Insight, News, and Strategy on Immigration Matters Around the World
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has announced that it will begin collecting biographic and biometric data from some foreign national travelers in a test program when they depart the United States at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport
The biometric and departure data will be collected through use of an “enhanced mobile device” that will allow…
Earlier this month, a Washington fruit orchard, Broetje Orchards, settled an ongoing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) audit and agreed to pay ICE $2.25 million in a lump-sum fine. The fine was part of a settlement with ICE to resolve the orchard’s violations of the Immigration Reform and Control Act.
According to ICE, Broetje Orchards…
The U.S. State Department has announced that the Bureau of Consular Affairs is experiencing technical problems with its visa systems, causing delays in printing visas and threatening to require rescheduling some visa interviews. The issue is not country-specific and, therefore, has affected visa applicants worldwide. The State Department expects the systems to be fully operational…
Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed a bill (S.B. 374) into law June 10, 2015, that requires state agencies in Texas to use the E-Verify system to check that new employees are authorized to work in the U.S.
E-Verify, managed by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, compares information filled out by job applicants on an…
U.S. immigration law requires that a U.S. H-1B employer must file an amended H-1B petition if there is a material change in the terms and conditions of the H-1B employment. However, prior USCIS informal opinion letter or guidance provided little guidance on the types of changes that would constitute a material change. In the event…
With the May 26, 2015 effective date of H-4 spouse work authorization rule (“H-4 EAD Rule”) approaching, a lawsuit has been filed trying to block the implementation of the Rule, which allows spouses of certain H-1B visa holders to apply for work authorization.
On April 23, 2015, Save Jobs USA, a group of former employees…
In the wake of the devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Nepal on April 25, 2015, the Nepali community is receiving special consideration in the form of immigration relief measures from the United States.
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced several major immigration relief measures that may be available upon request…
The National Labor Relations Board has held on remand from a federal appeals court that “conditional reinstatement is an appropriate remedy where an employer knowingly employed individuals who lack authorization to work in the United States and then discharged them in violation of the N[ational] L[abor] R[elations] A[ct].” Mezonos Maven Bakery, Inc., 362 NLRB…
On April 7, 2015, USCIS announced that it had received enough H-1B petitions to reach the statutory cap for fiscal year 2016 beginning on October 1, 2015. USCIS has not yet announced the total number of applications received or the date on which it will conduct the random selection process. A random computer selection process …
Author: Rob Neale.
On March 12, 2015, the federal government filed an emergency motion with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit seeking to remove the preliminary injunction issued on February 16, 2015, by U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen, based in Brownsville, Texas.
Judge Hanen’s preliminary injunction, requested by 26 states, suspended key…
