Catherine V. Wadhwani

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As anxiously awaited, USCIS has announced the initial FY2022 H-1B Cap Registration dates. Employer Electronic Registration will open on Tuesday, March 9, 2021, at 12:00 noon Eastern Time and continue through Thursday, March 25, 2021 until 12:00 noon Eastern Time.  While it’s never advisable to wait until the last minute to register, it’s especially…

USCIS just announced that it will be publishing a notice in the Federal Register to delay implementation of changes to the H-1B Selection Final Rule until December 31, 2021.  If published as preliminarily announced, this will mean that the new H-1B Cap Selection process will not affect the upcoming FY2022 H-1B Cap Employer Registration…

Following up on its November announcement, last week USCIS issued a Final Rule to change the way cap-subject H-1B petitions are selected.

The Final Rule (which is unchanged from the proposed November Rule) would significantly alter the H-1B cap selection process by creating a tiered selection system. The tiered system would be based on the…

We hear the reports daily.  COVID-19 cases are spiking nationwide.  Hospitals and health care facilities are at maximum capacity.  Even with progress toward the availability of a vaccine, it’s not clear exactly when things will return to a state of normalcy.  Health care employers in many areas of our country continue to have difficulty recruiting…

On November 2, 2020, the Department of Homeland Security issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) announcing its plan to drastically change the way USCIS selects the H-1B Cap registrations of U.S. employers.  If the Proposed Rule is finalized in its current form and made effective, this would affect the registration selection process for employers…

Yesterday, June 22, 2020, President Trump issued the anticipated Proclamation suspending the entry into the US of certain nonimmigrant visa holders.  Specifically, the following new restrictions are in effect 6/24/2020:

  • The executive order applies to foreign nationals who seek to enter the United States in H1B, H-4, H2B, L-1, or L-2 status (as well as

…

On Friday, May 29, 2020, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced plans for the phased-in resumption of premium processing for eligible I-140 Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker petitions and eligible I-129 Nonimmigrant Worker petitions. (See USCIS website at https://www.uscis.gov/news/alerts/uscis-resumes-premium-processing-certain-petitions.)

USCIS temporarily suspended premium processing availability for all eligible Form I-129 and I-140 petitions…

On May 11, 2020, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a Policy Memorandum relating to certain J-1 waivered foreign medical graduates during the COVID-19 national emergency. The memo, captioned “Temporary Policy Changes for Certain Foreign Medical Graduates During the COVID-19 National Emergency” was issued solely as guidance to USCIS officers with regard…

On Thursday, May 14, 2020, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced a 30-day extension to its previously announced temporary flexibility provisions relating to I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification compliance during the COVID-19 national emergency. Extension of the flexibility provisions is the result of “continued precautions related to COVID-19”. The COVID-19 I-9 flexibility provisions were originally…