The Social Security Administration (SSA) has quietly hit pause on a key program that streamlined Social Security number (SSN) issuance for nonimmigrant and immigrant applicants. As of March 19, 2025, the Enumeration Beyond...more
The U.S. Supreme Court has lifted an April 14, 2025, temporary injunction blocking the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS’s) decision to terminate humanitarian parole for individuals from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and...more
6/2/2025
/ Appeals ,
Cuba ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Employment Authorization Documents (EAD) ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Haiti ,
Humanitarian Assistance ,
Immigrants ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Immigration Reform ,
Injunctions ,
Judicial Authority ,
Nicaragua ,
Noem v National TPS Alliance ,
Parole ,
SCOTUS ,
Stays ,
Venezuela ,
Visas
On May 22, 2025, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem ordered the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) to terminate Harvard University’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program (“SEVP”) certification for alleged...more
5/27/2025
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Educational Institutions ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Foreign Students ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Injunctions ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Students ,
Terrorist Organizations ,
Universities ,
Visas
On May 19, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court granted the Justice Department’s request to lift U.S. District Court Judge Edward Chen’s March 31 order halting the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) rescission of Temporary...more
Following his inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025, President Trump issued a number of immigration-related Executive Orders (EOs) sure to have impact on employers and their business operations. So far, the focus in the media has...more
1/30/2025
/ Citizenship ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Authorization Documents (EAD) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Executive Orders ,
Foreign Workers ,
Green Cards ,
H-1B ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Migrants ,
Temporary Protected Status ,
Trump Administration ,
Undocumented Immigrants ,
USCIS ,
Vetting ,
Visas
Humanitarian parole programs for individuals from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela have been cancelled by President Trump’s Executive Order (EO) on Securing Our Borders. USCIS’s Uniting for Ukraine application process has...more
1/29/2025
/ Advance Parole Documents ,
DACA ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Executive Orders ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Immigrants ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Temporary Protected Status ,
Trump Administration ,
USCIS ,
Visas
On Jan. 23, 2025, in a suit filed in the U.S. District Court in Seattle by the attorneys-general of Washington State, Arizona, Illinois, and Oregon to overturn President Donald Trump’s executive order (EO) banning birthright...more
1/24/2025
/ Citizenship ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Executive Orders ,
Fourteenth Amendment ,
Immigrants ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Immigration Reform ,
Injunctions ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
State and Local Government ,
Trump Administration ,
Undocumented Immigrants
As many expected, President Donald Trump has not only issued Executive Orders (EOs), but he has also rescinded many EOs issued by the Biden Administration concerning immigration, including the following: “The Restoring Faith...more
1/24/2025
/ Biden Administration ,
Compliance ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Donald Trump ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Enforcement ,
Executive Orders ,
Foreign Workers ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Immigration Reform ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Rescission ,
Trump Administration ,
USCIS ,
Visas
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) updated its policy guidance on Jan. 15, 2025, to clarify how it will evaluate candidates’ eligibility for second preference employment based (EB-2) immigrant visa with a...more
This order directs federal agencies to refuse to recognize U.S. citizenship for children born in the United States to mothers in the country illegally, or who are present in the United States on non-immigrant visas, if the...more
1/21/2025
/ Cartels ,
Catch and Release ,
Customs and Border Protection ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Executive Orders ,
Foreign Workers ,
Immigrants ,
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ,
Immigration Enforcement ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Immigration Reform ,
Ports of Entry ,
Refugees ,
Terrorist Organizations ,
Trump Administration ,
USCIS ,
Vetting ,
Visas
The Department of State (DOS) revised the J-1 Skills List, which lists home countries to which foreign nationals are subject to a two-year foreign home residency requirement.
•The 37 countries that have been removed from...more
1/15/2025
/ Foreign Nationals ,
Foreign Workers ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Immigration Reform ,
International Relations ,
J-1 Visas ,
Non-Immigrant Visas ,
Policy Updates ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Residency Requirements ,
US Department of State ,
USCIS ,
Visas
The Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) Proposed Rule to add new occupations to the Schedule A list is “dead,” at least for now. Stakeholders see this as a disappointment and a missed opportunity.
•The failure to move forward...more
1/14/2025
/ Biden Administration ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Final Rules ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Foreign Workers ,
H-1B ,
Immigrants ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Labor Reform ,
Labor Shortage ,
PERM ,
Proposed Rules ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
STEM ,
Trump Administration ,
USCIS
On Dec. 18, 2024, USCIS released the Modernizing H-1B Requirements, Providing Flexibility in the F-1 Program, and Program Improvements Affecting Other Nonimmigrant Workers Final Rule. First proposed in October 2023, the Biden...more
The U.S. Supreme Court held in Bouarfa v. Mayorkas, No. 23-583 (Dec. 10, 2024), that one cannot appeal a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) revocation of an approved visa petition in federal court because such...more
12/12/2024
/ Administrative Appeal Office ,
Administrative Authority ,
Appeals ,
Bouarfa v Mayorkas ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Discretionary Functions ,
Form I-130 ,
Judicial Review ,
Revocation ,
SCOTUS ,
USCIS ,
Visa Applications ,
Visas
Some colleges and universities, out of an abundance of caution, are advising their foreign national students and staff who are traveling abroad for winter break to consider returning before President Donald Trump’s...more
In January 2025, the settlement agreement that returned USCIS to its practice of “bundling” adjudication of extensions of stay and applications for employment authorization documents (EADs) for dependent spouses of H-1B and...more
The Schedule A list of occupations that do not require the employer to conduct a labor market test (a PERM labor certification) as part of a green card application process has not been updated in at least 20 years. Almost a...more
USCIS announced that it is extending the validity of certain Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) issued to Temporary Protected Status (TPS) beneficiaries from El Salvador, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, and Sudan until...more
7/1/2024
/ Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
El Salvador ,
Employment Authorization Documents (EAD) ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Form I-9 ,
Honduras ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Nepal ,
Nicaragua ,
Sudan ,
Temporary Protected Status
President Joe Biden announced protections for undocumented foreign national spouses of U.S. citizens who have lived in the United States for 10 years without a legal immigration status. This will protect approximately 500,000...more
Many USCIS filing fees are being adjusted upward beginning on April 1, 2024. That date, of course, is particularly significant. It is the earliest date that Cap H-1Bs can be filed.
The H-1B filing fee, for example, will rise...more
In response to the Executive Order (EO) on Artificial Intelligence, on December 21, 2023, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued a request for information in the Federal Register asking for public comment on possible additions...more
USCIS has published a proposed rule that, once implemented, would significantly reform and modernize the H-1B Program. The Modernizing H-1B Requirements, Providing Flexibility in the F-1 Program, and Program Improvements...more
By September 30, 2023, Congress will again have to fund the government. Despite ongoing efforts by the administration and Congress, indications are that a shutdown may occur at the beginning of the fiscal year, on October 1....more
Proper completion of the Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9 is one of the most important responsibilities of employers, including retailers, at the beginning of the hiring process. Saying it learned from the...more
8/8/2023
/ E-Verify ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Eligibility Verification ,
Foreign Workers ,
Form I-9 ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Immigrants ,
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Required Forms ,
USCIS
DHS has today, July 25, 2023, published a new Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Form. USCIS has made significant changes to the form and its instructions, including a checkbox to indicate that an employee’s Form I-9...more