According to a notice released on Wednesday this week, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) plans to adjust the prevailing wage requirements for the H-1B visa and permanent residence process. These adjustments also will affect the E-3 visa for Australian professionals and the H-1B1 visa for professionals from Chile and Singapore.
Read MoreThe Department of State (DOS) has issued its September 2020 Visa Bulletin.
Employment-based movement: Overall, most employment categories will remain at the same place as last month, with modest forward movement under the EB-1 category.
Family-based Movement: Overall, most family-based categories will have modest forward movement.
Detailed charts are in the body of the blog post.
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 through September 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.
Read MoreWith 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 September 19, 2020, so long as the employer continues to have its employees working remotely.
US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that due to the production delay of Employment Authorization Documents (EADs), new hires or current employees may present the approval notice for the Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, in lieu of the EAD card for purposes of showing authorization to work until December 1, 2020.
USCIS started selecting additional H-1B lottery registrations this week from the registrations that were not selected in March 2020. The newly selected registrations have notices that say “August 2020 Selection of Reserve Registration” and indicate a filing period of 8/17/2020 – 11/16/2020.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that it will increase most of its government filing fees effective October 2, 2020, due to budgetary shortfalls. It also will change the premium processing time from 15 calendar days to 15 business days. Finally, it will issue new versions of Form I-129 and Form I-765 in the next 30 days, which also will take effect on October 2, 2020.
Read MoreIn response to certain recent actions taken by China to reduce Hong Kong’s autonomy, President Trump issued an Executive Order last week, stating that Hong Kong would no longer be treated as separate from the People’s Republic of China (“China”) for purposes of certain US laws.
Read MoreThe 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 through August 20, 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.
Read MoreWith 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 August 19, 2020, provided the employer continues to have its employees working remotely.
Read MoreThe Department of State (DOS) has issued its August 2020 Visa Bulletin. We will now be covering both employment-based and family-based priority dates as detailed below.
Read More
