Immigration Insights & Issues Blog
Key legal insights into modern immigration challenges.
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”
The new and much anticipated United States, Mexico and Canada Agreement (USMCA) replacing and modernizing the 25 year old North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has been in the headlines for a couple of years. The USMCA has officially made its debut after President Trump signed the trade deal into law on January 29, 2020. …
Continue reading “USMCA: Immigration Chapter and TN Visas Unaffected by New Law”
Change is a constant in immigration visa adjudications and drastic changes can be implemented from one day to the next without much, if any, notice. For example, the reciprocity fees for the nonimmigrant visas for Australian citizens changed drastically on December 23, 2019.[1] For example, for E-1 and E-2 treaty trader/investor visas, the application fee …
Continue reading “Visa Reciprocity Fees and E-2 Visa Adjudications – Targets for Change in 2020”
All applicants for a U.S. nonimmigrant visa at a consular post quickly become familiar with the DS-160, online nonimmigrant visa application form, which is available on the Consular Electronic Application Center (CEAC) website. The form may seem fairly innocuous and many employers leave employees to fend for themselves to obtain their “visa stamp” from the …
Continue reading “Consular Application Challenges – Be Wary of the DS-160”
On November 14th, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services agency (“USCIS”) is expected to formally publish proposed fee changes in the Federal Register for the applications and petitions it processes. Public comments about the regulatory fee changes should be due 30 days later, but it appears that the new fee levels may start to be …
Continue reading “Just in Time for Thanksgiving: The USCIS Implements Large Filing Fee Increases”
What is the VWP? The VWP is administered by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in consultation with the State Department. Currently, the program permits citizens of 38 countries[1] to travel to the United States (U.S.) for business or tourism purposes for up to 90 days without a visa, which is a major convenience. In …
Continue reading “Visa Waiver Program (VWP) Travel Challenges – Don’t Forget!”
The concept of a public charge ground of inadmissibility[1] has been a part of immigration law for more than a century and the current statutory provision [§212(a)(4)] of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended (INA), has not been changed. Yet, based on a proposed regulatory change published by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) …
Continue reading “Doubling Down on Public Charge to Deny Immigration Applications”
USCIS is moving forward with a plan to implement a preliminary registration system for cap-subject H-1B petitions that will drastically change the H-1B visa filing process employers have used for years. On September 3, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) posted a notice about its proposed rulemaking for its electronic H-1B implementation tool, which would …
Keeping it simple is often a key goal in any compliance policy for a company, but sometimes it may not be a best practice and indeed could cause a company to incur liability. Employers should consider onboarding personnel products carefully and it is important not to overlook if such products attempt to address the conundrum …
Continue reading “The Risks of Auto/Pre – Population and the Form I-9”
Applicants for immigrant and nonimmigrant visas must use the Department of State’s Consular Electronic Application Center (CEAC) to complete on-line forms for nonimmigrant (DS-160) or immigrant (DS-260) visas. This week, applicants have started experiencing a new question on the form related to their social media presence. A screen shot of the question is inserted below. …