The Immigration Bulletin

Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced he will offer Venezuelan exiles protection from deportation, a move he has considered for years but refused to do until his last full day in office.

Trump is using the little-known Deferred Enforced Departure program, or DED, to offer temporary legal status to Venezuelans fleeing the humanitarian crisis brought on by Nicolás Maduro’s regime. DED, similar to Temporary Protected Status or TPS, protects recipients from deportation and allows them to get work permits. However, it is granted directly by the president instead of the Department of Homeland Security.

“The deteriorative condition within Venezuela, which presents an ongoing national security threat to the safety and well-being of the American people, warrants the deferral of the removal of Venezuelan nationals who are present in the United States,” Trump said in a memorandum released Tuesday. Continue reading “Politico – Trump grants Venezuelans temporary legal status on his way out”

President-elect Joe Biden’s efforts to reverse President Donald Trump’s immigration executive actions may not be as simple as issuing a contrary edict, as court rulings show that the government should consider both the scope of authority as well as underlying reasons for actions taken.

As Trump learned when he tried and failed to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, Biden will need to address the rationales behind policies like the travel and visa bans in order to undo them.

“It used to be that you could overturn a policy in the same way that the policy was written. So if it was a policy memo, you could write a policy memo, a regulation for a regulation,” said SharvariDalal-Dheini, director of government relations at the American Immigration Lawyers Association. Continue reading “Bloomberg Law – Trump’s Executive Orders on Immigration Could be Tough to Undo”

Rule Expected to Protect the Economic Interests of American Workers

WASHINGTON—U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has announced a final rule that will modify the H-1B cap selection process, amend current lottery procedures, and prioritize wages to protect the economic interests of U.S. workers and better ensure the most highly skilled foreign workers benefit from the temporary employment program.

Modifying the H-1B cap selection process will incentivize employers to offer higher salaries, and/or petition for higher-skilled positions, and establish a more certain path for businesses to achieve personnel needs and remain globally competitive. Continue reading “USCIS Modifies H-1B Selection Process to Prioritize Wages”

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday extended a pair of immigration bans that block many “green card” applicants and temporary foreign workers from entering the country, measures he says are needed to protect U.S. workers amid the pandemic-battered economy.

The bans, which were issued in April and June, were set to expire on Dec. 31, but will be extended until March 31, 2021, the latest in a series of last-gasp immigration moves by the outgoing Trump administration. A broad range of businesses oppose the ban on certain foreign workers. Continue reading “Reuters – Trump extends immigration bans despite opposition from U.S. business groups”

The 2020 AILA Central Florida Chapter’s Annual Conference was held virtually on December 1st and 2nd, 2020 and was a true virtual learning experience. AILA CFC provided a “Conference in a Box” format with two tracks. The first track covered topics such as analyzing crimes for removal, naturalization and what to do when things go wrong, waivers, lessons in particular social group matter of A-B. Track two covered employment, entrepreneurs/investors, H-1B and PERM, prevailing wages, a practical guide to J-1, PERM from start to finish, alternatives to the PERM, worksite compliance audits and LCA compliance, visa bulletin-priority dates-IVP or AOS, and EB2 to EB3 Downgrades.

Tampa Partner Maria Ramos along with Richard Green gave a presentation entitled “EB-2 & EB-3 India, To Amend or Not to Amend?  That is the Question.” To learn more visit AILA CFC’s website found here.

(Reuters) – A lawyer for the Trump administration on Monday told a federal judge in California that the “unprecedented economic emergency” triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic justified the adoption of rules limiting the H-1B visa program without first calling for public input.

Continue reading “West Law Today (Reuters) – Lawyers for Chamber, Trump administration spar over need for H-1B restrictions”

Tampa Partner Maria Ramos participated as a discussion leader in this past week’s AILA University. Maria and members of AILA’s Business Immigration Response Team (BIRT) addressed AILA members’ most pressing business immigration questions.

Topics covered include:

• What tips can the discussion leaders provide regarding filing EB-2 to EB-3 downgrades?
• Please comment on DOL’s new prevailing wages and provide recent experiences/advice using private wage surveys.
• How should I respond to a USCIS RFE that requests a Form I-944 that was not legally required at the time the adjustment of status was filed?
• An O-1 visa holder stuck in London since the travel restrictions were imposed by PP 9996 has an urgent need to obtain a National Interest Exception. What are the O-1 visa holder’s options?

A new lawsuit and economic research have exposed problems with the Department of Labor’s (DOL) new H-1B wage rule. The lawsuit seeks a preliminary and permanent injunction against the new rule, which analysts have concluded was designed to price out of the U.S. labor market H-1B visa holders and employment-based immigrants by raising the required minimum wage to employ them. The research explains why the rule is likely unlawful, harmful to the U.S. economy and will make it difficult for international students to be employed in the United States after graduation.

“On October 8, 2020, without providing prior notice and without affording plaintiffs or the general public an opportunity to comment, the Department of Labor dramatically altered the manner in which it calculates prevailing wage rates for the H-1B program,” according to a complaint filed on October 16, 2020, by the Wasden Banias law firm on behalf of ITServe Alliance, Dots Technologies, Iflowsoft Solutions, Kolla Soft, NAM Info, Precision Technologies, Smart Works and Zenith Services in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

“Plaintiffs bring this civil action challenging the Department of Labor’s decision to set dramatically higher wage rates without following the notice and comment rulemaking procedures required under the Administrative Procedure Act,” reads the complaint. “Plaintiffs also challenge the agency’s new wage rates as a violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended, because the new wage rates are set under a novel standard that conflicts with the governing statutory criteria. The Department of Labor’s new wage rule is also arbitrary and capricious because the agency relied on outdated, incorrect, or limited empirical data, failed to consider readily available, relevant data and empirical studies, and engaged in reasoning that conflicts with basic economic theory.”

Visit Forbes for full article.

WASHINGTON—The Trump administration announced an overhaul of the H-1B visa program for high-skilled foreign workers that will require employers to pay H-1B workers significantly higher wages, narrow the types of degrees that could qualify an applicant and shorten the length of visas for certain contract workers.

The changes, introduced by the Departments of Labor and Homeland Security on Tuesday, will likely make it tougher to qualify for one of the coveted visas.