In light of prolonged Department of Labor (DOL) processing times and recent regulatory settlements involving the DOL and Department of Justice, employers are reevaluating their approaches to securing permanent residence...more
In the pursuit of U.S. permanent residency, employers often turn to the PERM labor certification process to sponsor employees. However, there exist alternative pathways to obtaining a green card, one of which is the National...more
Employers looking to retain current foreign national employees or attract highly skilled talent should consider adding the National Interest Waiver to their immigration sponsorship toolset. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic,...more
On January 12, 2023 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced the implementation of the final phase of the premium processing expansion for Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers, under the EB-1 and EB-2...more
The Biden Administration just announced that starting November 8, 2021 there will be stricter vaccine and COVID testing requirements for all air travelers into the US. The new rule eliminates all the regional COVID travel...more
The Biden administration has announced that it will lift current regional pandemic-related travel restrictions on foreign nationals in early November. The current restrictions will be replaced by a Covid-19 vaccination...more
Workforce Update. The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Bureau of Labor Statistics released its May 2021 jobs report on June 4, 2021. According to the report, American employers added 559,000 jobs in the previous month....more
On Friday, April 30, 2021, U.S. President Joe Biden confirmed that there will be new travel restrictions from India. Specifically, the United States will restrict travel from India starting Tuesday, May 4, 2021, at 12:01 a.m....more
As the COVID-19 crisis in India has worsened in recent weeks, the Biden administration decided to issue a new round of travel restrictions targeting travel from India....more
What Matters: Travel from India will be significantly limited by Presidential Proclamation effective Tuesday, May 4, 2021....more
In response to the surge in COVID-19 cases in India, the Biden-Harris administration announced on April 30 that the COVID-19-related admission bans currently in place will be expanded to include travelers from India. The ban...more
At the end of the 2016 calendar year, the Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) published a welcome precedent decision, Matter of Dhanasar, 26 I&N Dec. 884 (AAO 2016). In this case, the AAO has significantly revised the...more
On December 27, 2016, the AAO issued a decision that modifies the standards for granting a National Interest Waiver (NIW) in Matter of Dhanasar. This decision will impact thousands of applicants seeking U.S. permanent...more