Travel to the U.S. – Suspensions and Restrictions (Updated March 15, 2020) The White House has published three Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)-related proclamations relating to travel to the United States: Jan. 31, 2020: Proclamation 9984, Proclamation on Suspension of Entry as Immigrants and Nonimmigrants of Persons who Pose a Risk of Transmitting 2019 Novel Coronavirus. … Continue Reading
A number of changes to U.S. immigration law occurred in 2019. As we look ahead into the new year, we continue to see new and proposed changes to U.S. immigration policy. This webinar will discuss significant developments from 2019 as well as a summary of potential changes to the U.S. business immigration system in 2020. Wednesday, January … Continue Reading
After years of delay the Obama-era EB-5 immigration regulations were published on July 24, 2019. You can find a copy of the regulations at this link. You can also find a summary of them here. The regulations only apply to those who file their I-526 Petitions on or after Nov. 21, 2019. Without further ado, below are … Continue Reading
Amid a flurry of media reports last week and verified today by U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen announced the availability of 30,000 additional H-2B visas for 2019 seasonal employment. Several years ago, Congress gave the DHS Secretary, in consultation with the Department of Labor, the authority to augment H-2B seasonal visas … Continue Reading
On March 14, 2019, the EB-5 Investment Coalition, in cooperation with Invest in the USA (IIUSA), released the most comprehensive economic analysis of the EB-5 program to date. Laura Reiff, co-chair of Greenberg Traurig’s Immigration & Compliance Practice, commented on the report: “Without the typical data limitations and constraints on economic analysis, premier industry economists … Continue Reading
Global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP has 37 attorneys recognized in the 2019 edition of the prestigious legal services directory, Chambers Global. In addition, 13 practices were ranked across seven regions including Immigration and Compliance. Laura Reiff and Martha Schoonover were ranked under USA Immigration: Business. To read the full GT press release, click here.… Continue Reading
Based on an analysis of more than 100,000 pieces of thought leadership, legal publisher The National Law Review (NLR) recognized global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP as a 2018 “Go-To Thought Leader” for its coverage of business immigration changes and immigration law in general. According to the NLR website, the “‘Go-To-Thought Leadership Awards’ recognize 65 exceptional … Continue Reading
The Department of Labor announced an iCERT service interruption on Jan. 1: IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: We sincerely apologize for the major service interruption in the iCERT System early in the morning of January 1, 2019. Due to overwhelming filing demand, the Department’s technology staff is working diligently to investigate the cause of the system outage and … Continue Reading
Laura Foote Reiff and Martha J. Schoonover, shareholders in global law firm Greenberg Traurig LLP’s Northern Virginia office, were again listed in Washingtonian magazine’s 2018 “Top Lawyers” list. They are recognized in the magazine for their immigration work and will be featured in the Dec. 2018 issue. According to the Washingtonian, this biennial list features approximately … 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
Last night, House Appropriations Chairman, Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ), filed a Continuing Resolution to extend government funding and to provide extension of authorities for programs, such as EB-5, on the House Appropriations website. The Continuing Resolution, or CR, would extend government operations and the EB-5 program through Feb. 16.… Continue Reading
The Department of Homeland Security announced the cessation of Temporary Protected Status of citizens from El Salvador. This decision follows recent TPS decisions for Haiti, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Today’s decision will impact more than 200,000 Salvadorans in the United States for more than 15 – 20 years. DHS has announced a transition period through Sept. 9, 2019. … Continue Reading
Greenberg Traurig Laura Reiff, co-chair of Greenberg Traurig’s Immigration and Compliance practice, was recently quoted in the Bloomberg Law article, “Trump Stretches Meaning of Deregulation in Touting Achievements.” The article reviews a list of the administration’s deregulation achievements in 2017, including the H-2B visa program regulation. Reiff highlights the additional requirements placed on businesses that wanted … Continue Reading
Greenberg Traurig Laura Reiff, Co-Chair Business Immigration and Compliance, was recently quoted in the Bloomberg Law article, “Immigration Attorneys on Their toes in the Age of Trump.” The article discusses the developments in immigration in 2017 and how attorneys are handling the new environment. Reiff expresses the need to be more proactive as immigration attorneys … Continue Reading
Greenberg Traurig’s Laura Reiff and Kate Kalmykov were recently recognized by Human Resource Executive, in a report researched by the Lawdragon organization for their work in immigration law. For the seventh consecutive year, the “Nation’s 20 Most Powerful Employment Attorneys – Immigration” list includes Laura Foote Reiff and a first time appearance in the publication’s list … Continue Reading
Laura Reiff, co-chair of Greenberg Traurig’s Business Immigration & Compliance practice, was recently recognized as a Law360 2016 Immigration MVP. Three other GT attorneys were also recognized as MVPs: Lori G. Cohen in the Trials category, Paul M. Seby in the Environmental category, and Rick L. Shackelford in the Food & Beverage category. Greenberg Traurig was recognized as one of … Continue Reading
The U.S. House of Representatives and Senate have passed the Continuing Resolution (CR) legislation to keep the government open through April 28, 2017. As with the CR in late September that extended the EB-5 Regional Center program and the other three immigration programs, this CR will create a clean extension through April 28. The legislation extends … 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
Immigration Policy is broken. We all agree. How should we fix it and why haven’t we been able to fix it over the last two decades? There is a multifaceted answer to this question, but Congress has been unable to agree on how to deal with the policy changes. We have had numerous attempts and … Continue Reading
Greenberg Traurig’s Business Immigration & Compliance Practice has been shortlisted for The Legal 500 United States 2015 Awards in the areas of “Labor and Employment – Immigration.” The team of more than 100 experienced legal professionals provides a wide range of services including immigration policy development, immigration compliance, U.S. work visas and permanent residence, global immigration, legal … Continue Reading
The Department of Homeland Security Inspector General Report regarding the “Investigation into Employee Complaints about Management of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ EB-5 Program” was released March 24, 2015. This report follows a long investigation and inquiries by several congressional offices about the appropriateness of the communications between certain stakeholders in the EB-5 program and … Continue Reading
On Feb. 21, 2012, the Secretary of Labor issued a Final Rule (Rule) that sought to overhaul the temporary, non-agricultural foreign worker H-2B program for seasonal workers. The rule was preliminarily enjoined by a Federal District Court Judge in the Northern District of Florida barring the Department of Labor from implementing the rule. The 11th … Continue Reading
