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...
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...
The Trump administration has now issued a third rule, which radically alters the H-1B program. The first rule was a DOL rule, which significantly increased the wage levels. See our earlier articles which discuss these changes: https://patel-law-group.local/dols-interim-final-rule-implements-higher-prevailing-wage-rates/ https://patel-law-group.local/it-companies-file-suit-against-dol-over-its-new-wage-rule/ The second rule was a DHS rule which changes the definition of H-1B specialty occupation, employer/employee relationship...
Foreign nationals no doubt breathed a sigh of relief at the news that Joe Biden had beat Donald Trump to become the next U.S. President. However, what will change under a Biden Administration? Over the last 4 years the Trump administration has tried to do everything in its power (and often outside of its powers)...
Last month’s visa bulletin saw a surge in the priority dates for Indian Nationals and USCIS’ announcement that the filing date chart could be used was welcomed news. This allowed many Indian Nationals to file an adjustment of status application (sometimes with an EB-3 downgrade) and apply for employment authorization and travel document. Today, the...
After the Department of Labor (DOL) significantly increased the wages for all H–1B workers it is not surprising that a Federal Lawsuit has already been filed. ITServe Alliance along with several IT companies filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court in New Jersey on Friday, October 16, 2020, challenging the unlawfulness of the...
As many of you are already aware, the delayed October 2020 visa bulletin is finally out and it is good news. This fiscal year, there are 261,500 employment-based visas, compared to the usual allotted 140,000. This is as a direct result of an infusion of the unused family-based numbers from FY2020. USCIS has also confirmed...
Sep242020
There has been so much back and forth with Trump’s public charge rule that it’s difficult to keep up with the current status quo. In February of this year the Trump administration started to implement its public charge rule, requiring officers to make a prospective determination as to whether an intending immigrant is likely to...