Immigration - Visas

On January 8, 2021, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a final rule that significantly alters the longstanding randomized lottery process that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has utilized to select H-1B cap-based petitions.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it is experiencing delays in issuing receipt notices for some applications and petitions filed at USCIS lockboxes that are located in Chicago, Illinois, Phoenix, Arizona, and Lewisville, Texas. This announcement does not come as a surp

USCIS has released its final rule on the modification of the H-1B cap selection process (“Modification Rule”) to prioritize petitions with the highest wage levels in the Federal Register. Unless the Biden administration decides to delay or freeze the new rule, the rule will become effective on March

On December 31, 2020, just as it was about to expire, President Donald Trump extended the ban on immigrant and nonimmigrant visas until March 31, 2020 . Initiated in April and June 2020, the bans were intended to block immigrants and nonimmigrants (with H, L and J visas) from coming to

By: USCIS Publishes Regulation Implementing Wage-Based H-1B Visa Allocation System Today, USCIS published a regulation changing the manner new H-1B visas or “Cap Subject H-1B” visas are allocated. Federal law limits the number of new H-1B temporary worker visas issued every year to 85,000 with 65,00

The USCIS filing fee increases that were proposed last summer will not be implemented. In August 2020, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a new filing fee rule in the Federal Register that raised USCIS filing fees by a weighted average of 20%. Some popular business-related petitions

On January 4, 2021, DHS announced that for I-9 purposes , Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients may present an unexpired Employment Authorization Document (EAD) with Code C33 issued on or after July 28, 2020, along with an I-797 Extension Notice that shows an additional one-year e

On December 31, 2020, the Trump administration issued a presidential proclamation extending the ban of entry for certain nonimmigrant and immigrant visas as outlined in its April 22, 2020, and June 22, 2020, proclamations. The ban includes certain applications for H-1B, H-2B, J-1, and L-1 visas for

By: District Court Strikes Trump Administration H-1B Wage Regulations On October 8, 2020, the Departments of Labor and Homeland Security issued interim final rules changing the regulations governing the H-1B visa program. These rules sought to restrict access to H-1B visas by redefining the statutor

The Optional Practical Training Program for F-1 students (OPT) is not illegal, a federal judge has ruled in a case brought by Washington Alliance of Technology Workers (Washtech), a union representing workers in science, technology, mathematics, and engineering. Criticism of OPT; Increased Scrutiny

On December 2, 2020, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld preliminary injunctions blocking USCIS from enforcing the “new” Public Charge Rule in 18 states and the District of Columbia. The Court found the rule was inconsistent with any reasonable interpretation of the statute which requires long

On December 1, 2020, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California granted a motion for summary judgment in favor of the plaintiffs that had requested to set aside two new regulations from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The

In a much-anticipated decision, on December 1, 2020, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled in favor of business and university plaintiffs (led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce), setting aside two new interim final rules that would have instituted major changes to the H

On December 1, Judge Jeffrey S. White granted the plaintiffs’ request to set aside two separate rules issued by the Trump Administration that would have drastically undermined the ability of employers to utilize both the H-1B and PERM visa programs. In Chamber of Commerce of the United States v. Uni

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is wrapping up a comment period regarding a proposed, substantial change to the H-1B nonimmigrant visa program.

While the U.S. presidential election has come to an end, we continue to monitor changes in the Trump administration’s handling of ongoing agency immigration reforms through the end of 2020 and into early 2021 that may impact employers’ ability to sponsor foreign workers on visas. Of particular note

On November 2, 2020, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a proposed rule that, if implemented, would amend the process by which U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) selects H-1B registrations for H-1B cap-subject petitions. The proposed rule would replace the curren

Having instituted a new on-line registration process for Cap H-1B petitions last year, on November 2, 2020, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking to replace the random selection process with a process that prioritizes H-1B petitions with the highest wage le

The B-1 in lieu of H-1B visa has been used by international companies to bring employees who remain on payrolls abroad to the United States for short periods of time (generally fewer than six months) to do professional level work that benefits the company abroad. Through the rulemaking process, the

On October 8, 2020, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published its interim final rule, “Strengthening the H-1B Nonimmigrant Visa Classification Program,” which will become effective December 7, 2020. This rule brings clarity to prior U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) ad