PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - DOL’s Guidance on Continued COVID-19 Timeframe Relief
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - COVID-19 Edition - Deadline Extensions Impacting HIPAA, COBRA and ERISA
What's Next for the Paycheck Protection Program? by Lindsey Berwick and John Wittenberg
If you have been following immigration news and are wondering how changes in Washington might affect your workforce, you are not alone. Senate Joint Resolution 8 (S.J. Res. 8) in the 119th Congress aims to undo a USCIS...more
Good news for those applying for or with pending Employment Authorization Document (EAD) renewals. DHS is temporarily reinstituting its 540-day automatic extension of work authorization for eligible individuals....more
UPDATE: Employers should be advised that USCIS has extended the H-1B CAP registration period for FY2025. The registration period was initially set to close at 12:00 pm EST on March 22, 2024, but has now been extended to 12:00...more
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has extended the agency’s deadline to register candidates for the fiscal year (FY) 2025 H-1B cap lottery, providing additional time for companies and attorneys to complete the...more
Maryland health care employers and J-1 physicians who commit to serve the underserved in Maryland and who missed Conrad 30 waiver application deadline Dec. 1 are in luck: The Maryland Department of Health (MDH) has reopened...more
On July 12, 2023, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) added eight new qualifying fields of study to the STEM Designated Degree Program List. F-1 nonimmigrant students who complete certain programs of study in the...more
USCIS has proposed raising its filing fees – and the burden of those increased fees will fall primarily on employers large and small. For example, the filing fee for an H-1B visa would be raised by 70% from $460 to $780....more
USCIS is extending the validity of conditional permanent residence cards, or green cards, for 48 months beyond the card’s expiration date. The move is in response to the long processing delays for those filing petitions to...more
USCIS has recently announced important immigration policies involving COVID-19, H-4 and L-2 applications, EB-1 and EB-2 Form 1-140 petitions, F-1 students, and permanent resident cards (“green cards”)....more
On October 11, 2022, the Department of Homeland Security (DSH), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), announced that an extension of the Form I-9 flexibilities first announced in March 2020 and updated in March...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. Department of State’s June 2022 Visa Bulletin reflects a significant advancement in the EB-2 India category. This has provided an opportunity for many applicants for permanent residence to move forward with the...more
The Department of Homeland Security announced that, effective May 4, 2022, the government was temporarily extending the automatic extension period for certain I-765 Employment Authorization Documents (EADs). Currently,...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
Normally, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) regulations provide for an automatic extension period of up to 180 days from the expiration date stated on the Employment Authorization Document (EAD) for applicants...more
On Tuesday, May 3, 2022, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced a Temporary Final Rule (TFR) that increases the automatic extension period for certain Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) for up to...more
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently issued policy guidance addressing the automatic extension of status for H-4, L-2, and E dependent spouses in response to the settlement of a class action lawsuit. ...more
On November 10, 2021, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reached a settlement in the class action Shergill v. Mayorkas. As part of the settlement, USCIS agreed to update its policy relating to H-4 and L-2...more
On November 12, 2021, USCIS issued a new policy that automatically extends employment authorization for dependent spouses in L-2 and E-1/E-2/E-3 status. The new policy also automatically extended employment authorization for...more
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reached a settlement agreement on November 10, 2021, to allow automatic extensions of employment authorization for certain H-4 and L dependent spouses. Additionally, on November...more
On November 12, 2021, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued policy guidance addressing the automatic extension of employment authorization for H-4, L-2, and E dependent spouses in response to a class action...more
On November 12, 2021, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) issued policy guidance to automatically extend employment authorization (“EAD”) for H-4, E, and L nonimmigrant dependent spouses under certain...more
In our Nov. 11 client alert, we described the dramatic and beneficial changes to the employment authorization rules affecting dependent spouses of certain nonimmigrant visa holders. On Nov. 12, U.S. Citizenship and...more
Employment Authorization Policy for Nonimmigrant Dependent Spouses On November 10, 2021, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reached a settlement in a landmark case, which provided structural changes for...more
On November 12, 2021, USCIS updated its Policy Manual to permit H-4, E and L nonimmigrant dependent spouses to receive automatic extension of employment authorization in certain circumstances. Earlier in the week, USCIS...more