Tag Archives: President Trump

On April 24, 2018, a district judge for the District of D.C. ruled that the Trump administration’s decision to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program was arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act. In his opinion, Judge John Bates said the administration failed to provide reasoning to adequately explain its conclusion that DACA was unlawful. “Neither the meager legal reasoning nor the assessment of litigation risk provided by DHS to support its rescission decision is sufficient to sustain termination of the DACA program.”

This decision is the first to reinstate DACA in its entirety,… More

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) hosted a DHS stakeholders call entitled “H-1B Cap and Filing Tips Stakeholder Engagement” that I participated in on March 6. It made me think about “merit-based” immigration and how we have not seen movement of any real proposals by the Trump administration – or his supporters in Congress.  I wondered what they have in mind for merit-based immigration and would it actually work for my clients,… More

Do noncitizens detained for a long time while their cases are pending have the right to a hearing to determine whether they can be released on bond? This was the question posed in the Jennings v. Rodriguez case, a constitutional class-action challenge against federal immigration statutes requiring the detention of certain noncitizens while they defend their right to stay in the United States. The Supreme Court issued its 5-3 decision on February 27,… More

On February 22, 2018, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a new policy memo making it more restrictive for H-1B employers who have their consultants work at third party work sites to fulfil client projects. The new policy memo updates the January 2010 agency memo that outlined the guidelines in determining “Employer-Employee Relationship for Adjudication of H-1B Petitions, Including Third-Party Site Placements,” which is also called Neufeld memo.… More

The Visa Waiver Program (“VWP”) allows citizens of 38 countries to travel to the U.S. for business or pleasure without having to obtain a formal visa by obtaining a pre-clearance known as Electronic System of Travel Authorization (“ESTA”). The ESTA registration is valid for two years and allows stays of up to 90 days per visit. Approximately 20 million visitors a year participate through this program. DHS automatically screens all ESTA information against numerous U.S.… More

It’s the time of year when U.S. employers are preparing for the upcoming H-1B cap petition filing season. While it appeared that USCIS was considering revising the H-1B lottery process for this fiscal year by adding a new online pre-registration step, USCIS recently confirmed that there are no changes to the process at this time. USCIS will begin accepting H-1B cap-subject petitions in the same manner as they have in years past,… More

New changes to H-1B Lottery; H-4 EADs on the chopping block; AC 21 H-1B extensions in trouble; and how to plan for it all
Changes to the H-1B Program and the H-1B Visa Lottery

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) plans to revise the lottery process for the upcoming fiscal year. The announcement may come as early as next month. It proposes a pre-registration system for cap-subject H-1B visa applicants.… More

This year saw significant changes to immigration policy in the United States. Here is a brief roundup of recent developments that companies should continue to monitor in 2018.

The Travel Ban
BACKGROUND

President Trump issued the third revision of his travel ban entitled “Presidential Proclamation Enhancing Vetting Capabilities and Processes for Detecting Attempted Entry into the United States by Terrorists or Other Public-Safety Threats” on September 24,… More

The Obama-era International Entrepreneur Rule (“IE Rule”), which had been scheduled to go into effect on July 17, 2017, would allow qualifying foreign entrepreneurs to come to the US to establish, oversee, and grow their businesses. To be eligible, applicants would have to demonstrate:

• At least a 10 percent ownership in the business and a central role in its operations; and
• That the company has received a “significant investment” of $250,000 or more from qualified US investors or significant grants from government entities,…

More

President Trump issued the third revision of his travel ban entitled “Presidential Proclamation Enhancing Vetting Capabilities and Processes for Detecting Attempted Entry into the United States by Terrorists or Other Public-Safety Threats” on September 24, 2017. This proclamation suspends entry into the United States under most circumstances for nationals of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, Chad, and North Korea. It also suspends entry into the United States for certain officials of the Venezuelan government and their immediate family members.… More