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
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
On July 21, 2023, DHS announced a new edition of Form I-9 along with a new rule permitting certain employers to conduct remote inspection of the documents used in the Form I-9 employment eligibility verification process. 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
The US State Department (DOS) has authorized a discretionary waiver of the in-person interview requirement for certain nonimmigrant visa applicants through December 31, 2022. Those eligible for a possible waiver of the...more
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is making “structural changes” to work authorization for H-4 and L-2 spouses. The changes result from an agreement settling litigation brought against the agency by the American...more
As anxiously awaited, USCIS has announced the initial FY2022 H-1B Cap Registration dates. Employer Electronic Registration will open on Tuesday, March 9, 2021, at 12:00 noon Eastern Time and continue through Thursday, March...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
Following up on its November announcement, last week USCIS issued a Final Rule to change the way cap-subject H-1B petitions are selected.
The Final Rule (which is unchanged from the proposed November Rule) would...more
On November 2, 2020, the Department of Homeland Security issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) announcing its plan to drastically change the way USCIS selects the H-1B Cap registrations of U.S. employers. If the...more
On Friday, May 29, 2020, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced plans for the phased-in resumption of premium processing for eligible I-140 Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker petitions and eligible I-129...more
On May 11, 2002, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a Policy Memorandum relating to certain J-1 waivered foreign medical graduates during the COVID-19 national emergency. The memo, captioned “Temporary...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
Without fanfare, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently updated its website with an Alert https://www.uscis.gov/greencard/public-charge relating to its Public Charge requirements in the context of the...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
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