On January 15 DHS released the text of a new rule which will change the way USCIS will determine whether an Employer/Employee relationship will exist. Furthermore, on the same day, DOL also released a memo that now interprets the regulations to require end-clients to also file an H-1B petition. USCIS had previously relied on two...
Blogs
Jan142021
Employers filing H-1B petitions need to be aware of the 240- day rule as it applies to filing H-1B extensions, as this rule allows employees to continue to work beyond the expiration of their authorized stay. This rule is particularly important when an Employer is filing an H-1B extension either when premium processing is unavailable...
DOL is publishing its Prevailing Wage Rule on January 14, 2021. This rule previously went into effect on October 8, 2020, without any notice and significantly increased the DOL wages. For further details of this rule please refer to our previous article, published on October 9, 2020. https://patel-law-group.local/dols-interim-final-rule-implements-higher-prevailing-wage-rates/ After the above rule was published, we...
Jan82021
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is releasing a final rule changing the next lottery for H-1B specialty occupation visas from the current random selection process to one based on an individual’s wages. The final rule is to be published on 01/08/2021 and will be effective 60 days from the date of publication. Per USCIS...
Trump has one foot out of the door, but that doesn’t mean that he is done with issuing unlawful and discriminatory Immigration policies. In April and June of last year, Trump issued two Presidential Proclamations suspending the entry of certain immigrants and non-immigrants into the US. The second Proclamation extended the suspension through Dec 31,...
Dec142020
Well, I don’t think anyone saw 2020 coming. It was a turbulent year, what with the raging pandemic and the countless restrictive immigration measures enacted by the Trump administration. In fact, for the Immigration Community, the last 4 years have been some of the most challenging that we have ever seen as the President did...
Two federal courts have struck down two government rules designed to reduce the number of visas issued to skilled foreign workers. It is anticipated that a third federal court will follow the same path. The two government rules (one from the Department of Labor and the other from the Department of Homeland security) impose salary...
On October 8, 2020, the Department of Labor (DOL) published an interim final rule on prevailing wages drastically increasing the four DOL wage tiers of the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) wage survey for H-1B, H-1B1, and E-3 temporary work visas, as well as permanent labor certification (PERM) applications. See our article on this here. With...