After the Parole in Place Program (“Keeping Families Together”) went into effect on August 19, 2024, sixteen State Attorneys General filed a complaint against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) et. al. The complaint alleges that the program is unlawful and will cause irreparable harm to the states that
Continue Reading Judge Temporarily Pauses Parole in Place Program for Undocumented Spouses and Stepchildren
By Leon Rodriguez, Dawn M. Lurie and Isabella Cohen
Seyfarth Synopsis: On Aug. 19, 2024, DHS posted for public inspection a Federal Register notice implementing the “Keeping Families Together” process for certain noncitizen spouses and stepchildren of U.S. citizens. “Keeping Families Together” enables noncitizen spouses and stepchildren of U.S.
Continue Reading New DHS Parole Policy for Long-Term Undocumented Spouses, Stepchildren
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 MayhemBy: Jake Campbell and Weijia (Victoria) Ma
Seyfarth Synopsis: The below summarizes recent legal updates that impact U.S. immigration:
1. FY2024 H-1B Cap Registration
On March 27, 2023, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that initial registration was complete and that all prospective petitioners with selected registrations selected in
Continue Reading April 2023 U.S. Immigration AlertBy Steven R. Brouillard and Victoria Ma
Seyfarth Synopsis: On January 12, 2023, USCIS announced the final phase of premium processing expansion for EB-1 Multinational Executive and Manager and EB-2 National Interest Waiver (NIW) Form I-140 Petitions, as well as steps to expand premium processing for certain I-765 and I-539
Continue Reading USCIS Implements Final Phase of Premium Processing For Multinational Executive/Manager and National Interest Waiver Immigrant Visa PetitionsOn January 4, 2023, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a proposed rule to increase fees for most immigration benefit requests. If implemented, employers will pay significantly more for most nonimmigrant and immigrant filings. The fee increases projects to boost revenues by over $4.5 billion providing USCIS
Continue Reading New Year, New Fees: Proposed USCIS Fee IncreasesBy: Dawn Lurie, Matthew Parker* and Amber Stokes*
As U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) continues to deal with their backlogs, they have announced that, effective September 26, 2022, USCIS is automatically extending the validity of expired Forms I-551, Permanent Resident Card ( or “PRC”), commonly known as a
Continue Reading Treats from USCIS to LPRs: Green Card Validity ExtensionBy: Dawn Lurie, Matthew Parker, and Amber Olson
On July 22, 2022, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a reminder regarding the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) termination of the COVID-19 temporary policy allowing employers to accept expired List B documents for the Form I-9. As of May
Continue Reading The End is Near: COVID-19 List B Document Temporary Policy Ends
By: Dawn M. Lurie
Seyfarth Synopsis: On April 25, ICE announced its 13th extension, this time for a six-month period (until October 31, 2022), of the I-9 compliance flexibility rules relating to Form I-9. There is no substantive change in this extension of the policy, allowing for the “in-person” exemption (of identity and work authorization document review), benefiting certain employees and offering flexibility for companies that are phasing back in employees. While we are confident that the government is considering a permanent virtual option, we continue to advise employers to work under the assumption that anyone initially verified using the virtual flexibility will be required to conduct an in-person update as employees return to the workplace, especially in cases where identity was not verified (i.e. those that used the fax/email option).
Lucky #13 – Extension of the COVID I-9 Flexibility
In a thirteenth extension, ending on Halloween 2022, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) posted an unprecedented (it’s been a while since I said that word) six (6) month extension of the flexibilities in rules related to Form I-9 compliance, initially granted in March 2020. These flexibilities are now extended until October 31, 2022. The posting on the website is a bit confusing, as it just updates the December 2021 announcement, and includes an alert attached to the top of the page which indicates the new deadline.
ICE’s announcement affirms that employers who are taking COVID-19 related precautions and offering working in remote or hybrid environments, may continue inspecting I-9 documents virtually for newly hired employees as well as for reverification of work authorizations. See our prior blog for the guidance and discussion on its forward-facing application, noting that ICE will evaluate a company’s situation “on a case-by-case basis” should a company have used virtual without the workforce being 100% remote from March 20, 2020 to March 31, 2021. Given the confusion and lack of guidance surrounding the directive, we remain optimistic that the government will show leniency for early misunderstandings and misapplications of the original policy.Continue Reading Trick or Treat: I-9 Flexibilities Extended until October 31, 2022
Late in the day, on May 26, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced a 90-day extension for remote Form I-9 inspection, allowing flexibilities to continue through August 31, 2021.
While the U.S. appears to have turned a corner in the fight against COVID-19, most companies have yet to formulate and implement back to work policies. Thank you to ICE and US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), for allowing these employers to head into the holiday weekend without having to worry about the fate of this anticipated extension. And thank you for the 90 days, rather than the shorter 30 or 60-day extensions issued previously.
The Devil is in the Details
It would not be a exciting blog post, if we didn’t have something interesting to point out. The ICE announcement includes two confusing items:
Continue Reading Nothing “new” Other Than a 90 day Extension of Virtual I-9s