Workforce Bulletin

USCIS Will Increase Filing Fees as of October 2, 2020

On July 31, 2020, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (“USCIS”) announced it will increase filing fees effective October 2, 2020. The fee increases will impact U.S. employers that hire foreign national workers by adding to the cost of sponsoring employment. The increases most applicable to U.S. employers are:

• H-1B sponsorship: Fee raised an additional $95.
• L-1 sponsorship: Fee raised an additional $345.
• O-1 sponsorship: Fee raised an additional $245.
• TN, H-1B1, and E-3 sponsorship: Fee raised an additional $235.

Trump Administration Amends Presidential Proclamation That Temporarily Suspends New H-1B, H2B, J-1, and L-1 Visa and Travel from Abroad

On June 29, 2020, the Trump administration issued an amendment to Section 3(a)(ii) of Proclamation 10052 (“Proclamation”) to suspend and limit foreign nationals attempting to enter the United States in H-1B/H-2B/H-4, L-1/L-2, or J-1/J-2 employment-based nonimmigrant visa categories.

The original language in the Proclamation read as follows:

Sec. 3. Scope of Suspension and Limitation on Entry. (a) The suspension and limitation on ...

Presidential Proclamation Temporarily Suspends New H-1B, H2B, J-1, and L-1 Visa and Travel from Abroad

On June 22, 2020, President Trump issued a proclamation (“Proclamation”) suspending and limiting the entry of individuals into the United States in the following employment-based nonimmigrant visa categories:

1. H-1B or H-2B visas, and their H-4 family derivatives;
2. J-1 visas, and their J-2 family derivatives; and
3. L-1 visas, and their L-2 family derivatives.

The Proclamation takes effect on June 24, 2020, and is set to expire on December 31, 2020, but may be extended. In ...

USCIS Resumes Premium Processing

USCIS has announced here that beginning the month of June 2020, it will again start accepting certain petitions for premium processing.  Premium processing was indefinitely suspended as of March 20, 2020, due to the Covid-19.

Premium processing allows (1) nonimmigrant petitions filed on Form I-129 that are reserved for H-1B, L-1A/B, O-1, and TN work authorization and (2) immigrant petitions filed by employers on behalf of foreign national employees on Form I-140 to be adjudicated within fifteen calendar days of USCIS receipt of the premium ...

On Tuesday, April 18, 2017, the Trump Administration signed an Executive Order (“EO”) titled, Buy American and Hire American.  The EO directs the US Departments of Labor, Justice, State, and Homeland Security to look into ways to reform the current H-1B process used by companies, but in particular, the hi-tech industry, to prevent fraud and abuse. Nothing in this EO’s wording changes or limits the current H-1B visa program.  Any future EO that tries to drastically change the current H-1B program will be met with industry opposition and legal action since much of the current H-1B ...

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="98"] Jang Hyuk Im[/caption]

Many high-tech companies are recovering from the recent April mad-dash to file H-1B cap petitions allowing for the continued employment of their foreign student graduate population.  Since the H-1B cap season closed abruptly following the first week of April, and USCIS has completed its computer-generated lottery determining which of the 200,000-plus petitions submitted have been accepted for the limited 85,000 H-1B cap slots available, employers now must turn their attention immediately to define ...

Our colleagues in Epstein Becker Green’s Immigration Law Group recently published a special client alert: "USCIS Announces That the Congressionally Mandated H-1B Cap for Fiscal Year 2017 Has Been Reached."

Following is an excerpt:

On April 7, 2016, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) announced that it had reached the Congressionally mandated H-1B cap for fiscal year 2017 (“FY17”). This announcement applies to both the general cap of 65,000 and the additional cap of 20,000 for those with advanced degrees from U.S. universities.

Read the full alert ...

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="98"] Jang Hyuk Im[/caption]

My colleague Jang Hyuk Im, a Member in the firm’s San Francisco office, authored an article in Law360 titled “Steps for Avoiding Unexpected Joint Employer Liability.” (Read the full version – subscription required.).  I thought you might find Jang’s article of interest particularly given recent media coverage about the outsourcing of domestic IT jobs and legal challenges facing employers.

Following is an excerpt:

The long-term expense and economic effects of maintaining a full-time workforce ...

On August 12, 2015, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued its decision in  Washington Alliance of Technology Workers v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Civil Action No. 14-529 (D.D.C. Aug. 12, 2015) (“Washington Alliance”). In this case, the Court found that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) had failed to satisfy proper procedural requirements when the agency originally issued its April 2008 interim final rule (the “2008 Rule”) permitting F-1 foreign students who graduated with STEM (acronym for Science, Technology ...

Our colleagues in the Immigration Law Group at Epstein Becker Green (Robert Groban Jr., Pierre Georges Bonnefil, Patrick Brady, Jang Hyuk Im, and Greta Ravitsky) have prepared a client alert regarding two rules that the Department of Homeland Security proposed on May 12, 2014.  If enacted, these rules would help the United States to attract and retain highly skilled workers.  Topics include:

• DHS Proposes to Issue Employment Authorization to Certain H-4 Spouses
• DHS Proposes to Enhance Flexibility for Highly Skilled Specialty Occupation Professionals

Read the full alert here.