An agreement between the IRS and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) allows immigration officers to access certain taxpayer return information during criminal investigations. The move may raise concerns for...more
5/22/2025
/ Data Privacy ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Executive Orders ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ,
Immigration Enforcement ,
Immigration Procedures ,
IRS ,
Personal Information ,
Privacy Laws ,
Tax Returns ,
Trump Administration
The indictment this week of the owners of a Texas bakery on harboring charges is proof that the Trump administration has made immigration enforcement a top priority, targeting both unauthorized foreign nationals and the...more
3/5/2025
/ Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Foreign Workers ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Trump Administration ,
USCIS
An executive order by President Trump is set to reshape immigration procedures, increasing security screening, and tightening visa processing. Employers of foreign nationals should prepare for delays in employee travel to the...more
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has officially announced the FY2026 H-1B Cap Registration dates. Below is a summary of some information that you should know:...more
Immigration enforcement has quickly become a pressing issue for employers in the first few weeks of the Trump administration, and many companies are re-evaluating their policies, reviewing their I-9 compliance and preparing...more
2/11/2025
/ Compliance ,
Criminal Penalties ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Eligibility Verification ,
Employment Policies ,
Foreign Workers ,
Form I-9 ,
Immigrants ,
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Penalties ,
USCIS ,
Wage and Hour
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will no longer follow guidelines that once limited immigration enforcement in so-called “protected” or “sensitive” locations. The change stems from President Trump’s Executive Order...more
2/7/2025
/ Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Educational Institutions ,
Employment Policies ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Executive Orders ,
FERPA ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Immigrants ,
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Immigration Reform ,
Warrants
The Office of Management and Budget issued a vaguely worded memorandum on Jan. 27, 2025, ordering a blanket freeze (with very limited exceptions) in all federal grants, federal loans, and other forms of federal financial...more
2/3/2025
/ Compliance ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Rights ,
Employees ,
Employment Litigation ,
Federal Funding ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
H-1B ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Layoffs ,
OMB ,
State Labor Laws ,
Termination ,
Wage and Hour ,
WARN Act
Each year at this time we kick off H-1B Cap Season by working with U.S. employers to prepare for registration in the upcoming H-1B Cap Lottery. U.S. employers interested in sponsoring foreign nationals for specialty...more
The U.S. State Department (U.S. DOS) has taken a step toward resuming issuance of H-1B visa stamps from within the United States. It is anticipated that this could begin in early 2024 with a limited pilot program to test the...more
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has officially announced the FY2024 H-1B Cap Registration dates. Below is a summary of some information that you should know:
•This year’s initial registration period for...more
Each year at this time we kick off H-1B Cap Season by working with U.S. employers to prepare for registration in the upcoming H-1B Cap Lottery. U.S. employers interested in sponsoring foreign nationals for specialty...more
Happy New Year and Happy H-1B Cap Season!
Now is the time for US employers to prepare for registration in the H-1B Cap Lottery.
Readers may recall that H-1B Temporary Worker status is for professional level workers....more
USCIS just announced that it will be publishing a notice in the Federal Register to delay implementation of changes to the H-1B Selection Final Rule until December 31, 2021. If published as preliminarily announced, this will...more
On Thursday, May 14, 2020, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced a 30-day extension to its previously announced temporary flexibility provisions relating to I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification...more
With lightning speed, USCIS closed the FY2021 H-1B Cap Registration Process, conducted the lottery (random selection process), and issued the lottery results.
Since yesterday, March 27, 2020, the agency has been sending...more
Last Friday, March 20th at 12:00 noon US Eastern Time, USCIS closed the initial registration period for the Fiscal Year 2021 (FY2021) H-1B cap lottery. In order to be considered in the initial selection process for the H-1B...more
Ready or not, it’s time to electronically register for the upcoming H-1B Cap Lottery.
The registration period began at 12:00 noon Eastern Time on Sunday, March 1, 2020 and will end at 12:00 noon Eastern Time on Friday,...more
Ready or not, H-1B Cap Registration Season is upon us. And things are a little different this Cap Season. That’s because USCIS formally announced via a January 9, 2020 Federal Register notice that it will change the lottery...more
It has been widely reported, including by the American Immigration Lawyers Association, that on February 20, 2019 the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) sent a proposal to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as per...more
Beginning Tuesday, February 19, 2019, USCIS is resuming premium processing for H-1B petitions that were filed on or before Dec. 21, 2018.
In its February 15, 2019 announcement, USCIS explained that H-1B Petitioners in this...more
Cap-subject US employers and their prospective employees alike have been waiting on edge to find out whether the FY2020 H-1B Cap Season would proceed as before or whether US Citizenship and Immigration Service’s (USCIS’s)...more
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has issued its long-awaited Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to amend USCIS Regulations relating to cap-subject H-1B petitions filed under both the regular cap and advanced degree...more
USCIS announced yesterday that it has returned all FY2019 cap-subject H-1B petitions that were not selected in the “lottery”.
You may recall that between April 2-6, USCIS received 190,098 FY 2019 cap-subject H-1B...more
Between April 2-6, USCIS received 190,098 cap-subject H-1B petitions from U.S. employers in need of the talents of professionals from abroad. This was more than enough petitions to meet the H-1B cap for FY 2019.
On April...more
On March 6, 2018, the US Department of State announced a change in the location of certain greencard interviews in India.
In summary, for interviews scheduled on or after April 1, 2018:-...more