U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS” has revised its Employment Eligibility Verification form, Form I-9, which all U.S. employers are required to use to verify the identity and employment authorization status of their employees (or re-verify the continued eligibility of those existing employees whose work authorization expires on a specific date). USCIS notice was published in… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Immigration
Subscribe to Immigration RSS FeedH-1B quota likely to be exhausted on (or shortly after) April 1, 2013
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) has announced on Friday, March 15, that it expects to receive a large number of H-1B petitions subject to the fiscal year (“FY”) 2014 quota (also known as the “cap”) on April 1, 2013, the first date upon which USCIS will accept such H-1B petitions for FY 2014 (for… Continue Reading
Certain Visa & Green Card Filing-related Documents to be Publicly Disclosed by Dept. of Labor
The Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA) announced a new initiative to make redacted copies of H-1B, H-1B1, E-3, H-2A, H-2B and permanent labor certification documents available to the general public, which should be of interest to all companies/employers who have sponsored employees for any of those temporary visa categories or for U.S. permanent… Continue Reading
Review of issues for 2013
The following is a summary of some of the key issues Congress and the Administration will be debating in 2013. Please contact us with any questions. We are happy to provide further analysis as well as insight into other areas of interest. Agriculture: Tom Vilsack is expected to stay on as Secretary of Agriculture…. Continue Reading
Increased emphasis on the timing of filing for F-1 Optional Practical Training authorization
According to reports received by the American Immigration Lawyers Association, F-1 students are now experiencing unforeseen denials of their applications for employment authorization (I-765) for Optional Practical Training (OPT) because some USCIS Service Centers have been taking a more restrictive approach to filing deadlines. The USCIS regulations specify that, in addition to filing for post-completion OPT… Continue Reading
Longer Quota-related Delays for Certain Employment-based Green Cards
The October 2012 Visa Bulletin, issued in mid-September by the Department of State (DOS) , is generating buzz, particularly in light of the retrogression to September 1, 2004 for Indian nationals in the employment-based, second preference category (also known as “EB-2″). The last DOS Visa Bulletin to have included information regarding the availability of immigrant… Continue Reading
Guatemala Now Eligible for U.S. Green Card “Lottery”
The U.S. Diversity Immigrant Visa Program (also known as “green card lottery”) provides immigrant visas for persons from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the United States. Applicants are subject to a computer-generated random selection process, and natives of countries that have sent more than 50,000 immigrants to the U.S. over the last five years… Continue Reading
Immigration relief for certain undocumented children
In a significant policy shift and following a stalled bill in Congress, the Administration decided to use discretionary authority to provide temporary immigration relief to certain undocumented children brought to the United States at an early age. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) announced on August 14, 2012, it would begin accepting new forms to allow individuals to… Continue Reading
State Department “delinks” L visa validity from petition validity
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) changed its rule governing the duration of L visa validity in certain cases. Previously, all L visas were limited to the validity period of the petition, which, according to DHS regulations, cannot exceed three years for an initial petition or two years for an extension petition. The new rule ties… Continue Reading
Breaking decisions from the Supreme Court: Term in review
On Tuesday afternoon, three of Hogan Lovells’ Appellate practice partners will provide an analysis of some of the key decisions that will impact businesses as the Supreme Court concludes its current term. Neal Katyal, former Acting Solicitor General of the United States and Appellate practice Co-Director, Cate Stetson, Co-Director of our Appellate practice; and Chris… Continue Reading
Annual Quota of H-1B Visas Reached
USCIS has announced that, as of 11 June 2012, the agency has received enough petitions for H-1B visas that are subject to the annual quota for Fiscal Year 2013 (covering the Oct. 1, 2012–Sept. 30, 2013 period). The quota was met much earlier than in the last two years. This will impact all U.S. employers who… Continue Reading
Cultural fusion is unique enough for P-3 visa purposes
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) Administrative Appeals Office issued a binding precedent decision addressing the term “culturally unique” in the context of visa petitions for performing artists and entertainers. The P-3 nonimmigrant visa classification applies to artists or entertainers who come to the United States temporarily to perform, teach, or coach under a… Continue Reading
Expedited Review of Certain Immigration Cases
Companies that file immigration petitions on behalf of non-US employees will welcome the news that the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has established an expedited case review process to allow for the review and subsequent correction of certain adverse decisions. Specifically, USCIS will accept requests for expedited review of petitions or applications that were rejected or denied… Continue Reading
Proposed Changes to the I-9 Employment Eligibility Form
USCIS published a notice on 27 March 2012, inviting public comments on proposed changes to the Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification. The proposed revisions could impact all U.S. employers. The revisions include: (1) new fields to collect the foreign passport number and country of issuance (these fields would be applicable to foreign nationals authorized to work in the United… Continue Reading
Welcome to HL Focus on Regulation
Hello and welcome to the Hogan Lovells Focus on Regulation. We are delighted to introduce you to our government regulatory blog. In an increasingly complex global market, it’s more important than ever to understand, anticipate, and quickly respond to a wide range of regulatory challenges. Our goal is to use this blog to bring you… Continue Reading