Insight, News, and Strategy on Immigration Matters Around the World
If Congress cannot pass a funding bill by April 27, 2017, only “essential” government workers will continue to work as of May 1 and immigration processes will be affected.
Department of Labor: H Petitions and PERMs
DOL workers are not classified as “essential” workers:
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Once again, a U.S. District Court has blocked part of one of President Donald Trump’s Executive Orders – the January 25th EO “Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States.”. In explaining the purpose of that EO, President Trump stated “[s]anctuary jurisdictions across the United States willfully violate Federal law in…
When President Donald Trump issued his “Travel Ban,” there were fears that the physician shortage in the U.S. would be exacerbated. It has been reported that there is currently a deficit of 8,200 primary care physicians that will balloon to 94,700 by 2025 as the population ages. For many years, many foreign physicians from Muslim-majority…
Finding that although the F-1 visa plaintiffs had standing to sue and that their claim was ripe, they had not alleged sufficient facts to support their claim, Judge Reggie B. Walton of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has ruled, upholding the Department of Home Security’s 2016 STEM OPT Rule Program in…
After May 1, 2017, be on the lookout for redesigned Green Cards and Employment Authorization Documents (EADs). The USCIS will start issuing newly styled cards on May 1 as part of the “Next Generation Secure Identification Document Project” to make cards highly secure and more tamper-resistant.
New Green Cards and EADs will:
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In the wake of the lowest number of H-1B visa petitions filed in five years (199,000), President Donald Trump has signed an Executive Order dubbed “Buy American, Hire American.” It is focused on reform of the H-1B non-immigration visa program, as well as the elimination of waivers and exceptions that are central to international trade…
USCIS is reminding employers that if they are continuing to use a Form I-9 (“Smart Form”) that was downloaded between November 14 (when the form first became available) and November 17, 2016, they should download, save, and start using a new Form I-9, available at uscis.gov/i-9 .
There was a glitch in the software during…
A motion to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s new rule governing the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Optional Practical Training (OPT) program has been granted in part and denied in part. Washington Alliance of Technology Workers v. DHS, No. 1:16-cv-01170-RBW (D.D.C. Mar. 30, 2017). Judge Reggie B. Walton issued…
Reforming the H-1B program “is an issue we are closely and carefully looking at,” Donald Trump had said during the campaign. This sentiment is shared by Congress, as evidenced by the slew of legislation proposed across both sides of the aisle.
Senator Dick Durbin (D. Ill.) first introduced a bill in 2007 to cure what…
The H-2B visa program is used extensively in tourist locations to hire foreign workers for “the season” to do temporary nonagricultural work. There are 66,000 H-2B visas available annually – half for the summer season and half for the winter season. An exemption from the cap for “returning workers” was not renewed for fiscal year…
