Last week, the Trump Administration issued a new Presidential Proclamation that will restrict the entry of nationals from more than a dozen countries. The restrictions took effect this past Monday, June 9.
The stated goal...more
6/12/2025
/ Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
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Executive Orders ,
Foreign Nationals ,
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Immigration Procedures ,
Immigration Reform ,
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National Security ,
Presidential Proclamations ,
Travel Ban ,
Trump Administration ,
US Department of State ,
Visas
As international travel regulations and immigration enforcement policies continue to evolve, it is critical that non-citizen employees entering the United States—including visa holders and lawful permanent residents—are...more
As the U.S. government heightens its focus on national security, international travelers—especially visa holders and lawful permanent residents—are experiencing increased scrutiny at ports of entry. U.S. Customs and Border...more
4/11/2025
/ Border Security ,
Customs and Border Protection ,
Data Collection ,
Data Privacy ,
Electronic Devices ,
Executive Orders ,
Immigration Procedures ,
National Security ,
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USCIS ,
Visas
The United Kingdom has new travel authorization rules that will apply in 2025 to U.S. nationals (as well as others) under the Electronic Travel Authorisation scheme. Similar to the U.S. Electronic System for Travel...more
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has issued a new fee rule that imposes significant increases, particularly for employment-based petitions. The rule, and the higher fees, will apply to any benefit request...more
The annual H-1B cap season has begun for Fiscal Year 2025. Once again, there will be a two-step process – the registration step and then, if the registration is selected in the H-1B cap lottery, the petition step. Now is the...more
1/17/2024
/ Beneficiaries ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Foreign Workers ,
H-1B ,
Immigrants ,
Immigration Procedures ,
NAFTA ,
STEM ,
USCIS ,
Visa Caps ,
Visas
The annual H-1B cap season has begun for Fiscal Year 2024. Once again, there will be a two-step process – the registration step and then, if the registration is selected in the H-1B cap lottery, the petition step. Now is the...more
Last week, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced changes that will be good news for foreign students seeking Optional Practical Training in areas related to their major areas of study.
First, the 14...more
3/8/2021
/ Colleges ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Employment Authorization Documents (EAD) ,
Foreign Students ,
Form I-765 ,
OPT ,
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USCIS ,
Visas
Last year, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services rolled out for the first time a new electronic registration tool for H-1B cap cases as part of its implementation of regulations issued in January 2019. The 2019...more
The U.S. Department of Labor has again issued a final rule on the computation of prevailing wage levels for high-skilled foreign workers. The rule is intended to replace a prevailing wage rule issued in October that was...more
We reported in October about two new rules that were issued by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of Labor that would affect H-1B specialty occupation visas. The DOL rule significantly raised...more
The U.S. Department of State recently released its October 2020 Visa Bulletin reflecting an all-time high allocation of approximately 261,500 employment-based immigrant visas and signaling an unusually quick advancement of...more
Recently, the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention announced that it would stop screening international passengers for COVID-19, even from what were deemed “high-risk” countries such as China, Iran, Brazil, and the...more
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is poised to implement new filing fees on October 2, under regulations published in the Federal Register on August 3. However, two lawsuits were filed in federal court about a...more
On August 14, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services confirmed it had run a second H-1B lottery for fiscal year 2021 and sent out notifications regarding new H-1B registration selections. The USCIS had not yet met the...more
On July 14, President Trump issued the Executive Order on Hong Kong Normalization, in response to a new security law published by the People’s Republic of China, Law of the People’s Republic of China on Safeguarding National...more
On June 22, as we expected, President Trump issued “Proclamation Suspending Entry of Aliens Who Present a Risk to the U.S. Labor Market Following the Coronavirus Outbreak.” The Proclamation temporarily suspends the entry of...more
The Trump Administration is reportedly contemplating a proclamation that will significantly affect a number of temporary work permit programs. Although we cannot predict with certainty what these restrictions will be or their...more
6/15/2020
/ Chamber of Commerce ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Foreign Workers ,
H-1B ,
H-2B ,
Immigrants ,
Immigration Procedures ,
J-1 Visas ,
L-1 Visas ,
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Visas
Health care providers are struggling with an acute shortage of physicians in medically underserved areas. Foreign-trained doctors in the J-1 exchange visa program play a critical role in filling this gap. As a result, the...more
The President has issued a new “Proclamation on the Suspension of Entry as Nonimmigrants of Certain Students and Researchers from the People’s Republic of China.” The Proclamation, which took effect on Monday, effectively...more
On May 24, President Trump amended his “Proclamation on Suspension of Entry as Immigrants and Nonimmigrants of Certain Additional Persons Who Pose a Risk of Transmitting Novel Coronavirus” by adding the Republic of Brazil to...more
On April 22, President Trump issued a Presidential Proclamation that suspends the ability of some foreign nationals living abroad to seek entry to the United States based on their applications for immigration status, more...more
In recent years, if you have filed a petition for an H-1B professional worker or an application for your foreign national fiancé, you may have noticed more delays, more requests for evidence, and even more denials of cases...more
Last week, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that it had completed pilot testing of its new electronic registration tool and would implement it for the H-1B cap season in 2020. The new electronic...more