Without a doubt, COVID-19 has had a disruptive effect on almost every aspect of our lives. The extraordinary and unprecedented public health emergency COVID-19 created has caused different businesses and government agencies to unexpectedly shutter their operations in order to minimize the spread of this virus. One unintended consequence is that COVID-19 has forced U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) processing of cases to come to a virtual standstill. As a result, the production of certain Employment Authorization Documents (Form I-766, EAD), among other things, has been delayed. Because failure to receive an EAD document can result in a foreign national not being able to continue to work (and ultimately) a termination, a lawsuit has been brought against USCIS in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio (Easter Division) challenging the delay in issuance of the employment authorization document (EAD) following approval of the I-765 application.
Today, USCIS announced that employees may use Form I-797, Notice of Action, with a Notice date on or after December 1, 2019 through and including August 20, 2020 informing an applicant of approval of an Application for Employment Authorization (Form I-765) as a Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, List C #7 document to establish employment authorization issued by the Department of Homeland Security pursuant to 8 C.F.R. 274a.2(b)(1)(v)(C)(7), even though the Notice states it is not evidence of employment authorization. This newly created exception to the Form I-9 rules will expire on December 1, 2020. Additionally, please note that employees will still be required to present a List B document to establish their identity. Continue reading “USCIS permits use of approval notices as evidence of work authorization due to COVID-19 delays”
Mechelle Zarou, partner in the Toledo office and co-chair of the firm’s Immigration and Labor & Employment practice groups, will be speaking at the American Bar Association (ABA) Young Lawyers Division’s webinar “Business Immigration Issues and COVID-19: Addressing Central Concerns for Employers, Employees and Their Families” on Wednesday, April 8 from 1:00 – 2:00 PM ET.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced it has received sufficient electronic registrations to reach the FY 2021 numerical limit and has notified all employers whose H-1B registrations were selected. Under the new system, those companies whose registrations were chosen must prepare and submit applications (and have them approved) to receive H-1B petitions. What does history tell us about how many companies will follow through with their applications in light of the current economic downturn?
By way of background, under the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, employers are required to complete a Form I-9 for each newly hired employee. The purpose of the Form I-9 is to verify the identity of each new employee and ensure that the new employee is authorized to work in the United States. The Form I-9 contains a list of acceptable documents for establishing an employee’s identity and authorization to work. 
On March 11, the President of the United States signed a Presidential Proclamation titled: “Suspension of Entry as Immigrants and Nonimmigrants of Certain Additional Persons Who Pose a Risk of Transmitting 2019 Novel Coronavirus”.