Category: Uncategorized

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.

The Trump administration is about to achieve what many see as its long-held objective of bringing the U.S. legal immigration system to a halt. While the administration would not be allowed to stop processing immigration applications without incurring legal action, critics say that through policy choices and mismanagement of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) it may accomplish the same goal.

“The federal agency tasked with offering citizenship, green cards and visas to immigrants is planning to furlough about two-thirds of its workers at the end of the month after Congress failed to reach a deal on a coronavirus stimulus package,” reported USA Today. “U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services notified about 13,400 of its 20,000 employees that they would be furloughed Aug. 30 because of budget shortfalls.”

To better understand the impact of a USCIS staff furlough, I interviewed Doug Rand, who worked on immigration policy in the Obama White House as assistant director for entrepreneurship and is the co-founder of Boundless Immigration, a technology company that helps immigrants obtain green cards and citizenship. He is also a senior fellow and director of the Technology and Innovation Initiative at the Federation of American Scientists. Continue reading “Forbes – USCIS Staff Furloughs Will Grind Legal Immigration To A Halt”

A federal appellate court on Wednesday limited an order that had blocked the nationwide implementation of a controversial wealth test for green cards and immigrant visas, allowing the Trump administration to continue the policy in every state except New York, Connecticut and Vermont.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit partially set aside last month’s ruling from a federal judge in New York, who said the so-called “public charge” test was hindering nationwide efforts to contain the coronavirus by discouraging immigrants from requesting public assistance, including medical treatment, during the pandemic.

U.S. Circuit Judge Peter Hall did not provide a reason in his one-paragraph order, which set aside the lower court injunction in every state but New York, Connecticut and Vermont. All three of those states had sued the Trump administration over the public charge rule. Continue reading “CBS News – Trump administration can enforce green card wealth test in most states, court rules”

The Trump administration will increase fees on businesses, new citizens and international students who need work authorization. The new fee rule from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is the latest Trump administration action to restrict immigration to the United States and make life more difficult for businesses seeking skilled workers and individuals who want to be American citizens.

On July 31, 2020, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) – USCIS is part of DHS – released to the public the final version of a fee rule first proposed in November 2019. The fees will go into effect on October 2, 2020.

“The significant fee increases on employment-based immigrant and nonimmigrant petitions are nothing more than new taxes on businesses that must be paid to meet their company’s workforce needs,” said Jon Baselice, executive director for immigration policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, in an interview. “This final rule suffers from many of the same critical flaws included in the agency’s original proposal, and given the level of concern on the part of many companies with respect to those issues the fight over this rule is far from over.” Continue reading “Forbes – New USCIS Immigration Fees Hit Businesses, Citizens And Students”