Immigration

Employers who sponsor foreign nationals for (1) H-1B visas; (2) PERM-based permanent residence applications and (3) STEM OPT Extensions must ensure their records are in order and retain them for the required statutory time-periods.

The Trump Administration has made immigration enforcement and the restriction of immigration to the United States a high priority.

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.

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.

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.

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 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 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.

In early October, we reported that U.S. visa processing in Turkey had been suspended amid security concerns, and that the government of Turkey had responded with a suspension of visa processing for U.S. citizens.

On November 13, 2017, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco partially granted an emergency request by the United States government to allow the travel ban issued by President Trump on September 24, 2017 to go into effect.

The Trump Administration is evaluating potential reductions to U.S. cultural exchange programs that allow young people from across the world the opportunity to work temporarily in the US. The potential cuts would impact five programs that are part of the J-1 visa exchange visitor program.

In a continuation of the diplomatic tit-for-tat with Russia, the U.S. Embassy in Moscow announced on Monday, August 21, 2017, that it would suspend issuance of nonimmigrant visas for eight days starting August 23rd. Nonimmigrant visa issuance will resume at the Embassy on September 1st, but will be suspended indefinitely at other posts in Russia.

On August 2, 2017 Republican Senators Tom Cotton (AR) and David Perdue (GA) unveiled an immigration bill titled The Reforming American Immigration for a Strong Economy Act (RAISE Act).  While the stated purpose of this bill is to increase skilled immigration to the U.S. and protect the American workforce, it would do neither of these things.

Doug Hauer, Member, will be a featured panelist at the National LGBT Bar Association’s annual Lavender Law conference and career fair on August 2-4, 2017 in San Francisco.

Effective immediately, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will resume premium processing for select cap-exempt H-1B petitions. Cap-exempt petitioners who are eligible for premium processing can file Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing Service, along with the filing fee of $1,225.

This is a follow-up to the Supreme Court’s decision on June 26, 2017 which allowed the Trump Administration’s Travel Ban affecting nationals of six designated Muslim-majority countries to be partially implemented until its hearing on the merits in the fall.

On July 17, 2017, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published another revised version of Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification. It will be mandatory for employers to use this new version of the form commencing September 18, 2017.

Effective upon publication by the Federal Register on Wednesday, July 19, 2017, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has authorized the one-time issuance of an additional 15,000 H-2B visas for Temporary Nonagricultural Workers through September 30, 2017.