With an incoming administration vocal about its stance on immigration enforcement and safeguarding U.S. workers, employers who hire foreign workers on H-1B visas should make certain that they are maintaining compliance with...more
Please join senior attorneys from Gibney’s Immigration Practice Group for a live virtual panel discussion to review the outlook for business immigration in 2025. The panel will highlight potential changes at the executive,...more
1. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Launched Online Appointment Request Form - On August 21, USCIS launched a new online form for individuals to request in-person appointments at their local field offices....more
Employers seeking to sponsor candidates for initial H-1B sponsorship should note that the H-1B electronic registration dates have been announced by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). USCIS has announced that...more
Employers seeking to sponsor candidates for initial H-1B sponsorship (commonly known as "H-1B CAP") should begin preparing for the H-1B electronic registration process. Although the U.S. Citizenship and Immigrations Services...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
As we mentioned in an earlier list of fascinating facts about I-9 compliance and immigration law, it’s a landscape that’s continually shifting – especially on the global front. ...more
On January 31, 2019, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a final rule making significant changes to the H-1B CAP lottery process. This rule added an electronic registration requirement for employers...more
Burnt into the psyche of all who have participated in the H-1 cap process was the April 1 deadline to file petitions. However, if the new USCIS protocol is implemented (and it seems that it is happening) April 1 will no...more
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will accept new H-1B petitions subject to the annual quota for fiscal year 2021 (FY2021) in early 2020 with a new preregistration system being implemented starting March 1,...more
On December 6, 2019, USCIS announced that it officially plans to implement the electronic H-1B registration process for petitioners seeking to submit H-1B cap-subject petitions for FY 2021....more
Earlier this month the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act (H.R. 1044), an act that would radically change the way employment-based immigrant visas are allocated by eliminating...more
On July 10, 2019, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 1044, the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act of 2019, by a vote of 365 to 65. The bill is intended to reduce lengthy immigrant visa (green card) wait times...more
The Immigration and Nationality Act and H-1B regulations require employers to notify their U.S. employees of their intent to hire H-1B nonimmigrant workers in connection with filing an H-1B Labor Condition Application....more
The H-1B season is in full swing. Although U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) has proposed changes to the H-1B, the process remains largely the same for this year. ...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
Every year, U.S. employers seeking highly skilled foreign professionals submit their petitions to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) with the hope of receiving an H-1B number. Since 1990, Congress has limited...more
The Trump Administration has passed no new immigration legislation or regulation. However, the administration’s stated focus on protecting the American worker, as articulated in its 2017 Buy American and Hire American...more
We are in the final weeks of H-1B Cap Season for Fiscal Year 2019. All H-1B petitions must be submitted with a Labor Condition Application (LCA) which can take seven (7) days or more for the Department of Labor (DOL) to...more
Employers seeking to sponsor H-1B workers for Fiscal Year 2019 can begin filing petitions on April 2, 2018 (April 1 is a Sunday), for a start date of October 1, 2018. ...more
The beginning of the calendar year is the perfect time for employers to begin planning for the FY2019 H-1B cap filing season, which will begin on Monday, April 2, 2018....more
As mentioned in our last blog post, H-1B petitions filed during 2017 were subjected to a dramatic and unprecedented increase in scrutiny by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (“USCIS”). As a result, thousands of...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: If Congress fails to pass a funding bill by midnight on Friday, April 28, resulting in a federal government shutdown, it would trigger numerous immigration-related ripple effects on employers, both large...more
In connection with the Trump Administration’s desire to crack-down on its perceived misuse of the H-1B visa category, various U.S. government agencies have announced a coordinated effort in re-interpreting regulations as well...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