Over 2 months ago I wrote an article stating that a Federal Judge had ruled that USCIS could no longer rely on its 2018 Contracts and Itineraries memo. Here is the link to the original article: https://patel-law-group.local/federal-judge-rules-that-uscis-can-no-longer-use-its-policy-memos-to-justify-denying-h-1b-petitions/ In this article I explained that despite the decision it didn’t necessarily mean USCIS would abide by it. ...
Blog
May112020
During the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of Americans have been laid off by their employer and this is particularly important for Employers who are in the process of filing a PERM application. The whole purpose of the PERM process (also known as the Labor Certification) is for the Employer to demonstrate that it has made a...
According to the May 2020 Visa Bulletin released by the Department of State, the new EB-5 visa availability date for India is October 1, 2019. This is great news for all applicants that have an approved I-526 with a priority date of October 1, 2019 or earlier. However, for all the applicants that do not...
Yesterday, President Trump signed an Executive Order, temporarily suspending the issuance of green cards, claiming that this is a necessary step towards protecting the jobs of U.S. workers. Effective at 11.59 pm on April 23, 2020, this proclamation suspends entry into the U.S. of the following immigrants: Those outside the U.S. as of the effective...
The Coronavirus Relief Fund (“Fund”) provides $139 billion to states and local governments for use toward expenditures incurred due to the public health emergency with respect to COVID-19.[1] The funding is allocated by population proportions among the States, with a minimum of $1.25 billion for smaller states. Eligible local governments (see “Eligibility” below) can apply...
In an environment of a pandemic caused by COVID-19 (the “Novel Coronavirus”), buyers and sellers (collectively the “Parties”) are now implementing new terms and clauses in the multi-family contract to complete transactions. I have been working with numerous buyers and sellers to navigate these uncharted waters to continue with current purchase and sale contracts (“Contract”)...
On April 9, 2020, The Federal Reserve launched the Municipal Liquidity Facility (“MLF”), a credit facility that will purchase up to $500 billion of Eligible Notes (defined below) issued by eligible states, local governments, and instrumentalities (“Eligible Issuers”). The term sheet released by the Federal Reserve (available here) on April 9th further clarifies the terms...
During the current pandemic, many struggling businesses are furloughing or laying off employees at alarming rates. However, for employers of H-1B workers, different rules apply and for those Employers wanting to maintain their workforce, there are other options to consider first. H-1B lottery winners- should Employers withdraw selected registrations following the loss of a project?...