The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has issued a Final Rule for the H-2A and H-2B temporary worker programs that will become effective on Jan. 17, 2025. The Rule is aimed at modernizing the regulations governing the...more
1/13/2025
/ Agricultural Workers ,
Compliance ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Final Rules ,
Foreign Workers ,
H-2A ,
H-2B ,
Immigration Procedures ,
USCIS ,
Visas ,
Whistleblowers
As an employer, it’s important to support your foreign national employees, especially when it comes to navigating the complexities of various U.S. laws. One such process is obtaining a state driver’s license, as the...more
Congress has approved an additional 64,716 H-2B visas for fiscal year 2024, supplementing the 66,000 available annually. As in prior years, restrictions will apply. A temporary final rule has been published in the Federal...more
Years ago, people employed in manufacturing were seen as bit players in an industrial machine, but no longer. Many manufacturing jobs today require high-level STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) skills. ...more
6/16/2023
/ E-3 ,
F-1 Visa ,
Foreign Workers ,
H-1B ,
J-1 Visas ,
L-1 Visas ,
Labor Shortage ,
Manufacturers ,
O-1 Aliens of Extraordinary Ability ,
STEM ,
TN-Visas
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has provided guidance on the additional 64,716 H-2B temporary nonagricultural worker visas available for fiscal year 2023.
H-2B visas allow employers to bring workers to the United...more
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in conjunction with the Department of Labor (DOL) will be starting the fiscal year by making an additional 64,716 H-2B temporary nonagricultural worker visas available. This is on top...more
As they did for last summer, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Labor (DOL) will make available an additional 35,000 H-2B temporary nonagricultural worker visas for the second half of FY 2022....more
Manufacturing companies looking for creative solutions to build the talent pool, especially to fill more skilled positions, should consider the TN work visa.
A work visa available to citizens of Mexico and Canada, the TN...more
To help employers dealing with labor shortages due to the limits on H-2B temporary, seasonal visas, a new rule published by the Department of Labor (DOL) increases the H-2B numerical limits. DOL also released a rule that...more
By June 1, 2021, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had received more H-2B visas petitions than the allotted 16,000 slots for returning workers. A lottery will be conducted to determine which petitions will be accepted for...more
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced that it plans to release 22,000 more H-2B visas in addition to the 66,000 H-2B visas available annually, reserving 6,000 for the Northern Triangle countries of...more
Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Alejandro Mayorkas has announced that the public charge rule, put in place by the Trump administration in 2019, is no longer in effect. Instead, DHS will return to its...more
3/12/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Health and Welfare Plans ,
Immigrants ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Medicaid ,
Public Charge ,
Public Housing ,
SCOTUS ,
SNAP Program ,
Trump Administration
The B-1 in lieu of H-1B visa has been used by international companies to bring employees who remain on payrolls abroad to the United States for short periods of time (generally fewer than six months) to do professional level...more
Between March 1 and March 20, 2020, 275,000 individuals were entered into USCIS’ new electronic pre-registration system to obtain an H-1B for the 2020-2021 fiscal year. This is a nearly 25% increase over last year’s...more
The Visa Bulletin, published every month by the Department of State (DOS), is the key to the Green Card process. The Department of State is charged with allocating the statutory 140,000 employment-based immigrant visas each...more
The FY 2020 H-1B cap cases have been filed and 85,000 will be selected for adjudication. “Winning the lottery” is no longer considered the biggest hurdle, however.
Back in FY 2005, about 95% of all selected cases were...more
Historically, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division has been the primary auditor of companies using H-2B visa to hire temporary, seasonal workers. But amid debates over the cap on H-2B visas and an expressed...more
The omnibus spending bill has been passed and signed by President Donald Trump in time to avoid a government shutdown. From an immigration perspective, here is what is “in” and what is “out” for the rest of the 2018 fiscal...more
The H-2B visa shortage continues, impacting thousands of U.S. businesses around the country. H-2B visas are used widely in hospitality and tourism, landscaping and the construction industry to hire foreign workers for...more
An additional 15,000 H-2B visas will be released in response to industry demand. The USCIS will begin accepting petitions on July 19, 2017, for the fiscal year which ends on September 30, 2017. Petitions will be accepted...more
While the Department of State’s Visa Control and Reporting Division had hoped it would not be necessary to include a cut-off date in the first preference category, that cut-off has come to pass. In its June 2017 Visa...more
After May 1, 2017, be on the lookout for redesigned Green Cards and Employment Authorization Documents (EADs). The USCIS will start issuing newly styled cards on May 1 as part of the “Next Generation Secure Identification...more
The H-2B visa program is used extensively in tourist locations to hire foreign workers for “the season” to do temporary nonagricultural work. There are 66,000 H-2B visas available annually – half for the summer season and...more
Following recent ICE arrests of 680 individuals in the Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, San Antonio, and New York City areas, Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), and Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.)...more
2/22/2017
/ Deportation ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Funding ,
Federal v State Law Application ,
Immigrants ,
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ,
Immigration Reform ,
Injunctions ,
Raids ,
Sanctuary Cities ,
State and Local Government ,
Strike4Democracy ,
Trump Administration