DHS recently published amended regulations affecting certain highly skilled workers in specialty occupations from Chile, Singapore (H-1B1) and Australia (E-3), nonimmigrant workers in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI)-Only Transitional Worker (CW-1) classification and applicants seeking immigrant status in the employment-based first preference (EB-1) outstanding professor and researcher classification. The final rule, effective February 16, seeks to minimize the potential employment disruptions for U.S. employers of current employees in the H-1B1, E-3 and CW-1 classifications and to enable recruitment of outstanding professors and researchers by expanding types of acceptable evidence.
For H-1B1, E-3 and CW-1 workers, the new regulations authorize continued employment authorization for the sponsoring employer for up to 240 days beyond their status expiration with a timely filed extension of stay pending with USCIS (similar to provisions for H-1B, TN, L-1). Filing procedures for extension of stay and change of status requests have been updated to include the E-3 and H-1B1 nonimmigrant classifications.
Petitions for outstanding professors and researchers can now rely on a broader range of comparable evidence and substitute such comparable evidence for the currently listed evidence in 8 C.F.R. 204.5(i)(3)(i)(A)-(F). This flexibility now gives petitioners an ability to support their filings with a broader scope of materials to show their achievement and not limit petitioners to only the detailed list.
To access the final rule, please click here. The DHS announcement is available here. For more information on the H-1B1 and E-3 classifications and the EB-1 path to permanent residence, see our summaries here andhere, while the USCIS and DOS guidance can be found in each of the links below:
