President Trump just released a Proclamation, suspending the admission of foreign national workers on H-1B, H-2B, J and L visas and their accompanying dependents through December 31, 2020, in response to high U.S. unemployment. The Proclamation also extends the suspension of immigrant visas further to his April 22 Proclamation through the end of 2020. This Proclamation will take effect on Wednesday, June 24, 2020.
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The Department of Homeland Security has announced that it will continue to limit “non-essential travel” at its land borders with both Canada and Mexico for an additional 30 days until July 21, 2020. Travel for recreation or tourism is considered “non-essential.” Essential services related to the movement of food, fuel, healthcare and life-saving medicines will continue.
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The Department of State (DOS) has issued its July 2020 Visa Bulletin. Overall, most employment categories will have modest forward movement. One category with a significant eleven month advancement is employment-based category 1 (“EB-1”) for Indian nationals. Otherwise, the employment-based categories 1 and 2 for most nationals remain current.
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With employers and employees continuing to take physical distancing precautions in response to COVID-19, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) has again extended the ability of employers to remotely verify a new employee’s identify and employment authorization documents for Form I-9 purposes through July 17, 2020, provided the employer continues to have its employees working remotely.
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There is growing concern that another Presidential Proclamation temporarily suspending immigration to the US may be released very soon, this time focusing on temporary visa-holders, such as H-1B, L-1, and J-1. These concerns are based on the threats in Trump’s last proclamation dated April 22, 2020, which temporarily suspended immigrant visa processing from abroad. Specifically, he stated that within 60 days he could expand the scope of his proclamation to include nonimmigrant visa processing. Since then, new rumours have been circulating every week about what could be forthcoming.
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The timing couldn’t be stranger given the national unrest we are currently going through, but President Trump formally issued a Proclamation on May 29, 2020, prohibiting certain Chinese nationals from obtaining F-1 or J-1 visas to study or research in the United States. Specifically, Chinese nationals who have been associated with entities that support the Chinese government’s “military-civil fusion strategy” and seek to pursue graduate level studies will not be eligible for the F-1 or J-1 visa. The suspension took effect today, June 1, 2020.
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After temporarily suspending premium processing for nonimmigrant (I-129) and immigrant (I-140) petitions due to COVID-19, USCIS announced on May 29, 2020 they will resume premium processing services in the following four phases:
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As USCIS prepares to reopen its domestic offices on June 4 for face-to-face services, such as interviews, collection of biometrics, and naturalization ceremonies, it will implement certain measures to ensure social distancing.
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In an ongoing effort to curb the spread of COVID-19, President Trump issued a Proclamation, indefinitely suspending the entry of travelers from Brazil to the United States. The travel ban takes effect tomorrow, May 28, 2020, at midnight.
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