Massachusetts has recently enacted its own pay transparency statute. These statutes vary from state to state, but they generally require that employers disclose the actual salary or salary range that the applicant or internal...more
Massachusetts is expected to enact its own pay transparency statute any day now. These statutes vary from state to state, but they generally require that employers disclose the actual salary or salary range that the applicant...more
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has issued helpful guidance (available here and here) on how to apply for employment authorization documents based on compelling circumstances.
When a foreign national applies...more
With waits for green cards of up to 10 years, many foreign professionals have faced the nightmare scenario in which their children reach age 21 before the children receive their green cards, meaning that they age out of the...more
One of the most common types of employment-based green card sponsorships requires PERM labor certification. But do employers have to comply with applicable pay transparency laws when making their PERM recruitment efforts? At...more
It is a happy day when a foreign national becomes a Lawful Permanent Resident of the United States and gets a Permanent Resident Card, commonly referred to as a “green card.” Permanent resident status provides important...more
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has been making significant efforts to prevent the loss of available employment-based visa numbers for Fiscal Year 2022, as we reported in July.
The good news is that the...more
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services reports that in the last fiscal year, 66,781 employment-based immigrant (Permanent Resident/Green Card) visas went unused and were “lost.” The USCIS is trying to prevent such a...more
Effective October 1, COVID-19 vaccination will be included in the list of vaccines that are required as part of the medical examination that is an integral part of applying for a “green card.” The Centers for Disease Control...more
We recently commented that the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has been making changes that were consistent with the Biden Administration’s plans to make the operation of the immigration system more efficient and...more
With the consent of the U.S. Department of Labor, a federal judge in San Francisco has vacated final regulations issued by the Trump Administration that would have significantly increased the “prevailing wage” that would...more
For the last year, the fate of the Public Charge Rule, which expanded the ability of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to deny green cards to lower-income foreign nationals, has been uncertain. In addition to the...more
3/17/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Dismissals ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Green Cards ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Interim Guidance ,
Joe Biden ,
Low-Income Issues ,
Medicaid ,
Permanent Residence Cards ,
Public Charge ,
Request for Evidence (RFEs) ,
SCOTUS ,
SNAP Program ,
USCIS
This is an update to what we reported in December on the status of the “Public Charge Rule.” The rule remains in effect, but it is likely to either be rescinded by the Biden Administration or enjoined by a court. In the...more
2/22/2021
/ Appellate Courts ,
Attorney General ,
Biden Administration ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Executive Orders ,
Green Cards ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Public Charge ,
SCOTUS ,
Secretary of State ,
USCIS
The U.S. Department of Labor has again issued a final rule on the computation of prevailing wage levels for high-skilled foreign workers. The rule is intended to replace a prevailing wage rule issued in October that was...more
Thursday, the Trump Administration published in the Federal Register two new Interim Final Rules designed to reduce significantly the number of H-1B workers in the United States. They are-
•A rule from the U.S. Department...more
10/12/2020
/ Comment Period ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Federal Register ,
Green Cards ,
H-1B ,
Interim Final Rules (IFR) ,
Prevailing Wages ,
Software Developers ,
Trump Administration ,
USCIS
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is poised to implement new filing fees on October 2, under regulations published in the Federal Register on August 3. However, two lawsuits were filed in federal court about a...more
There have been many immigration policy changes in 2018 that affect employers directly or indirectly. Most importantly, there has been a significant shift to a more restrictive immigration philosophy that has affected the...more
12/20/2018
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Foreign Workers ,
Green Cards ,
H-1B ,
H-4 Spouses ,
Immigrants ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Registration Requirement ,
STEM ,
Temporary Protected Status ,
Travel Ban ,
Trump Administration ,
USCIS
On Sunday, the day that most of President Trump’s March 6 revised travel ban expired, he issued a broader, more nuanced Proclamation as a travel ban. The Proclamation applies to eight nations - Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and...more
On Friday, President Trump signed the Executive Order “Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States.” A weekend of chaos at the nation’s airports ensued, at least four courts enjoined parts of the...more
1/31/2017
/ Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Executive Orders ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Green Cards ,
Immigrants ,
Iran ,
Iraq ,
Libya ,
Refugees ,
Somalia ,
Sudan ,
Syria ,
Travel Ban ,
Trump Administration ,
Visas ,
Yemen