The “Aligning Federal Contracting and Hiring Practices With the Interests of American Workers” Executive Order directs federal departments and agencies to conduct audits of federal contracts awarded in Fiscal Years 2018 and...more
Employers need to ready themselves for investigations from the Department of Labor (DOL) into the use of H-1B visas.
Without Congressional oversight or legislative changes, the Trump Administration has changed the policies...more
The White House has issued an amendment to the June 22, 2020, Presidential “Proclamation Suspending Entry of Aliens Who Present a Risk to the U.S. Labor Market Following the Coronavirus Outbreak” to clarify an issue regarding...more
The day before his previous Proclamation on immigrant visa was to expire, President Donald Trump signed the “Proclamation Suspending Entry of Aliens Who Present a Risk to the U.S. Labor Market Following the Coronavirus...more
6/24/2020
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Executive Orders ,
Foreign Workers ,
H-1B ,
H-2B ,
J-1 Visas ,
L-1 Visas ,
PERM ,
Presidential Proclamations ,
Trump Administration ,
Visas ,
Work Visas
As businesses begin to reopen after shutdowns to help stop the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, employers should anticipate heightened scrutiny by USCIS, ICE, and the Departments of Labor and Justice regarding wage and hour...more
Processing delays for immigration cases have increased by 46 percent in the past two fiscal years and 91 percent since FY 2014.
Businesses complain that they cannot obtain H-1B visas for key employees. Congress is looking...more
It is time to start preparing for the upcoming H-1B visa lottery, which begins April 1, 2020, and will be the first one to require an electronic registration for each case.
To be eligible to file a cap-subject H-1B...more
2/3/2020
/ Foreign Workers ,
H-1B ,
Highly-Skilled Workers Visa ,
Immigrants ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Lottery ,
OPT ,
STEM ,
USCIS ,
Visa Caps ,
Visas
Since 2017, USCIS under the Trump Administration has essentially directed its adjudicators to find ways to deny H-1B petitions. The most recent statistics on Requests for Evidence (RFEs) and denials certainly support this,...more
DHS has proposed a fee of $10 per H-1B petition. The agency considers this to be an “appropriate, nominal fee” to recover some costs involved.
In January 2019, DHS published the rule establishing an H-1B electronic...more
Employers have paid about $7 billion in H-1B fees over the past 10 years. Now, a new fee is coming – the electronic registration fee.
Electronic pre-registration for the H-1B lottery is set to begin for the 2020 cap...more
Long USCIS processing delays are now the norm for all types of immigration cases. Indeed, the delays have reached crisis levels. Processing times increased by 46% over the past two fiscal years and 91% since FY 2014.
...more
USCIS has announced on Twitter that there was an 11% increase from FY 2019 in H-1B advanced degree petitions selected in the FY 2020 lottery.
This year, USCIS reversed the lottery selection process. Master’s cap petitions...more
USCIS announced that as of April 10, 2019, it received 201,011 H-1B petitions for the FY 2020 cap season — more than enough to meet both the regular (65,000) and the advanced degree exemption (20,000) caps.
At the same...more
As the start of the H-1B cap season approaches, USCIS has clarified that not all of this year’s cap cases can be premium processed.
Despite its notice on March 12, USCIS has announced that only cap-subject H-1B petitions...more
While employers and immigration attorneys are preparing for the H-1B Cap Season, DHS has posted its Final Rule for a More Effective and Efficient H-1B Visa Program. The new rule will be published in the Federal Register on...more
Join attorneys from Jackson Lewis P.C. as we review critical changes in business immigration and employer compliance over the past year and focus on further changes that are expected, as well as strategies for coping with...more
1/15/2019
/ Continuing Legal Education ,
DACA ,
Executive Orders ,
Form I-9 ,
H-1B ,
H-4 Spouses ,
Immigrants ,
Immigration Enforcement ,
Notice to Appear ,
OPT ,
STEM ,
Temporary Protected Status ,
Trump Administration ,
Webinars
The Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has added Immigration Voice, a group that represents high-skilled foreign nationals, to defend the H-4 EAD Rule. Save Jobs USA v. United States Department of Homeland Security.
The...more
The Department of Homeland Security has published a much-anticipated notice of proposed rulemaking affecting the H-1B visa process. Public comments must be submitted by January 2, 2019....more
On April 6, 2018, USCIS announced that it reached the 65,000 H-1B visa cap for FY 2019, including the 20,000 U.S. advanced degree exemption known as the “master’s cap.” Every year since 2014, the cap has been reached during...more
Reports about the possible elimination of AC-21 extensions (for H-1B workers awaiting green cards) are now being denied by the government. The USCIS is attempting to quell fears caused by rumors that the Administration would...more
As part of the Trump Administration’s “Buy American, Hire American” Executive Order, the State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs (BCA) is joining with the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division to combat both...more
Following the “Buy American, Hire American” Executive Order, issued in April, the Attorney General and the Secretaries of State, Labor, and Homeland Security have made operational changes that emphasize targeted...more
President Donald Trump had campaigned on prioritizing and protecting the interests of American workers and reducing unlawful employment of aliens. In a draft Executive Order, “Protecting American Jobs and Workers by...more
3/2/2017
/ Employer Liability Issues ,
Executive Orders ,
Foreign Nationals ,
H-1B ,
Immigration Reform ,
PERM ,
Record Preservation ,
Temporary Work Visas ,
Trump Administration ,
Visas ,
Work Visas ,
Workplace Investigations
Perhaps anticipating an Executive Order from the White House on business immigration reforms, Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-Cal.), who represents Silicon Valley, has introduced a bill that calls for many reforms....more