Foreign students can breathe a sigh of relief as a US District Court Judge concluded that DHS did not exceed its statutory authority under the INA in issuing the 2016 STEM Optional Practical Training (OPT) rule, and thus found that both the 12-month OPT and the STEM OPT extension programs are lawful. OPT grants foreign student upon graduation the opportunity to work lawfully for one year and...
In response to Ron Klain's Memo to delay all “midnight regulations”, the proposed rule “Removing H-4 dependent spouses from the class of aliens eligible for employment authorization” will not only be delayed but completely withdrawn by the Department of Homeland Security. Although many may now breath a sigh of relief, the current processing time for H-4 EAD is still a huge impediment....
President Biden signed executive order on January 29, 2021 which revokes the "Buy American and Hire American" executive order signed during the Trump era. The BAHA order signed in 2017 led to initiatives that dramatically increased scrutiny of H1B and L1. Overall challenges in the forms of requests for evidence increased at one point to over 60%. Attached is the flyer from USCIS touting its...
Update 1/24/2023 A new round of extension. The cutoff date is now March 23, 2023. Just like the last announcement, USCIS anticipates that this will be the final extension of these accommodations. The following requests/notices received between March 1, 2020 and March 23, 2023, will get additional 60 days to respond. Requests for Evidence; Continuations to Request Evidence (N-14); Notices of...
Employers may now request reissuance of Prevailing Wage Determination PWD, issued from October 8, 2020 through December 4, 2020, which reflected a much higher wage based on the wage methodology used pursuant to an interim final rule which is no longer in effect. The deadline to request reissuance is February 8, 2021. The request must be based on an emergency situation which may be the following:...
Due to significant visa number movements in October 2020 which opened the door to a record influx of Green Card applications and the ongoing Covid Pandemic, USCIS has been slow in issuing receipt notices of petitions and applications. Even to this month, we have been receiving receipt notices for I485, I765, I131 that were filed in October 2020 although only a few remain outstanding. The...
As we get closer to the H-1B lottery selection date (at the end of March 2021), we urge employers to prepare early for H-1B registration and re-calibrate expectations moving forward especially in light of new rules designed to hinder the H-1B visa program. 2 New Rules: There are two Final Rules published during the waning days of the Trump Administration that would place a hefty burden on...
According to USCIS, a final rule has been announced on January 7, 2021 that will modify the H-1B cap selection process, amend current lottery procedures, and prioritize wages to protect the economic interests of U.S. workers and better ensure the most highly skilled foreign workers benefit from the temporary employment program. This effort will only affect H-1B registrations (or...
There are two published Final Rules released during the waning days of the Trump administration that would only allow high salary H-1B workers to be employed in the U.S. Below is a summary breakdown of the new rules and effective dates: 1. Final Rule on increasing H-1B wages (issued on January 14, 2021). Effective date: March 15, 2021. This is basically an amended version of similar rule that...
Update July 5, 2021 Due to a recent court decision in Chamber of Commerce, et al. v. DHS, et al., No. 20-cv-7331, the final rule on the computation of prevailing wage levels has been vacated and remanded back to the U.S. Department of Labor. The final rule was widely seen as an attempt to increase prevailing wages which would impact H-1B and PERM cases. DOL posted an update (copy below) on June...
