Summary of the Recent Flood of Business Immigration Law Updates
As you may be aware, there has been a flurry of significant updates in the world of U.S. business immigration law over the past few weeks. We therefore present to you the below succinct summary in an effort to help you to easily digest all of these many recent changes. You can of course feel free to contact us if you would like more information regarding any of these updates and we would be happy to discuss them with you in detail and answer any questions you may have.
- U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Premium Processing fee will increase significantly from $1,440 to $2,500 and Premium Processing will be expanded to other benefit categories. Though the law took effect immediately, it will likely take several weeks or more for USCIS to implement the changes. Read more here.
- U.S. Department of Labor suddenly raised prevailing wages by an average of more than 30 percent without notice via special Interim Final Rule (IFR) fast-track process. This effects H-1B, PERM, E-3, and H-1B1 processes. Read more here.
- USCIS announced proposed regulations which will make certain changes to the H-1B category, including redefining the "specialty occupation" requirement. Read more here (second section).
- In the October Visa Bulletin, the State Department advanced green card priority dates for Indian nationals by about five years in the EB-3 category, creating a mad rush to file thousands of adjustment of status (green card) applications before the end of the month. Read more here.
- Consular posts around the globe are still largely closed due to COVID, but a federal court enjoined the government from applying the H-1B/L-1/H-2B/J-1 work visa ban. The injunction is limited to the plaintiff group only, but employers can join the plaintiff group by purchasing membership in one of the plaintiff groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Read more here.
- Another federal court enjoined USCIS from applying the fee increases that were slated to go into effect on October 2nd. Read more here.
- The Trump Administration proposed new regulations that will cause major changes to student visas by switching from the current "duration of status" system to a fixed-admission period structure. Read more here.
Please contact us at info@klugfirm.com or +1 (212) 495-9245 if your company requires any U.S. business immigration law assistance.
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