Business Immigration Insights

UPDATES as of July 1, 2020:  Please see our new piece, Entry Ban Update, for additional information that has become available about how the proclamation is being enforced for Canadians, visa renewals, and exceptions.

As of May 1, 2020, when employers verify identity and employment authorization for their employees, they must use the October 21, 2019, edition of Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification.

In a policy memorandum dated May 10, 2018, the United States Citizenship and Immigration and Services (“USCIS”) provided new guidance to its officers and adjudicators on calculating unlawful presence for nonimmigrants in F, M, and J status. This policy memorandum, which becomes effective on August 9, 2018, represents a dramatic shift in long-standing USCIS policy.

The date unlawful status begins to accrue is extremely important as this date is a linchpin in determining when the 3-year and 10-year bars of reentry may apply.  Generally, unlawful status for more than 180 days, but ...

If 2017 is any indication, the new year will bring a fresh cascade of changes – both announced and unannounced, anticipated and unanticipated – in the business immigration landscape.  Few, if any, of these changes are expected to be good news for U.S. businesses and the foreign workers they employ.

In 2017, while much of the news media focused on the Trump Administration’s draconian changes to practices and policies that affected the undocumented – including ending the DACA Dreamer program, shutting down Temporary Protected Status for citizens of countries ravished by war and natural disaster, and aggressively enforcing at the southern border and in “sensitive” locations such as churches, courthouses, and homeless shelters – relatively less attention has been paid to the steady, incremental erosion of rights and options for legal immigrants, particularly those who are sponsored for work by U.S. employers, under the Administration’s April 2017 “Buy American / Hire American” executive order.  There is no doubt that such restrictions to the legal immigration system will continue to cause business uncertainty and disruption in 2018.  Here’s what to expect:

The Trump Administration may be moving towards revamping the J-1 exchange visitor program in ways that could be detrimental to universities, research organizations, businesses, hospitals, healthcare, families, and students.  J-1 nonimmigrant (temporary) visas are issued to: foreign students, scholars, researchers, postdocs, college work/study participants, medical students/residents/doctors, interns, trainees, au pairs, and more.  As part of his campaign’s immigration reform outline, President Trump singled out J-1 work/study programs, stating that he would ...

The President’s Executive Order, commonly called the “travel ban”, has raised many questions.  We answer the most frequently asked questions below, and will update them as additional information becomes available.

I am from one of the named countries and am outside of the United States.  Can I apply for a nonimmigrant (temporary) or immigrant (permanent) visa at a US consulate?

On January 27, 2017, the U.S. Department of State (DOS) provisionally revoked most valid nonimmigrant and immigrant visas issued to nationals from the seven countries subject to the travel ban. Certain diplomatic and other visa categories are exempt from this action. This move was largely symbolic since individuals subject to the travel ban are not permitted to enter the United States. However, if and when the travel ban is lifted, individuals from the listed countries would most likely need to reapply to a U.S. consulate abroad for a new visa before they could travel to the United States.

The fast pace of immigration developments under the new Trump administration continues. The following are some of the issues that are most important to individuals and businesses in the United States:

On August 11, 2010, the State Department published its final revised rule on J-1 Interns and Trainees.  The revised rule makes 3 key changes.  First, host companies no longer must provide a Dun & Bradstreet report  Second, program sponsors may interview candidates by phone rather than only in person or by videoconference.  And third, both interns and trainees may participate in unlimited J-1 programs as long as they will develop more advanced skills or train in a different field of expertise in each new program.  Interns must still be enrolled full-time in a foreign college or university or ...