Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, agencies involved in the implementation and enforcement of immigration law have relaxed certain filing and other requirements.
The federal government intends to...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
The U.S. Department of State has indicated that it will establish a pilot program that will allow some non-immigrant visa holders to get their visas renewed without having to leave the United States.
The information came...more
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has expanded premium processing to certain I-140 petitions, and premium processing of certain I-765 and I-539 applications is expected to be in place this spring....more
The annual H-1B cap season has begun for Fiscal Year 2024. Once again, there will be a two-step process – the registration step and then, if the registration is selected in the H-1B cap lottery, the petition step. Now is the...more
Last week, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced “Process Enhancements for Supporting Labor Enforcement Investigations.” Employers beware. This new process increases the likelihood that undocumented workers will...more
1/20/2023
/ Corporate Counsel ,
DACA ,
Deferred Action ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
EEO ,
Employment Authorization Documents (EAD) ,
Exploitation ,
Foreign Workers ,
Investigations ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Prosecutorial Discretion ,
Undocumented Immigrants ,
Wage and Hour
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking with fee increases for immigration filings. Under the proposed rule, the most dramatic increases would apply to employment-based...more
Effective 12:01 a.m. Eastern Time on Thursday, most air travelers from the People’s Republic of China coming to the United States (directly or indirectly) will have to present proof of a negative test for COVID-19 before...more
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has affirmed a lower court ruling that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program is invalid. According to the appeals court, the DACA program was...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
I-9 flexibility for remote workers is being extended again – through July 31, 2023 – but, it appears, only for safety precautions due to COVID-19.
The U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and Department of Homeland...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 announced last week that it has reached the caps for the Fiscal Year 2023 regular and master’s (advanced degree) H-1B lotteries and has sent non-selection notifications to the...more
The Social Security Administration has discontinued its COVID-19 extended timetable for employees to take action to resolve Social Security mismatches. The changes apply to anyone whose E-Verify case was referred to the SSA...more
We are monitoring any developments regarding the Respect for Marriage Act – and employers should be prepared to act quickly to review any impact on their employment policies and benefits plans....more
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, agencies involved in the implementation and enforcement of immigration law have relaxed certain filing and other requirements.
The U.S. Citizenship and...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
As a result of a new Order from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, international air passengers to the United States will no longer have to be tested for COVID-19 or show documentation of recovery from COVID...more
This week, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that it would soon expand the availability of premium processing for certain petitions that have already been filed.
...more
Before the change, individuals applying for nonimmigrant visas had to be interviewed at a U.S. embassy or consulate. However, the operations of U.S. embassies and consulates were curtailed as a result of COVID-19, including...more
On Wednesday, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services issued a Temporary Final Rule to address the long delays in the approval of Employment Authorization Document renewal applications. Hundreds of thousands of foreign...more
In March 2020, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement relaxed some of the I-9 compliance requirements because of the COVID-19 pandemic. One of these “flexibilities” ended this...more
5/3/2022
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Eligibility Verification ,
Foreign Workers ,
Form I-9 ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Immigrants ,
Inspections ,
Remote Working ,
Time Extensions ,
USCIS
Delays in the processing of petitions and applications filed with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services have long plagued our immigration system. But that may improve before long.
The USCIS recently announced...more
In 2020, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security relaxed some of the I-9 compliance requirements because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Recently, the DHS announced that one of these I-9 compliance flexibilities would end on April...more