Immigration Insights & Issues Blog
Key legal insights into modern immigration challenges.
Originally published in Healthcare Michigan, Volume 40, No. 11 The nursing profession’s vital signs are unstable and require an intervention. The single largest occupation of health care workers is Registered Nurses (RN). It is also the fifth largest profession nationally.[1] Yet the nursing profession is facing extreme shortages as the need for health care workers grows. Specifically, …
Continue reading “Major Nursing Shortages? Foreign National Nursing Intervention as a Plan of Care.”
On August 20, 2020, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) announced that due to Covid-19 and because of its long delays in producing Employment Authorization Documents, Form I-766 (“EAD”) cards, that it would permit employees to present a Form I-797, Notice of Action, Approval Notice to prove work authorization for their Form I-9, Employment …
On July 1, 2020, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) entered into force and replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that governed continental trade for more than two and a half decades. While the new agreement includes key upgrades in areas such as digital trade and intellectual property to reflect the 21st Century economy, …
Continue reading “USMCA Implemented: What North American Companies Need to Know on Immigration”
The current public health crisis surrounding COVID-19 has led to a number of uncertainties for foreign nationals and their employers and compliance challenges. To address some of these concerns, the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) released three rounds of frequently asked questions (FAQs) responding to questions about COVID-19 and …
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently issued a follow-up Question and Answer sheet (Q&A Sheet) to the March 20 announcement of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) related to a limited relaxation to physical proximity requirements associated with Form I-9 completion due to COVID-19. While the acceptance of an expired state identity document …
The ever-changing impact of the evolving COVID-19 pandemic is making it extremely difficult for employers to plan what to do with their foreign worker populations right now. DW Immigration stands ready to help! Here below we summarize some critical pieces of immigration information from the various government agencies and our related guidance, as it stands …
Continue reading “Critical COVID-19 Guidance for Certain Foreign Workers”
In response to an extraordinary demand for seasonal labor, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on March 5, 2020 that it will increase the number of H-2B visas available for temporary nonagricultural workers by 35,000 for the second half of fiscal year 2020, allocating 20,000 visas for start dates beginning April 1, and …
Kathleen Campbell Walker’s January 21, 2020 article titled, “Employer Tips: Preparing for FY 2021 H-1B Season and Pre-Lottery Registration,” introduced employers to the new H-1B cap process for fiscal year 2021. Since then, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) conducted several webinars and provided additional insight on the H-1B registration tool and electronic registration process. …
Continue reading “Employer Tips Part 2: Updates on the FY 2021 H-1B Cap Registration Process”
US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced in the Federal Register on January 31, 2020, that the new version of Form I-9 (rev.10/21/2019) would be available for use on January 31, BUT employers can still continue to use the prior effective version of the Form I-9 (rev. 07/17/2017N) through April 30, 2020. This announcement basically …
Continue reading “New Form I-9 Version Announced – Must Be Used May 1”
The H-1B process for fiscal year 2021 presents employers and their legal counsel with a variety of new timing and process challenges in addition to potential cost savings. The major change of note will be the insertion of a new registration process, which will be imposed starting on March 1, 2020 and ending on March …
Continue reading “Employer Tips: Preparing for FY 2021 H-1B Season and Pre-Lottery Registration”