Immigration Updates

H-2B Employers Urged to Identify Returning Workers when Filing Petitions Effective December 18, 2015, H-2B workers identified as “returning workers” are exempted from the fiscal year (FY) 2016 annual H-2B cap of 66,000 visas. See Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) §214(g)(9)(a), 8 U.S.C. 1184(g)(9)(a), as revised by Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2016 (Public Law 114-113).…

USCIS is proposing regulatory amendments to better enable U.S. employers to hire and retain certain foreign workers who are beneficiaries of approved employment-based immigrant visa petitions and are waiting to become lawful permanent residents (LPRs). Read the notice of proposed rulemaking published in the Federal Register on December 31, 2015: Retention of EB-1, EB-2 and…

On December 8th, in the wake of the attacks in Paris, the House overwhelmingly voted to pass the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) reform bill to enhance and bolster the national security. This reform bill that was initially introduced by Rep. Candice Miller introduces many promising and effective security enhancements such as the use of a…

Where an immigration officer determines that an individual is an applicant for admission under the VWP and is inadmissible, the applicant will be refused admission into the United States and removed, without referral to an Immigration Judge for a determination of deportability, except that an Immigration Judge has jurisdiction over any application for asylum, withholding…

On September 10, 2015, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (‘CBP’) launched a redesigned website for VISA WAIVER PROGRAM (VWP) visitors to apply for Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) prior to traveling to the United States. The VWP is administrated by the Department of Homeland Security (‘DHS’) and enables citizens or nationals of 38…

Opinion: Yes, It’s America and I Speak Spanish Because I Can Whenever I’m in a situation where I pick up that someone has a Spanish accent, I’ll switch to speaking Spanish. I also make the effort with French or Italian, though I’m not nearly as fluent. Speaking to somebody in their first language forges an…

Brazilian Congress recently approved a legislation-for the first time- authorizing the use of binding arbitration clause to resolve individual labor disputes. Until recently, the Brazilian legislators were silent on the use of arbitration clause in cases involving individual disputes, while the Brazilian courts did allow arbitration clause in disputes involving labor unions against companies, but…

The U.S. District Court for the District of Colombia significantly curtailed immigration benefits for foreign students in the United States on F-1 visas. In her opinion in the case Washington Alliance of Technology Workers vs. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Hovelled invalidated USCIS’s 2008 17-month Optional Practical Training (OPT) extension…

On July 14, 2015, the Secretary signed the following proposed rule, the Department of Homeland Security sent it to the Federal Register for publication. See the proposal below. “The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) proposes to expand eligibility for provisional waivers of certain grounds of inadmissibility based on the accrual of unlawful presence to all…

Special Immigrant Juvenile Status is for foster youth; it allows undocumented youth immigrant to stay in the country, work, and eventually get a green card. A Special Immigrant Juvenile is an unmarried person under the age of twenty-one who is in the United States; who has been declared dependent on a juvenile court located in…