Amy L. Peck

Subscribe to Amy L. Peck's Posts
Contact:Read more about Amy L. Peck

An amendment to the Illinois Right to Privacy in the Workplace Act going into effect on Jan. 1, 2025, imposes many new obligations on employers regarding the use of E-Verify – some that go beyond federal E-Verify requirements. The Illinois Department of Labor (IDOL) has published guidance on the law that also clarifies that the…

Just as people were starting to lose hope, USCIS announced that it will soon hold a second round of selections for the FY 2025 H-1B cap. USCIS will randomly select additional registrations for unique beneficiaries from the previously submitted registrations.

There will not be a separate selection process for the master’s cap because a sufficient…

On June 20, 2024, USCIS announced the automatic extension until March 9, 2025, of Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) issued to certain Temporary Protected Status (TPS) beneficiaries from El Salvador, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, and Sudan. To implement the automatic extension, USCIS indicated that it is  issuing Form I-797, Notices of Action, to all eligible beneficiaries. Individuals…

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 March 9, 2025. Currently, most of these individuals are the beneficiaries of automatic extensions through June 30, 2024.

To implement these new extensions, USCIS is…

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 such spouses from deportation and fear of deportation. The program is expected to launch by summer’s end.

This comes on the 12…

President Joe Biden has ordered a temporary suspension of asylum applications for migrants who cross the southern border illegally between ports of entry.

This suspension went into effect at midnight on June 5 because the number of illegal border crossings (or encounters) has reached the order’s threshold of 2,500 per day. If illegal encounters drop…

It is not unusual for employers to require foreign employees to sign repayment agreements that require the employee to repay some or all required immigration process costs if the employee terminates employment before the end of the contract term. Employers often use the contracts as a deterrent to employees leaving as soon as the immigration…

Good news for those applying for or with pending Employment Authorization Document (EAD) renewals. DHS is temporarily reinstituting its 540-day automatic extension of work authorization for eligible individuals.

Although DHS has streamlined its EAD process and extended EAD validity periods for certain applicants from two years to five years, the government still struggles to timely…

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 from $460 to $780. The ACWIA Fee (to fund the training of U.S. workers) and the…