Insight, News, and Strategy on Immigration Matters Around the World
USCIS is seeking public comments on its proposed revised Form I-9 (Employment Eligibility Verification form). As all employers in the United States are aware, employers must complete the Form I-9 for all newly-hired employees to verify their identity and authorization to work in the United States.
Highlights of the proposed changes include:
• The 5-page…
At a time of increasingly aggressive enforcement of immigration laws, the California Service Center of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service has notified certain stakeholders that the USCIS will be ramping up “administrative site visits” in connection with H-1B petitions filed by U.S. employers. This is an effort at enhanced enforcement in response to the…
USCIS Visa H-1 L-1…
Continue Reading Significant Increases In H-1B And L-1 Visa Denials By USCIS
Apologizing for inadequate outreach on its new protocol, the Citizenship & Immigration Service (CIS) has requested feedback on its “surprise” policy – implemented September 12 – to send original approval notices to Petitioners and Applicants directly, rather than the attorneys of record. Attorneys of record with properly filed Forms G-28 now receive unofficial “Courtesy Copy”…
The Department of Justice has announced a record anti-discrimination settlement agreement with Farmland Foods, Inc. involving allegations that the company engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination during the I-9 process. According to the DOJ, Farmland, a major U.S. producer of pork products, allegedly required newly hired non-U.S. citizens and some foreign-born U.S. citizens…
As more and more states pass legislation mandating use of E-Verify, a federal E-Verify mandate seems inevitable. Recently, Representative Lamar Smith introduced the first attempt at such a federal mandate, the Legal Workforce Act.
The Legal Workforce Act would preempt existing state E-Verify laws and repeal the current paper Form I-9 system, replacing it with…
On April 3, 2009 USCIS published an interim rule intended to improve the integrity of the Employment Eligibility Verification (Form I-9) process. This interim rule made several key changes to the Form I-9 process, including requiring employers to accept only unexpired documents, deleting outdated documents from the list of acceptable documents, and adding documentation applicable…
E-Verify: the Good, the Bad, and the Unresolved
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has recently released an independent report of the E-Verify system, highlighting the successes, failures, and remaining challenges that face employers face today.
The Good
USCIS reduced the Tentative Nonconfirmations (TNCs or mismatches) from 8% between June 2004 and March …
USCIS has released its new E-Verify User Manuals for Employers, Employer E-Verify Agents, and Federal Contractors. E-Verify is the online verification system that complements I-9 employment eligibility review and allows employers to check the legality of their workforce. The manuals provide guidance for employers enrolled in E-Verify. The new manuals reflect recent changes to the…
Despite a marked decrease in H-1B petitions filed to date, USCIS is making little effort to adjudicate its current caseload of H-1B petitions in a timely fashion. The USCIS’s stated processing times for H-1B’s are more than two months off the actual processing times, which are approaching five months and increasing.
The effect of the…
