Late Friday evening on March 3, 2017, The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) announced that it will temporarily suspend its premium processing service for all H-1B petitions, including CAP-subject
Continue Reading Effective April 3, 2017, USCIS Will Temporarily Suspend Premium Processing for All H-1B Petitions
Ian Macdonald
Ian R. Macdonald Co-Chairs the firm’s Labor & Employment Practice’s International Employment, Immigration & Workforce Strategies group. He focuses his practice on developing, assessing and managing global mobility programs for multinational companies on a range of challenges affecting the movement of people capital domestically and internationally, including secondment agreements, benefits transferability, local host country employment concerns and immigration.
Ian and his team work closely with companies to manage and modify, where needed, corporate immigration programs to maximize efficiency, service and regulatory compliance levels. He is experienced with the full range of business immigration sponsorship categories (visas and permanent residence), anti-discrimination rules to reduce or eliminate risk of employment litigation, employer sanction cases, and I-9 and E-Verify compliance. Ian assists clients with establishing risk-based performance standards (RBPS) and Department of Homeland Security protocol, providing risk assessment assistance to corporations subject to Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) and assisting clients with ITAR/Export Control compliance within the immigration context.
Ian has developed strategic relationships abroad that he utilizes when working with clients to ensure compliance with foreign registration requirements. He is experienced with analyzing complex global mobility opportunities on country-specific matters to facilitate the transfer of personnel. Ian is also experienced in counseling employers on immigration strategy as well as immigration consequences of mergers and acquisitions, reduction in workforces, and furloughs.
Prior to joining the firm, Ian worked for the United Nations, various non-governmental think tanks and corporate law firms in London, Washington, D.C., New York and Atlanta.
GTM Alert – Brexit: Immigration and Emigration
This note addresses the impact of Brexit on UK immigration laws. It is one of a series of GTM Alerts designed to assist businesses in identifying the legal issues to…
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USCIS to start processing premium processed H-1B Cap Cases on May 12
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it will begin premium processing all of this year’s H-1B cap cases on May 12, 2016. This includes H-1B cases filed under…
Continue Reading USCIS to start processing premium processed H-1B Cap Cases on May 12
2017 H-1B Cap Met, USCIS to Conduct Lottery
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that it has reached the 2017 H-1B cap, and will no longer be accepting H-1B cap cases under this year’s cap. USCIS has yet to provide the number of petitions received for this year’s caps of 65,000 visas for the general category and 20,000 for the advanced degree exemption. However, we anticipate the numbers to be even higher for FY2017 than the 233,000 H-1B petitions filed in the 2016 cap. This means a greater number of employers and individuals will be looking to alternative visa options when they leave H-1B cap season empty handed.
USCIS has further announced that it will conduct a computer-generated random selection process (also known as the “Lottery’), first on petitions filed under the 20,000 U.S. Master’s Degree exemption and then on cases filed under the 65,000 regular category, to select a sufficient number of petitions for the cap. USCIS has yet to announce when they will begin this selection process. From past experience, we expect the process to occur immediately and notices of acceptance will start to be sent out to employers and their representatives in the next 5‑10 days. We expect rejected cases that do not make this year’s H-1B cap to be returned to employer representatives in the next 3-6 weeks.Continue Reading 2017 H-1B Cap Met, USCIS to Conduct Lottery
DHS Set to Publish Final Rule Allowing Further STEM OPT Extensions for Foreign Students
Today DHS released an advanced copy of its final rule allowing foreign students with degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) to extend their Optional Practical Training (OPT) for…
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December 2015 Monthly AILA Check-In with Charlie Oppenheim
On Dec. 14, 2015, USCIS released the Visa Bulletin Charts for January 2016, in conjunction with the Visa Bulletin, USCIS announced that Family-sponsored immigrant visa applicants may use the “Dates …
Continue Reading December 2015 Monthly AILA Check-In with Charlie Oppenheim
USCIS Visa Bulletin Coming January 2016
On December 14, 2015, USCIS released an updated Visa Bulletin chart listing the dates to file adjustment of status applications starting in January, 2016. Applicants can use the charts issued…
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Recent Lawsuit Reminds Employers to Offer the Same or Higher Wages and Benefits to H-1B Workers as U.S. Workers
On November 9, 2015, in New York State Court, a group of immigrant software engineers filed a class action lawsuit against a global consulting company. The suit claims that the …
Continue Reading Recent Lawsuit Reminds Employers to Offer the Same or Higher Wages and Benefits to H-1B Workers as U.S. Workers
All Embassies and Consulates Closed on October 9, 2015, to perform Global Consular Systems Upgrade
On Friday, October 9, 2015, the Department of State will perform a consular systems upgrade at all Embassies and Consulates (Consular Posts). Because of this upgrade, the Consular Posts will…
Continue Reading All Embassies and Consulates Closed on October 9, 2015, to perform Global Consular Systems Upgrade
Regrettable and Sudden – DOS Issues a Revised Visa Bulletin for October 2015 Leaving Many Foreign Nationals Upset
September 9, 2015, brought great excitement to many foreign nationals—particularly nationals of India, China, and the Philippines—who were anxiously awaiting the opportunity to file their Adjustment of Status applications with…
Continue Reading Regrettable and Sudden – DOS Issues a Revised Visa Bulletin for October 2015 Leaving Many Foreign Nationals Upset