Business Immigration Insights

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has broad authority to investigate and enforce Form I-9 compliance, but employers have rights and responsibilities, too.  Understanding these rights and responsibilities is critical to surviving an ICE worksite enforcement investigation.

Employers cannot hire workers who are unauthorized to work in the United States and must verify the identity and employment eligibility of employees through the Form I-9 verification process.  Forms I-9 must be retained for three years after hiring or one year after the employee’s last day of ...

The Visa Bulletin is released monthly by the Department of State and is used to determine when a sponsored foreign national can submit the final step of the green card process. The complete visa bulletin can be found here.

Below is a summary of the July Visa Bulletin, including Final Action Dates and changes from the previous month.

• China: After four months of non-activity, EB-1 leaps forward more than ten weeks to May 8, 2017; EB-2 advances three months to November 1, 2016; and EB-3 jumps ahead three and a half months to January 1, 2016
• India: EB-1 freezes at January 1, 2015; EB-2 creeps ...

With H-1B Cap premium processing winding down, employers will soon start to get back petitions that were not selected in the lottery. Employees who have other statuses, such as F-1 OPT or L-1, can just keep working and their employers can try again next year. For others, however, if the FY2020 cap was their only option until FY2021, employers may need to make other plans. Before you part ways with a stellar nonimmigrant employee, give a thought to global options.

Return Home: Having your employee work remotely from their home country is the easiest option from an immigration perspective ...

Applicants for US visitor, student, and work-related nonimmigrant visas, as well as family-based and employment-based immigrant visas (“green cards”), now have to provide information about the social media platforms used over the preceding 5-year period.  The updated visa application forms seek information about the most popular social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube.  Applicants also have the opportunity to provide information about social media platforms not listed in the drop-down menus.  For each platform, applicants must ...

Now that the Fiscal Year 2020 H-1B cap season is over, it is a good time for an internal review and update of public access files (PAFs).

What is a Public Access File?

U.S. employers who sponsor H-1B employees must make certain records available, on request, to government auditors, members of the public, and the H-1B employee.  The PAF must establish that the employer is paying the higher of: (a) the prevailing wage; or (b) the actual wage paid to other employees in similar positions who have similar qualifications.

Why does PAF compliance matter?

Failure to comply with PAF requirements, if ...

Thought the Social Security Administration (SSA) no-match letters were a thing of the past? Check your snail mail. In March, SSA began sending Employer Correction Request Notices – officially called EDCORs – to employers whose payroll records do not match SSA records. SSA has not released official numbers, The New York Times and other media have reported that more than 575,000 employers received EDCORs over the last two months.

The Visa Bulletin is released monthly by the Department of State and is used to determine when a sponsored foreign national can submit the final step of the green card process. The complete visa bulletin can be found here.

Below is a summary of the June Visa Bulletin, including Final Action Dates and changes from the previous month.

• China: EB-1 remains stalled at February 22, 2017, EB-2 leaps forward nearly three months to August 1, 2016 and EB-3 advances over three weeks to September 15, 2015
• India: EB-1 falls to January 1, 2015, EB-2 crawls ahead three days to April 19, 2009, and EB-3 ...

Starting in May 2019, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will issue I-94 numbers with letters in addition to numbers. The new format will include nine numbers, followed by one letter and one number. Current I-94 numbers also have eleven characters, but only numbers. Examples of new I-94 numbers include: 111111111A1; 000000001B2; 123456789C3. I-94s in the current number-only format will remain valid through the listed “Admit Until Date”.

As a reminder, an I-94 record not only documents a foreign national’s current nonimmigrant status, but also governs the amount of time ...

The Visa Bulletin is released monthly by the Department of State and is used to determine when a sponsored foreign national can submit the final step of the green card process. The complete visa bulletin can be found here.

Below is a summary of the May Visa Bulletin, including Final Action Dates and changes from the previous month.

• China: EB-1 remains stalled at February 22, 2017, EB-2 advances six weeks to May 15, 2016, and EB-3 moves ahead twenty-one days to August 22, 2015
• India: EB-1 freezes at February 22, 2017, EB-2 moves forward four days to April 16, 2009, and EB-3 continues to outpace ...

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has just announced that it has completed what is commonly known as the “master’s cap” H-1B lottery.  The agency confirmed, as was widely anticipated, that sufficient petitions were received during the first five business days of April 2019 to satisfy this additional pool of 20,000 H-1B numbers, which are set aside for workers who possess an advanced degree from a U.S. college or university.  As we previously reported, the “regular cap” of 65,000 numbers was also met during the 5-day filing window.

USCIS also just released the total ...