Immigration Insights Podcast: International Entrepreneur Parole Program & Biometrics Requirement
The H-1B visa is among the most popular working visas in the U.S. for individuals filling professional positions. Most H-1B visas are subject to an annual quota or “cap.” Because demand exceeds the number of available visas,...more
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it completed its annual H-1B cap lottery selection process for fiscal year (FY) 2026. Given the high number of lottery registrations and fixed number of...more
By Samantha Wolfe The United States faces a critical shortage of healthcare professionals, particularly in rural areas. Hospitals, nursing homes, and clinics struggle to find qualified workers, leading to increased patient...more
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Announces FY 2026 H-1B Cap Registration Period U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it will hold the H-1B electronic registration process for the fiscal...more
As of July 1, 2024, the Foreign Labor Certification (FLC) Data Center website (FLCDataCenter.com) will be discontinued and will not be available for providing prevailing wage data for occupations. Prevailing wage information...more
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it has completed its annual H-1B cap lottery selection process for fiscal year 2025. Given the high number of lottery registrations and the fixed number of...more
The H-1B Electronic Registration Selection Process debuted in March 2020 for fiscal year 2021 H-1B cap-subject petitions. The barrier to entry dropped significantly with the introduction of the electronic registration...more
The increasing need for talented workers in the United States has more and more employers considering eliminating bachelor’s degree requirements from job descriptions. A recognition of the value of skills and experience over...more
Employers that employ foreign nationals have various notification requirements. Immigration cases that require LCA (Labor Condition Application) filings with the Department of Labor (DOL) before submitting petitions to USCIS...more
Unintended new job locations have always presented issues for employers with H-1B, H-1B1, and E-3 workers. However, the issues are even more common today, given employers’ remote work policies and continued changes thereto. ...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently affirmed an employer’s duty to comply with the attestations made under the Labor Condition Application (LCA) to pay its foreign national employee during the period of...more
A variety of U.S. work visas require employers to pay a certain salary to foreign workers whom they employ in the United States. But one employer was recently surprised by an appeals court ruling that it was required to...more
Years ago, people employed in manufacturing were seen as bit players in an industrial machine, but no longer. Many manufacturing jobs today require high-level STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) skills. ...more
The statutory limit of H-1Bs available per fiscal year is 65,000 for those who have a bachelor’s degree or equivalent, with 6,800 reserved for citizens of Chile and Singapore. An additional 20,000 are reserved for those who...more
Employers know that U.S. immigration laws are complex, and the Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) long processing delays – coupled with recent layoffs in the tech industry – have further complicated matters by adding new fact...more
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will soon announce the fiscal year 2024 H-1B registration period. This is an important time of the year for employers wishing to sponsor a candidate for a cap...more
It is no secret that certain sectors of U.S. employers have engaged in significant layoffs over the last six months. Meta—the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp—laid off more than 11,000 employees in November...more
On December 14, 2021, the Department of Labor (DOL) published a final rule that rescinds a previous DOL regulation implemented in January 2021. The January 2021 regulation would have led to a dramatic increase in prevailing...more
On October 7, 2020, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) announced an Interim Final Rule titled, “Strengthening Wage Protections for the Temporary and Permanent Employment of Certain Aliens in the United States” would go into...more
Federal agencies are providing leniency in light of the significant impact of Hurricane Ida on government operations, corporations, and those residing in the United States. Below we provide a summary of the flexibility that...more
The Department of Labor (DOL) has further postponed the effective date of its prevailing wage final rule to November 14, 2022. The final rule significantly increases prevailing wage requirements for permanent resident and...more
USCIS’s FY 2022 H-1B Cap Electronic Registration Begins Beginning 12:00 p.m. ET (9:00 a.m. PT) on March 9, 2021, until 12:00 p.m. ET (9:00 a.m. PT) on March 25, 2021, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) will...more
Executive Summary: USCIS has announced the timeline for the H-1B FY22 Cap Petition Cycle. Similar to last year, USCIS will require H-1B sponsor employers to register H-1B candidates online starting March 9, 2021. USCIS will...more
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it will hold the H-1B electronic registration process for the fiscal year 2022 H-1B cap (from which the annual H-1B lottery will be run). Registration begins at...more
On February 1, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) formally proposed delaying the implementation of its final rule, entitled “Strengthening Wage Protections for the Temporary and Permanent Employment of Certain Aliens in...more