USCIS announced today, April 6, 2018, that the FY 2019 H-1B cap is now closed because it has received a sufficient number of H‐1B petitions to reach the 65,000 statutory cap as well as the 20,000 advanced degree exemption. The announcement did not provide details about the total number of H-1B petitions filed. USCIS will … Continue Reading
On Monday evening, President Trump signed the Continuing Resolution (CR) into law ending the three-day, 69-hour government shutdown. In addition to funding the government and other policy-related matters, the CR extends EB-5, E-Verify, Conrad 30, and the Religious Workers immigration programs until Feb. 8.… Continue Reading
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) announced a three-prong approach to ensuring U.S. employers are hiring legally authorized workers. ICE’s strategy focuses on: Compliance, through increased I-9 inspections, civil fines and referrals for debarment from immigration benefit programs like Labor Condition Applications and PERM Labor Certifications; Enforcement, through arrests of not only of workers employed … Continue Reading
Since the introduction of the Executive Order “Buy American, Hire American” (BAHA), federal agencies, including DHS and USCIS, are following the directive to focus on protecting U.S. workers and U.S. resources. The USCIS website was updated as of Dec. 20, 2017 regarding BAHA and below are key highlights from this update, which is essentially a … Continue Reading
By a vote of 235-193, the House passed H.J. Res 123, the Continuing Appropriations Act. Upon passage, H.J.Res 123 was sent immediately to the Senate, where it passed by a vote of 81-14. The Bill now goes to the president wherein he is expected to sign it into law. Today’s action extends government operations and … Continue Reading
On Oct. 8, 2017, the White House released the promised Immigration Principles & Policies (Principles & Policies) which outline the Trump Administration’s position on immigration. This document is broken into three parts: 1) Border Security, 2) Interior Enforcement, and 3) Merit-Based Immigration. A summary of each part is broken down below.… Continue Reading
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) levied a historic $95 million settlement against a national tree company in connection with a six year investigation by ICE into the company’s hiring of undocumented workers and other immigration violations. This settlement represents the largest payment ever received in an immigration case. Moreover, it demonstrates ICE’s commitment to … Continue Reading
As an update to our recent post late Friday evening, The president signed H.R. 601 – Continuing Appropriations Act, 2018 and Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Relief Requirements Act, 2017, making this important government continuance and public safety measure, including important Immigration programs, law. All government functions are continued until Dec. 8 under this law, including … Continue Reading
The president and congressional leaders reached an agreement earlier this week on a package of government continuance and public safety measures. This package includes a Continuing Resolution, Debt Extension, Hurricane Harvey relief resources, and extension of the National Flood Insurance Program. The extension maintains and continues government funding and reauthorization until Dec. 8, 2017. The Senate … Continue Reading
As of July 31, 2017, Arizona, Maryland, and Wyoming are official participants in the federal government’s E-Verify enhancement program, RIDE. The Record and Information from DMVs for E-Verify (RIDE) verifies the validity of state-issued driver’s licenses and ID card information by matching data entered by employers into E-Verify against state departments of motor vehicles records. … Continue Reading
On Jan. 25, 2017, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order titled “Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States.” This order lays out the president’s plan for enforcing immigration laws, including, among other initiatives, increasing and expediting the deportation of removable aliens from the United States. Specifically, the order prioritizes for … Continue Reading
In this Law360 article, Greenberg Traurig Shareholder Laura Reiff discusses immigration legislation and regulations to watch in 2017. Reiff addresses the Legal Workforce Act, requiring employers to use E-Verify, the BRIDGE Act, and EB-5. To read the full article, click here.… Continue Reading
On November 10, 2016, Laura Foote Reiff, Bob Maples, and Rebecca Schechter presented an Immigration Post-Election Update webinar highlighting some of the anticipated key changes to U.S. immigration policy (click here to listen to the webinar). President-elect Donald Trump will likely begin the change on current U.S. immigration policy as soon as he takes office. … Continue Reading
This week, the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) published its quarterly “SEVIS by the Numbers” report announcing that there are over one million international students in the United States. Many of these students will seek employment with U.S. companies using work authorization granted to them pursuant to their F or M visa status. In … Continue Reading
USCIS has announced that effective Aug. 21, E-Verify users will be able to use a new self-service feature to unlock their own user ID by answering the same security questions used to create their account. The announcement also notes that users will have the option of contacting their program or corporate administrator, or calling 800-741-5023, … Continue Reading
Greenberg Traurig is pleased to host an informative Immigration presentation on key areas that can impact companies across all industry areas. Please join us on Tuesday, June 28, at the GT Mclean office at 8:30 a.m. It’s a great opportunity to meet new connections and get reacquainted with old friends over coffee. Topic areas to … Continue Reading
In the Final Decision and Order dated April 27, 2016, Administrative Law Judge Ellen K. Thomas ordered Golden Employment Group, Inc. (Golden Employment), a staffing and temporary-employment company, to pay $209,600 in civil penalties for 465 Form I-9 violations. Golden Employment, which receives between 2,000 and 3,000 applications each year and has more than 20,000 … Continue Reading
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 … Continue Reading
Greenberg Traurig and the Philadelphia Bar Association invite you to attend an introductory seminar on immigration processes and their relationship to businesses on April 19. Greenberg Traurig attorneys, Matthew T. Galati and Shaun Staller, will provide an overview of the immigration law system and address hiring foreign workers, options for new foreign owned businesses, paths … Continue Reading
E-Verify has announced that effective Jan. 1, 2016, in compliance the National Archives and Records Administration’s retention and disposal schedule, it will destroy all transaction records older than 10 years. Thus, all transaction records created prior to Dec. 31, 2005 will be destroyed. Further, E-Verify will delete, on an annual basis, all transaction records that … Continue Reading
The U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices (OSC) recently issued two Technical Assistance Letters (TAL) that provide guidance on the Immigration and Nationality Act’s (INA) anti-discrimination provision and its applicability in situations involving the use of the E-Verify program and internal I-9 audits. On August 24, 2015, the … Continue Reading
myE-Verify is an all-encompassing program that allows employers and potential employees to utilize the same identity protection and employment eligibility verification features as E-Verify. E-Verify is used by 600,000 employers to confirm employment eligibility of potential candidates and is web-based, created by the Department of Homeland Security. myE-Verify allows all parties visibility into the E-Verify … Continue Reading
Congressional efforts to pass sweeping immigration reform have stalled following the 2013 Senate passage of S.744, the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act. But lawmakers continue to press the case that our system of employment-based immigration merits congressional attention. A quick survey of legislation introduced during the first session of the 114th Congress … Continue Reading
As of June 2015, E-Verify is actively soliciting comments until Aug. 7, 2015 regarding three additional features that could substantively add to the program’s functionality. Specifically, the proposed enhancements include: 1) Final Non-Confirmation (FNC): If implemented, this feature will enable employees to contest FNCs they feel were issued in error. 2) Re-verification: If implemented, this … Continue Reading
