With an incoming administration vocal about its stance on immigration enforcement and safeguarding U.S. workers, employers who hire foreign workers on H-1B visas should make certain that they are maintaining compliance with U.S. immigration regulations. To avoid potential fines, penalties, or jeopardizing the status and work authorization of H-1B employees
Continue Reading Keeping Your Ducks in H-1B Row: Compliance Strategies for Employers
The Employment-Based First Preference (EB-1) immigrant visa category is designed to attract top and critical talent to the U.S. This category includes individuals with extraordinary abilities in fields such as science, arts, education, business, or athletics (EB-1A); outstanding professors and researchers (EB-1B); and multinational executives or managers (EB-1C). It provides
Continue Reading Understanding the First Preference Extraordinary Ability Category for Immigrant Visas and USCIS’s New Guidance
The Child Status Protection Act (CSPA) is a law designed to help certain young people (children of immigrants) keep their eligibility for U.S. immigration benefits, even if they turn 21 years old during the application process. Normally, when a child of an immigrant turns 21, they “age out” of being
Continue Reading The Child Status Protection Act & USCIS Extraordinary Circumstances Policy Updates
In a significant development for H-1B visa hopefuls, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has completed a second lottery for the Fiscal Year 2025 H-1B cap. The H-1B program enables U.S. employers to temporarily hire foreign workers for roles that typically require at least a bachelor’s degree in the
Continue Reading Second USCIS FY 2025 Cap Lottery: A New Opportunity for H-1B Applicants
Recent processing time trends at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) are raising concerns for both Employers and F-1 visa holders relying on automatic extensions of work authorization while awaiting the processing of their F-1 STEM Employment Authorization Document (EAD) extension applications.
While USCIS published processing time data reflects
Continue Reading Navigating Delays: The F-1 STEM EAD Waiting Game Considerations for Employees and Employers
As noted in our post in February 2024, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a final rule updating the H-1B cap registration process and creating a beneficiary-centric selection process. The rule took effect this year with the FY25 H-1B cap registration period, which ran from March 6, 2024
Continue Reading H-1B Cap Rule – Did it Work?Seyfarth Synopsis: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently announced a Temporary Final Rule extending the automatic extension period for certain Employment Authorization Document (EAD) renewal applicants from 180 days to 540 days.
In alignment with ongoing efforts aimed at streamlining operations and enhancing processing efficiency, the U.S. Citizenship
Continue Reading Streamlining Services: USCIS Auto-Extensions for Work Permits – A Step Towards Efficiency and Relief
On the morning of February 14, 2024, several clients reached out after encountering issues with the photo matching tool in E-Verify. They reported discrepancies where the photos transmitted by E-Verify did not align with the photos on the employees’ documents. It became increasingly clear that E-Verify was not rendering
Continue Reading Valentines Day Glitch: E-Verify Photo-Match Mayhem
Seyfarth Synopsis: Effective April 1, USCIS will implement significant filing fee increases, in particular for petition and applications related to employment-based benefits.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a final rule, which will take effect on April 1, 2024, to adjust certain immigration and naturalization benefit request fees. Through
Continue Reading USCIS Announces Significant Fee Increases Effective on April 1, 2024By: Jake Campbell, Weija (Victoria) Ma, and Jason Burritt
Seyfarth Synopsis: The below summarizes recent legal updates that impact U.S. immigration:
1. Government Shutdown Avoided – For Now
On September 30, 2023, Congress passed a stopgap bill to keep the government running for another 45 days. For more information on potential impacts if the government were to shutdown, please see our legal alert–Potential Government Shutdown: Immigration Consequences for Employers and their Foreign Employees—here.Continue Reading October 2023 U.S. Immigration Alert