Foreign nationals are experiencing delays of more than a month in receiving approved work permits and green cards that are normally issued and mailed within days of approval. Applicants are also experiencing extended delays in the time it takes USCIS to adjudicate these applications. These delays have a major impact on foreign nationals and their US employers.
Continue Reading USCIS Document Production Delays Cause Major Inconvenience to Foreign Nationals and Their Employers
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, US immigration agencies have continued offering minor, but welcome, accommodations to individuals affected by COVID-19 who rely on immigration programs. While there are no groundbreaking changes, here is a roundup of the most notable changes in the last two months.
Continue Reading COVID-19: Updates on Operational Changes at US Immigration Agencies
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?
In 2019, the large policy and enforcement shifts signposted in 2017 and 2018 continued to play out with stricter immigration enforcement across the board. While we don’t expect to see seismic shifts in the coming year, there are a few issues to watch for in 2020.
(1) H-1B “Specialty Occupation” Definition Change Likely to Stall in Court
USCIS has indicated it will be announcing an official change to the definition of “specialty occupation.” While we have already seen a detrimental shift in the H-1B adjudication process, this would be an official regulatory change. We expect that any attempt to re-interpret the H-1B statute as narrowly as possible will face a lengthy court battle.
Continue Reading The Year Ahead: 10 Things to Watch for in US Immigration
Since mid-June, the White House has been promising massive U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) coordinated immigration raids around the country. The goal: arrest and quickly remove approximately 2,000 recently arrived individuals with deportation orders. This, according to the White House, would serve as a deterrent to others seeking to enter the U.S. unlawfully. The
On April 3rd, U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement’s (ICE) largest worksite compliance operation hit the private company CVE Technology Group (CVE) and four of CVE’s staffing companies in Texas. ICE executed criminal search warrants and arrested approximately 280 CVE employees who, according to ICE, were working unlawfully. Each arrested employee will be fingerprinted
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
Effective January 1, 2018, AB-450, which was signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown on October 5, 2017, imposes the following requirements on public and private employers in California:
This week, Tom Homan, acting Director of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), announced that he has instructed Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the investigative branch of ICE, to quadruple the number of worksite inspections. Danielle Bennett, spokeswoman for the agency, confirmed this directive and added “ICE’s worksite enforcement strategy continues to address both employers who knowingly hire unauthorized workers and the workers themselves.”
What does this mean for U.S. employers? This means that employers should expect to see increased HSI visits during which HSI will conduct not only I-9 audits to ensure that employers are complying with established employment eligibility verification requirements, but also other investigations related to compliance with immigration and labor regulations.