Corporate immigration resources for HR teams

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on December 03, 2020 that in compliance to the court orders, it will change the prevailing wages to the data as it is was on Oct 07, 2020. With this change, the prevailing wages for speciality occupation will go back to where they were prior to October 08, 2020.

On Tuesday (Dec 01, 2020), a federal judge in San Francisco struck down two Trump administration policies. These policies required employers to pay foreign workers on H-1B visas significantly higher wages and narrowed eligibility for the program.

USCIS announced on October 16, 2020 that effective October 19, 2020 the cost for Premium Processing has gone up from $1,440 to $2,500 for all non-immigrant visa categories. This change comes as a part of Congress approved Continuing Appropriations Act, 2021 & Other Extensions Act signed into law on October 1, 2020.

President-Elect Biden has pledged that in his first 100 days in office, his administration will work on immigration initiatives by launching some proposals immediately and by working on new regulations or Congressional actions. Here are some of the employment-immigration initiatives included in the proposal.

The Trump Administration on Oct 28, 2020 proposed a new rule that would end the H-1B visa lottery process as we know it. This rule, if it were to go into effect, would allow USCIS to grant visas based on the highest salary levels. The proposed regulation may violate the statute, attorneys and prominent critics say.

The visa bulletins issued by the Department of State (DOS) each month are to show the availability and movement in different green card categories determined by education and experience levels and the country of birth. DOS published the November, 2020 bulletin a few days ago.

The H-4 EAD is the employment authorization document that the spouses receive to legally work in the U.S.

Update - Dec 02, 2020A federal judge in San Francisco on Tuesday (Dec 01, 2020) struck down this Trump administration policy. This policy, which would have gone into effect December 07, 2020 and would have narrowed who qualifies for H-1B visas based on their specific higher-education degrees and would have shortened the length of visas issued to some contract workers.Under the Trump administration’s long sought objective of overhauling the H-1B program, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)

Update - Dec 04, 2020On December 03, 2020 the Department of Labor has announced that they will be updating its Foreign Labor Application Gateway and the FLC Data Center website to reflect the updated rates as per pre-Oct 08. You can read more about how the changes would go into effect in this article.Update - Dec 02, 2020A federal judge in San Francisco on Tuesday (Dec 01, 2020) struck down this Trump administration policy. This policy, which went into effect immediately, required employers to p

USCIS has announced that it would consider “Dates of Filing” chart in October for acceptance of change of status.

DHS is adjusting USCIS fees by a weighted average increase of 20% to help recover its operational costs starting Oct 02, 2020

If there is a change in employment status while a foreign national is on OPT, he/she should work with their DSO to update their SEVIS.