lottery system.
Per the December 9, 2019 final rule, employers filing cap-subject H-1B petitions in 2020 for...more
Although the federal Family & Medical Leave Act (FMLA) does not require employers to provide paid leave, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, signed late last year by President Trump, provides a tax credit incentive beginning this year...more
1/17/2018
/ Business Taxes ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
New Legislation ,
Paid Leave ,
Paid Time Off (PTO) ,
Popular ,
Tax Credits ,
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ,
Tax Deductions ,
Tax Rates ,
Tax Reform ,
Trump Administration
On July 17, 2017, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) released a revised version of Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification. The form is available here. Form I-9 is used for verifying the identity and...more
Companies that entered into qualifying federal contracts since January 1, 2017 are required to have a sick leave policy, or an equivalent paid time off policy, that complies with federal Executive Order 13706. That Executive...more
In an unprecedented development last week, a Federal District Judge in Hawaii issued a nationwide restraining order halting President Trump’s second travel ban. The successful challenge, brought by the State of Hawaii, once...more
3/20/2017
/ Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Executive Orders ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Foreign Workers ,
Green Cards ,
H-1B ,
Highly-Skilled Workers Visa ,
Immigrants ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Immigration Reform ,
International Travel ,
Lottery ,
Refugees ,
Terrorist Threats ,
Travel Ban ,
TRO ,
Trump Administration ,
USCIS ,
Vetting ,
Visas
Late on Friday, January 27, 2017, President Trump signed an Executive Order immediately suspending the ability of citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen to enter the United Sates for a period of 90...more
1/31/2017
/ Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Executive Orders ,
Green Cards ,
H-1B ,
Immigrants ,
Non-Immigrant Visas ,
Permanent Residence Cards ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Travel Ban ,
Trump Administration ,
Visa Interview Waiver Program (VIWP) ,
Visas
In one of the first reported cases of its kind, a federal district court in Texas recently dismissed federal claims brought under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (“ECPA”) and the Consumer Fraud & Abuse Act (“CFAA”)...more
On November 20, 2014, President Obama announced a series of executive immigration initiatives that will impact millions of individuals already in the United States and their current or future employers. Although the specific...more
The recent string of well-publicized data breaches has demonstrated that cyber criminals are targeting companies of all sizes and in all industries. Even companies with the most sophisticated security systems admit that the...more
In this three-minute video version of Workplace Word, Snell & Wilmer partner Rebecca Winterscheidt discusses several new Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) rules that will affect federal contractors’ and...more