Washington, D.C.– U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) today announced an extension of the flexibilities in rules related to Form I-9 compliance that was granted earlier this year. Due to the continued precautions related to COVID-19, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will extend this policy until Dec. 31, 2020. Employers with employees taking physical[Read More]
News and Alerts
USCIS proposes a rule to favor Applicants with higher wage in selecting H-1B lottery
Washington, D.C. Today, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the transmission to the Federal Register of a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that would prioritize the selection of H-1B registrations (or petitions, if the registration process is suspended) based on corresponding wage levels. If finalized as proposed, this new selection process would incentivize employers to offer[Read More]
17 individual and organizational plaintiffs, including institutions of higher education, nonprofit organizations, and businesses brought lawsuit challenging Department of Labor’s Rule changing Prevailing Wage Determinations
Washington, D.C. Adhikari Law PLLC. Today, 17 individual and organizational plaintiffs, including institutions of higher education, nonprofit organizations, and businesses, brought a federal lawsuit to enjoin, in its entirety, the Department of Labor Interim Final Rule, “Strengthening Wage Protections for the Temporary and Permanent Employment of Certain Aliens in the United States.” The poorly-drafted, improperly-issued[Read More]
DHS Proposes Sweeping regulatory changes in H-1B work visa program
U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHL) has proposed sets of Interim Final Rules governing H-1B visa program and permanent labor certification program’s (PERM) prevailing wage system. These will restrict the definition of specialty occupation, limit the duration of approval for petition involving client-site (to 1 yr), and changing the[Read More]
Department of Labor issues Interim Final Rule governing the prevailing wage methodology for several foreign worker programs
U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has published an Interim Final Rule (IFR) in Federal Register governing prevailing wage methodology for several foreign worker programs, namely Permanent Employment Certification (PERM), H-1B, H-1B1, and E-3 visa program. DOL has published the new regulations (effective from Oct 8th, 2020). The Department will be accepting public comments on the IFR for 30[Read More]
Court orders preliminary injunction in favor of Chamber and trade associations against President H, L, J visa ban
U.S. District Court has ordered a preliminary injunction against President’s Proclamation (10052) which banned a new issuance of H-1B, L-1, J-1 and H-2B work visa and banned the entry of these workers and their dependents. This order was made on a case, National Association of Manufacturers, et al. v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, et[Read More]
Court orders Class Certification of FY 2020 DV Winners and orders to reserve visa for them
U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in Washington, D.C. has ordered the Class Certification of the FY 2020 DV Winners and orders the U.S. State Department to reserve visa for them so that the Class can get immigrant visa even after September 30, 2020– end date of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2020. Otherwise[Read More]
Unused Family-based Visa Numbers from 2020 will likely make FY 2021 Employment-based Visa Number Current for many applicants
Washington, D.C. October 1, 2020 will mark the beginning of the federal fiscal year (FY) 2021, and with it, the infusion of a new allocation of immigrant visa (IV) numbers. This infusion typically results in some forward movement in Final Action Dates in the month of October, 2021. We anticipate that these dates will move[Read More]
A win for the Diversity Visa (DV) Lottery Winners and a loss for H, L, J visa applicants abroad: A federal Court in DC orders Trump Administration to process DV visa applications
U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia orders the State Department to process all 2020 DV visa applications in a preliminary injunction order. The court orders that the State Department (U.S. Embassies and Consulates) may not interpret or apply the President’s Proclamations in any way that forecloses or prohibits embassy personnel, consular officers, or[Read More]
USCIS Selects Additional Registrations for the FY 2021 H-1B Cap
We received alerts from USCIS stating that “we have taken action on your case”. When we signed into USCIS account, we learned that there were some H-1B registrations which were selected in the lottery on August 14, 2020. This is a 2nd lottery draw by USCIS. See the sample notice as shown below. We received[Read More]