Twice a year, the Office of Management and Budget, in concert with the General Services Administration and its own Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, publish the Unified Regulatory Agenda (Unified Agenda). The Unified Agenda is a transparency program that publishes federal agency rulemakings in process. It is not a process set in concrete but rather a snapshot in time to inform the public of rulemakings and regulations being developed by federal agencies.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) postings, released Nov. 21 for Fall 2019 are here. In addition to enabling the searching of regulations by agency and content, the agencies offer a regulatory “plan” which sets out regulatory principles. The DHS statement can be found here. Continue Reading OMB Releases Fall 2019 Unified Regulatory Agenda; DHS & USCIS Expect Active Rulemakings

Today, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released the bi-annual Spring 2019 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions.   

As set forth in a Federal Register notice and using the Department of Homeland Security as an example, the Unified Agenda is explained as follows: 

This regulatory agenda is a semiannual summary of projected regulations, existing regulations, and completed actions of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its components. This agenda provides the public with information about DHS’s regulatory and deregulatory activity. DHS expects that this information will enable the public to be more aware of, and effectively participate in, the Department’s regulatory and deregulatory activity. DHS invites the public to submit comments on any aspect of this agenda.

As such, these agency submissions are snapshots in time and estimates of pending timelines by the agency, which can change based on many factors.  

Staying with the Department of Homeland Security/USCIS for example purposes, a few rules in final rule stage include, among others:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Find past reporting on the OMB Unified Agenda Here

Please check back as we post additional information on the Spring Unified Agenda and other matters as events and new information warrants.

On Dec. 14, the Office of Management and Budget Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OMB) published the biennial Unified Agenda.  A long-standing outgrowth of previous regulatory reform efforts, the Unified Agenda offers the public the “current thinking” of federal agencies on upcoming Agency regulatory priorities.

Of importance to the immigration community, DHS USCIS posed the following regulatory priorities-

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is the government agency that oversees lawful immigration to the United States. USCIS’s role is to efficiently adjudicate and manage petitions, applications, and requests for immigration benefits for foreign nationals seeking lawful immigration status in the United States and for individuals seeking to become citizens of the United States, and other matters within the jurisdiction of the agency, in a manner that detects, deters, and prevents fraud, protects the jobs and working conditions of American workers as appropriate, and ensures the national security, public safety, and welfare of the American people. In the coming year, USCIS will promulgate several regulatory and deregulatory actions to directly support these commitments and goals.

Continue Reading OMB OIRA Releases Unified Agenda and USCIS Regulatory Priorities, Including H-1B, EB-5, and More

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released the Fall Unified Agenda, updating the Improvement of the Employment Creation Immigrant Regulations.  DHS has now moved the stage of rulemaking from “long-term actions” to “proposed rule stage.”  This new release also changes the date of the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) from “to be determined” to January 2017.  To read the full text of the release, please view the Spring 2016 update.

In addition, Statement of Need,  Summary of the Legal Basis, and Anticipated Costs and Benefits sections have been added. Of note under “Anticipated Costs and Benefits” is that “the rule would benefit entrepreneurs seeking to participate in the program by providing the opportunity to mitigate the harsh consequences of unexpected changes to business conditions through priority date retention in limited circumstances.”

Greenberg Traurig will continue to monitor this activity and will provide an update as soon as the proposed rules are published.

As an update (to this recent posting), we clarify that USCIS recently indicated in the Fall Unified Agenda the posting of a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in November 2018 (see RIN 1615-AC15) on this regulation.

Please check back as this and other H-1B regulatory actions are anticipated in the near future.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has proposed to remove eligibility for employment authorization to certain H-4 dependent spouses of H-1B workers in the publication of the Proposed Rule (RIN 1514-AC15). This DHS proposal was initially expected in February 2018 but was delayed due to review of other regulatory agenda items, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Cissna. DHS published this proposed rule in response to and in accordance with the priorities set out in the President’s “Buy American and Hire American” Executive Order. DHS anticipates that this will reduce costs of production of employment authorization cards for H-4 nonimmigrants while acknowledging that employers may incur labor turnover costs.

In 2015, DHS published a final rule, which for the first time extended eligibility for employment authorization to dependent spouses of H-1B nonimmigrant workers going through the permanent residence sponsorship process, but subject to green card backlogs. Specifically, H-4 spouses of H-1B nonimmigrant workers for whom I-140 immigrant visa petitions have been approved by USCIS but whose green card applications could not be approved due to backlogs, or those eligible for H-1B extensions because their permanent residence sponsorship was initiated at least 12 months prior to the end of their sixth year of H-1B status, became eligible for employment authorization. At the time, DHS announced that providing for this employment authorization was consistent with its mission to support U.S. employers’ drive to recruit and retain highly skilled nonimmigrant workers.

As DHS’s latest publication is only a proposed rule, it does not automatically invalidate currently valid employment authorization documents for H-4 spouses. Furthermore, even as a final rule, an effective date for cessation of validity of H-4 employment authorization cards would need to be provided by DHS. Until that time, H-4 employment authorization cards remain valid. Contact your attorney with any questions regarding employment authorization as well as Form I-9 and E-Verify compliance issues raised by this DHS proposal.

Filing Instructions Published Dec. 14, 2017 – the International Entrepreneur Rule (IER) was finally implemented with USCIS’ publication of instructions on how international entrepreneurs can file Form I-941, Application for Entrepreneur Parole, in order to stay in the U.S. and develop business.

While not offering a path to U.S. permanent residence or U.S. citizenship, the IER does grant qualified international entrepreneurs temporary parole for up to five years (initial 2.5 year approval with possible 2.5 year extension) in the U.S. if they:

Continue Reading USCIS Provides Filing Instructions For Likely Short-Lived International Entrepreneur Rule and Errors Found in Instructions