Immigration

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) conducts site visits at the offices of employers who petitioned or are petitioning for temporary work visas on behalf of their employees. These site visits are funded by the $500 “anti-fraud” fee that is a component of the filing fees for H-1B and L-1 petitions.

Government enforcement activities at businesses have significantly increased this year. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) division of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has already conducted 5,200 audits this year compared to 1,360 audits in all of 2017.

This afternoon, USCIS announced that it is extending the temporary suspension of premium processing for cap-subject H-1B petitions. In addition, starting September 11, 2018, USCIS will expand the suspension to include additional types of H-1B petitions. The suspension is expected to last until February 19, 2019.

The tilt in this Administration towards harsh immigration measures is well known because of high profile moves like the travel bans and the separation and incarceration of parents and young children from Central America who have sought safety in the U.S.

According to the State Department August Visa Bulletin, the Employment Based First Preference Category (EB-1) Final Action Dates for “Priority Workers” will retrogress for the month of August 2018.

The US Supreme Court issued a decision today upholding the third version of the travel ban established by the Trump administration. This ban, issued via Presidential Proclamation, imposes travel restrictions on citizens of Iran, Libya, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela, Yemen and Somalia.

As part of the continuing trade and intellectual property war with China, the U.S. Department of State has implemented a new policy to limit visa validity periods and impose additional security clearances before visa issuance to citizens of the People’s Republic of China.

On Tuesday, April 24, 2018, a District of Columbia federal District Court judge issued an order vacating the decision to rescind the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program and requiring the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to continue to accept and process both new and renewal DACA applications.

As a follow-up to the April 6, 2018 announcement that the H-1B cap had been reached, on Thursday, April 12, USCIS revealed that it has now completed the random selection of the 85,000 petitions for the quota and that in total, the agency received 190,098 H-1B cap-subject submissions. This number is down from last year’s 199,000.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) announced today that it has received enough H-1B petitions to reach the statutory cap of 65,000 petitions for fiscal year (FY) 2019. USCIS also received more than the limit of 20,000 H-1B petitions filed under the U.S. advanced degree exemption, also known as the “master’s cap.”

On March 26, 2018, Massachusetts adopted a new system for driver’s licenses and identification (Mass ID) cards to comply with the REAL ID federal standards.

On Tuesday, March 20, 2018, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it will temporarily suspend premium processing for Fiscal Year 2019 H-1B cap petitions starting April 2, 2018, the same date that USCIS will begin accepting H-1B petitions subject to the cap.

It appears that the Republican controlled Congress and the Trump Administration cannot get anything done on the contentious issues of immigration.

The term "chain migration" is currently being used to describe a process in which one legal immigrant can generate many new admissions by sponsoring his or her relatives — each of whom, in turn, leads to even more immigrants.

Historically, H-1B visas have been the U.S. employment visa of choice due to their flexibility for professionals to work in “specialty occupations.” Lately, however, for those employers and prospective employees who are subject to the annual numerical “cap” on H-1Bs, the demand far outstrips the quota.

As of 4 pm on Friday, January 19, 2018, the US Senate had not reached an agreement on the terms of a continuing resolution to keep the US government running. The US House passed a 30-day resolution on Thursday, but this must also pass the Senate and President Trump must sign it before midnight, January 19, 2018 to avoid a shutdown.

On January 8, 2018, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the decision to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation for El Salvador. TPS provides a temporary legal basis to remain in the U.S. and employment authorization to individuals from countries deemed to be unsafe due to natural disaster, civil war, and other conditions.

On December 1, 2017 Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted summary judgment to the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) in its challenge to a regulation published by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) delaying the implementation of the International Entrepreneur Parole (IEP) Rule.

On Monday, December 4, 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court issued two separate, but related, orders staying lower courts’ preliminary injunctions against President Trump’s most recent travel ban (see our previous alert). The practical impact of these Supreme Court orders is that the latest travel ban reinstates President Trump’s Presidential Proclamation of September 24, 2017.

On December 1st, 2017 Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted summary judgment to the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) in its challenge to a regulation published by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) delaying the implementation of the International Entrepreneur Parole (IEP) Rule.