On March 12, we recommended that employers designate authorized representatives to complete and reverify Forms I-9 in person during COVID-19 closures and furloughs. On March 24, we updated our guidance in detail because, in response to COVID-19, USCIS began allowing employers and employees to complete Forms I-9 remotely. The agency has now further relaxed I-9 verification requirements.
Continue Reading COVID-19 UPDATE: USCIS Relaxes Requirements To Verify Identity on Form I-9
In response to the COVID-19 crisis, US authorities are announcing a number of significant changes that impact everyone who relies on immigration programs to operate businesses or to live and work in the United States. Companies and their sponsored employees should be aware of the following changes announced within the past week:
Continue Reading COVID-19: US Immigration Agencies Announce Operational Changes
UPDATE: Law360 posted a version of this article as Expert Analysis on March 31, 2020.
As employers throughout the United States increasingly move to remote work arrangements for employees, they are confronted with challenges in completing Form I-9. An employer must inspect an employee’s original identity and employment authorization documents in the physical presence of the employee within 3 business days after employment begins. For remote hires, and for reverification of current employees working remotely, government agencies have relaxed some I-9 requirements and companies are developing temporary procedures to ensure compliance during the COVID-19 crisis.
Continue Reading COVID-19: How Can Employers Hire Remotely and Maintain I-9 Compliance?
As Forbes has reported, US Immigration & Customs Enforcement has begun visiting the work sites of foreign students with employment authorization based on STEM degrees and employment with E-Verify employers (commonly known as “STEM OPT”). While authority to conduct such site visits was part of regulations issued more than 3 years ago, during the
Foreign Students Will Face New Threats
DHS’s Fall 2017 regulatory agenda proposed “comprehensive reform” to practical training programs, which allow foreign students to obtain paid work after graduation – a pathway that often leads to H-1B and green card sponsorship by a U.S. employer. Although no final rule has yet been published, ICE is still
During the government shutdown, lasting from December 22, 2018 through January 25, 2019, employers were required to complete and retain Form I-9, Eligibility Employment Verification, for each individual hired during the shutdown, even though E-Verify services were unavailable. However, it was recently announced that E-Verify resumed operations on January 28, 2019 and participating employers have
If 2017 is any indication, the new year will bring a fresh cascade of changes – both announced and unannounced, anticipated and unanticipated – in the business immigration landscape. Few, if any, of these changes are expected to be good news for U.S. businesses and the foreign workers they employ.
In 2017, while much of the news media focused on the Trump Administration’s draconian changes to practices and policies that affected the undocumented – including ending the DACA Dreamer program, shutting down Temporary Protected Status for citizens of countries ravished by war and natural disaster, and aggressively enforcing at the southern border and in “sensitive” locations such as churches, courthouses, and homeless shelters – relatively less attention has been paid to the steady, incremental erosion of rights and options for legal immigrants, particularly those who are sponsored for work by U.S. employers, under the Administration’s April 2017 “Buy American / Hire American” executive order. There is no doubt that such restrictions to the legal immigration system will continue to cause business uncertainty and disruption in 2018. Here’s what to expect:
Continue Reading Buckle Your Seatbelts: 2018 Will Be a Watershed Year in Business Immigration
U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (“USCIS”) is scheduled to release a revised Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, on July 17, 2017. The previous version, dated 11/14/16 N, remains valid, but only through September 17, 2017. On September 18, 2017, employers must use the new form.
The new form changes the name of the Office of
The President’s Executive Order, commonly called the “travel ban”, has raised many questions. We answer the most frequently asked questions below, and will update them as additional information becomes available.
Continue Reading Travel Ban FAQs