Immigration

Late yesterday afternoon, in anticipation of the increased workload to be created by the filing of applications for Employment Authorization Documents (“EADs”) by H-4 spouses of certain H-1B employees beginning May 26, 2015, USCIS announced that as of May 26, it “…will temporarily suspend premium processing for all H-1B Extension of Stay petitions until July 27, 2015.”

As previously noted, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on April 7, 2015, that it had received enough H-1B petitions to reach the statutory cap of 65,000 visas for fiscal year (FY) 2016.

On April 7, 2015, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it has received more than enough H-1B petitions to meet the numerical limit for fiscal year 2016 cap-subject H-1B visas, which includes both the 65,000 general H-1B cap petitions as well as the 20,000 US master’s degree H-1B petitions filed on behalf of individuals with US advanced degrees.

The diversity visa green card lottery has been an important part of U.S. immigration law for the last 20 years. It allows 55,000 foreign nationals to immigrate each year and was implemented to fulfill the worthy goal of increasing the diversity of immigrants in the United States.

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) will begin accepting cap-subject H-1B petitions on April 1, 2015, for start dates of October 1, 2015 or later.

In its most recent foray into utilizing technology at the border, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) expanded Mobile Passport Control ("MPC") to Miami International Airport.

Late Tuesday afternoon, the House of Representatives voted 257-167 to fund the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) through September 30, 2015, covering the remainder of the fiscal year.

Republican leaders and both branches of Congress failed Friday to come to a long-term agreement to provide fiscal year funding for the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) and provide confidence that a DHS shutdown will be avoided. A one-week funding extension was passed, and now DHS is poised to run out of money at midnight on March 6th.

The Senate remains at a stalemate over funding of the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”), with funding running out on Friday, February 27. A full budget was passed for the rest of the US government in December.

The Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) announced that, effective May 26, 2015, the agency is extending employment authorization to certain H-4 dependent spouses of H-1B nonimmigrants.

The Obama administration announced on Tuesday, February 17th that it will comply with an injunction temporarily blocking its plan to shield millions of people who are in the United States illegally, suspending applications for deferred action.

The Department of State’s Office of Private Sector Exchange Administration has announced that it will perform site visits to many J-1 Intern and Trainee host organizations beginning this month. Most individual participants and host organizations have received e-mails from the J-1 sponsors regarding these visits.

Companies of all sizes have increased workforce mobility needs arising from international short-term relocations, business visits, trade shows, conferences, speaking engagements, etc. It is critical for today’s business traveler to take advantage of accessible resources to ease the international travel burden, when fulfilling business obligations.

On February 2, USCIS announced that the congressionally mandated H-2B cap for the first half of fiscal year 2015 has been reached. January 26, 2015 was the final receipt date for new H-2B worker petitions requesting an employment start date prior to April 1, 2015.

The Department of Homeland Security announced this week that the final rule, Notices of Decisions and Documents Evidencing Lawful Status, published for comment on October 29, 2014, is effective as of January 27, 2015.

In a novel case, a New York federal court judge recently denied an employer’s motion to dismiss a Section 1981 alienage discrimination class action lawsuit. The lawsuit alleges that Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company violated that Act by implementing a policy of hiring only U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents.

On January 13, 2015 Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Chris Coons (D-DE), Jeff Flake (R-AZ), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) introduced the Immigration Innovation Act of 2013 into the Senate.  This bill, known as S. 169 or “I2”, clearly has bipartisan support, and aims to broadly reform high skilled immigration.

This alert is a reminder of the rapidly approaching April 1, 2015 deadline for the filing of H-1B visa petitions for Fiscal Year 2016. Petitions for the new fiscal year, which starts on October 1, 2015, will be accepted by the government beginning April 1, 2015.

In October 2014, the Department of State (“DOS”) amended Subpart A of the J exchange visitor regulations. These new regulations go into effect in 2015 and apply to all exchange visitor programs and program categories. There are two primary changes that will directly affect J-1 applicants:

It’s a little known fact that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) won’t approve an employment-based visa petition before checking the company information against the Dun and Bradstreet (D&B) database via the Validation Instrument for Business Enterprises (VIBE) system.