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
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
Equal Pay Transparency (EPT) laws have been passed in several states and localities, potentially impacting the permanent employment certification (PERM)/H-1B labor condition application (LCA) process for employers conducting...more
As employers make adjustments to incorporate Remote Work Policies in a post-COVID world, employers with a foreign workforce must also carefully consider antiquated immigration rules for their Work from Home (WFH) workforce....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
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
The H-1B “lottery” will soon be upon us. Here are some action steps employers seeking an H-1B visa can take now to prepare. H-1B Lottery Overview - The number of new H-1Bs available for most employers each year is...more
On January 12, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced an updated final rule designed to increase prevailing wages required for certain visa processes. The updated rule, entitled “Strengthening Wage Protections for...more
Effective June 30, 2021, the US Department of Labor will determine the prevailing wage for permanent labor certifications and labor condition applications based on a new formula for computing prevailing wage levels, resulting...more
In a major blow to the Trump administration, a federal court recently struck down two immigration rules that would limit the ability of skilled foreign workers to obtain H-1B visas. In a December 1 ruling, the U.S. District...more
The Trump administration published two new regulations on October 8, 2020, that make significant changes to the H-1B visa rules and to the prevailing wage requirements for PERM labor certification applications as well as...more
On October 8, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published an Interim Final Rule (IFR) that impacts prevailing wage programs for H-1B, H-1B1, and E-3 temporary classifications, as well as for certain permanent residence...more
The U.S. Departments of Labor (DOL) and Homeland Security (DHS) published interim final rules yesterday that amend regulations governing prevailing wage computation and the definition of “specialty occupation” in the H-1B...more
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) have released two new interim final rules affecting immigration. Both rules immediately impact skilled foreign workers in the H-1B specialty...more
Seyfarth Blog Synopsis: In today’s posting we discuss the impact that COVID-19 related changes in working conditions, furloughs and layoffs have on businesses with employees currently working on H-1B, H-1B1 or E-3 work...more
An IT consulting company based in Southern California recently paid $48,193 to one employee after the Department of Labor (DOL)’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) found that the company violated provisions of the H-1B visa...more
A staffing and recruiting company based in El Segundo, California recently paid $58,815 in fines to two H-1B workers after an investigation by the Department of Labor (DOL)’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) found that the...more
Citing a rise in the use of electronic communications in the workplace and an increase in the number of employers providing documents to employees electronically, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division issued a...more
A USDOL Administrative Law Judge has held that an H-1B employer violated the H-1B Labor Condition Application by reducing an H-1B worker’s hours from full-time to part-time, with a corresponding decrease in wages, without...more
As of December 20, 2018, media reports indicate that President Trump does not intend to sign the stopgap funding bill that the U.S. Senate recently passed. If it is left unsigned, the risk of a partial government shutdown...more
To boost innovation and remain competitive, employers often have no option but to sponsor foreign nationals for H-1B work visas to meet their labor needs, especially when it comes to workers in science, technology,...more
With the Trump Administration taking office, it is expected that changes to immigration policies will be carried out swiftly and, to a large extent, in an unapologetically straightforward manner. While the initial public...more
As we head into the final month before petitions for H-1B visas must be filed for Fiscal Year 2017, employers should keep the following information in mind: FEIN Validation - If an employer has not filed a labor...more
In a move likely to elicit equal parts appreciation and exasperation among the employer community, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued guidance on the need to file an amended H-1B petition when there is a...more