President Donald Trump has announced that the government shutdown is over, for now. He has agreed to sign a short-term spending bill that will re-open the government for three weeks, until February 15, 2019. The bill does not include any wall funding.

The bill is expected to be brought to the Senate floor “immediately.” The President expects Congress to come to a “reasonable agreement” during the three-week interval. If Republicans and Democrats cannot come to an agreement on border security that is acceptable to him, he suggested that he might use his emergency powers.

In the meantime, we are awaiting word from E-Verify about how and when the database will come back online and what the rules will be. The “three-day” rule had been suspended and the time for employees to resolve TNCs had been extended. Announcing the shutdown, USCIS noted that it “would provide additional guidance regarding [the] ‘three-day rule’ and [the] time period to resolve TNCs deadlines once operations resume.”

Since the system has been unavailable for over a month, companies that have continued to hire employees may have stacks of documents to enter into E-Verify. USCIS likely will account for that as it establishes new deadlines.

Jackson Lewis will provide updates as they become available.

Print:
Email this postTweet this postLike this postShare this post on LinkedIn
Photo of Forrest G. Read IV Forrest G. Read IV

Forrest Read is a Principal in the Raleigh, North Carolina, office of Jackson Lewis P.C. He has extensive experience in both business immigration law and employment law and has particular focus in legal issues in graduate medical education (GME).

Mr. Read’s immigration practice…

Forrest Read is a Principal in the Raleigh, North Carolina, office of Jackson Lewis P.C. He has extensive experience in both business immigration law and employment law and has particular focus in legal issues in graduate medical education (GME).

Mr. Read’s immigration practice focuses on assisting employers in obtaining employment-based nonimmigrant visas (e.g., H-1B, L, O, TN) for foreign national employees and work-related immigrant (green card) visas, including PERM Labor Certifications, and advising employers on compliance with U.S. immigration laws and regulations. He has broad experience in advising large, mid-size and small employers on their various immigration needs and developing strategies to help them navigate through complex immigration issues. He also has particular experience in counseling employers in the health care industry and addressing immigration-related issues that arise for their broad range of health care professional employees (including advising on and obtaining employment authorization for medical residents and fellows and obtaining J-1 visa waivers for foreign national physicians completing their medical training in the United States). His immigration practice also includes defending employers in connection with Department of Labor H-1B and H-2B investigations.

Mr. Read’s employment law experience includes representing management, particularly academic medical centers in the GME context, in a wide array of workplace disputes and litigation before federal and state courts and administrative agencies, including matters related to discrimination, retaliation, harassment, disability, family and medical leave, various wage and hour issues, contracts, and intentional torts. He advises academic medical centers on the interplay between applicable academic law and employment law and the ramifications of what are divergent legal requirements and standards. Mr. Read also provides counsel with respect to the legal impact of competency standards for residents and trainees in GME, including situations involving discipline, remediation, and dismissal. He provides advice and guidance in the peer review process, including provision of verification and assessment of training in response to third party inquiries.

As a member of the Firm’s Corporate Diversity Counseling group, Mr. Read also has experience in providing assessments and making recommendations to corporate and institutional clients with respect to diversity and inclusion policies and initiatives, conducting related internal investigations, and shaping, developing and enforcing effective policies and initiatives to ensure consistency with client values and in furtherance of business goals and objectives.