Corporate Immigration Law News

• 21Jul

  Road to the Green Card Through PERM

  PERM Comments Off on Road to the Green Card Through PERM

  THE GREEN CARD PROCESS THROUGH PERM

  (THREE-STEP PROCESS)

  I.) FIRST STEP 6 to 7 months for PERM adjudication, not including prevailing wage determination (6 to 7 months) or mandatory recruitment process (2 months), 10 to 13 months for PERM adjudication if there is an audit

  ALIEN LABOR CERTIFICATION APPLICATION

  • Testing the U.S. labor market in the area of intended employment
  • Program Electronic Review Management (PERM) (effective March 28, 2005) allows employers to submit an application for permanent employment certification directly with the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), online or by mail, and receive an approval within 45 to 60 days if there is no DOL audit.
  • While supporting documentation (e.g., evidence of recruitment, business necessity for special requirements) will not be submitted with the application, such documentation must be maintained for five years and supplied if requested by the certifying officer.
  • DOL will conduct audits of certain PERM applications according to internal criteria designed to identify questionable applications, as well as at random.
  • Under PERM, the employer must obtain a prevailing wage determination from the State Workforce Agency (SWA). Employers will be required to pay 100 percent, rather than 95 percent, of the prevailing wage. In addition, DOL will offer a four-level wage system in place of the current two-level system.
  • As was the case with reduction in recruitment (RIR) applications, PERM requires an employer to recruit for the job BEFORE the application is filed.

  The Road to The Green Card Through PERM continues here.

  For further information, please contact: Anthony F. Siliato, Scott R. Malyk, Lin R. Walker, or Stacey A. Simon.

• 25May

  CLIENT ALERT: Premium Processing Upgrades for Pending EB-1 Multinational Manager and EB-2 National Interest Waiver I-140 Petitions to Begin in June and July

  Uncategorized Comments Off on CLIENT ALERT: Premium Processing Upgrades for Pending EB-1 Multinational Manager and EB-2 National Interest Waiver I-140 Petitions to Begin in June and July

  Brief Overview

  • Beginning June 1, USCIS will accept Form I-907 Premium Processing upgrade requests for pending EB-1 Multinational Manager Form I-140 petitions that were filed on or before January 1, 2021.
  • Beginning July 1, USCIS will accept Form I-907 Premium Processing upgrade requests for pending EB-1 Multinational Manager Form I-140 petitions that were filed on or before March 1, 2021, and pending EB-2 National Interest Waiver (NIW) I-140 petitions that were filed on or before June 1, 2021.
  • The premium processing fee will be $2,500 for affected case types. The processing timeframe will be 45 days, measured from the date USCIS receives all prerequisites for adjudicating the case.
  • At this time, USCIS will not allow petitioners to request premium processing of these cases at the time of petition filing.

  U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that premium processing will become available for certain pending Forms I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers, in the EB-1 Multinational Manager and EB-2 National Interest Waiver (NIW) categories, beginning in June and July, respectively. Petitioners who wish to request a premium processing upgrade must file Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing Services, on or after the applicable effective date.

  Read additional details here.

  For further information, please contact: Anthony F. Siliato, Scott R. Malyk, Lin R. Walker, or Stacey A. Simon.

• 07May

  CLIENT ALERT: Automatic Extension of EADs To Be Increased From 180 Days To 540 days

  Uncategorized Comments Off on CLIENT ALERT: Automatic Extension of EADs To Be Increased From 180 Days To 540 days

  Effective Wednesday, May 4th, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will provide an extended automatic extension period for expiring Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) for certain renewal applicants who have filed Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization. The new EAD automatic extension period will be increased from 180 days to up to 540 days from the expiration date listed on the EAD.

  This increase will be available to:

  • Eligible renewal applicants with pending EAD renewals, Forms I-765, as of May 4, 2022, including those applicants whose employment authorization have lapsed following the initial 180-day extension period, or
  • Eligible applicants who file an EAD renewals, Forms I-765, during the 540-day period, between May 4, 2022, and October 26, 2023.

  In light of current processing times for Forms I-765, DHS is taking these steps to help prevent renewal applicants from experiencing a lapse in employment authorization and/or documentation while their applications remain pending and solutions are implemented to return processing times to normal levels.

  For further information, please contact: Anthony F. Siliato, Scott R. Malyk, Lin R. Walker, or Stacey A. Simon.

• 04Apr

  CLIENT ALERT: USCIS Announces New Actions to Reduce Backlogs, Expand Premium Processing, and Provide Relief to Work Permit Holders

  USCIS News Comments Off on CLIENT ALERT: USCIS Announces New Actions to Reduce Backlogs, Expand Premium Processing, and Provide Relief to Work Permit Holders

  The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has just announced a trio of efforts to increase efficiency and reduce burdens to the overall legal immigration system. USCIS will set new agency-wide backlog reduction goals, expand premium processing to additional form types, and work to improve timely access to employment authorization documents. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and resource constraints resulting from the prior administration, USCIS inherited a significant number of pending cases and increased processing times. Through the actions by the Biden administration, USCIS is acting to reduce these caseloads and processing times, while also ensuring that fair and efficient services are available to applicants and petitioners. Read more here:

  For further information, please contact: Anthony F. Siliato, Scott R. Malyk, Lin R. Walker, or Stacey A. Simon.

• 21Mar

  CLIENT ALERT: USCIS Updates Guidance on Employment Authorization for E and L Nonimmigrant Spouses

  USCIS News Comments Off on CLIENT ALERT: USCIS Updates Guidance on Employment Authorization for E and L Nonimmigrant Spouses

  U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is updating guidance in its Policy Manual to address the documentation that certain E and L nonimmigrant spouses may use as evidence of employment authorization based on their nonimmigrant status.

  On November 12, 2021, USCIS issued a policy announcement to clarify that it will consider E and L spouses to be employment authorized based on their valid E or L nonimmigrant status. Since the November 2021 announcement, the Department of Homeland Security added new Class of Admission (COA) codes to distinguish between E and L spouses and children. Read more here:

  For further information, please contact: Anthony F. Siliato, Scott R. Malyk, Lin R. Walker, or Stacey A. Simon.

• 11Mar

  Stacey A. Simon is Named Immigration Partner at Meyner and Landis

  Firm News Comments Off on Stacey A. Simon is Named Immigration Partner at Meyner and Landis

  NEWARK, NJ — Meyner and Landis LLP is pleased to announce that Stacey A. Simon has been named a Partner in the firm’s Immigration Law Group. She is licensed to practice law in New Jersey and New York. She has extensive experience in all areas of immigration law, with emphasis on employment-based and family- based petitions. She represents U.S. and multinational employers in connection with all aspects of employment matters related to U. S. immigration laws and regulations. Ms. Simon provides ongoing advice, counsel and training with respect to E-Verify, Form I-9 compliance, maintenance, audits, and corrective measures to mitigate fine, as well as negotiate with government officials to reach settlement agreements to reduce fines. She also counsels and trains clients on compliance and maintenance of documentation as required by law for non-immigrant visas. Ms. Simon has coordinated and overseen several large scale audits for corporate clients by various government agencies including ICE (I-9 audits) and the Department of Labor (Public Access File audits associated with H-1B filings).

• 23Jun

  Positive News From USCIS and Updates From the AILA Annual Conference 2021

  USCIS News Comments Off on Positive News From USCIS and Updates From the AILA Annual Conference 2021

  Foreign nationals, employers and immigration practitioners do not need any reminders that the last four years have been a regulatory and administrative nightmare for anyone seeking to secure an immigration benefit. From the horrors of family separations to historical processing delays and from unlawful interpretations of laws and regulations to a significant increase in Requests for Evidence, rejections of properly filed petitions, and denials of lawfully filed applications and petitions, foreign nationals and their families, employers, communities and advocates have suffered. The Trump Administration’s policies wreaked havoc on the U.S. Citizenship andImmigration Services (USCIS) and the Department of State (DOS), which, when paired with the global pandemic caused by COVID-19, have resulted in unprecedented hardships for many stakeholders in the U.S. immigration system.

  When President Biden, whose campaign promised to reform our immigration system to one that was fair and compassionate, took office, we were all very excited. However, as we noted after President Biden’s first 100 days in office, change was slow and many of the changes made to that point were cosmetic or otherwise low hanging fruit that did not create meaningful reform.We had yet to see any significant policy changes and USCIS continued to operate much like it had under the Trump Administration — clearly approvable cases were being denied, the agency was interpreting and applying immigration laws and regulations in an arbitrary and capricious manner, and processing delays continued to grow to all time historic levels. Read more:

  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Lin R. Walker.

• 11May

  Seven US Law Firms Drop H-1B Lawsuit Against USCIS

  H-1B Visa News Comments Off on Seven US Law Firms Drop H-1B Lawsuit Against USCIS

  A group of seven U.S. businesses Monday announced they have voluntarily dismissed an H-1B lawsuit against the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) after the federal agency agreed to accept and adjudicate previous decisions on H-1B nonimmigrant petitions previously rejected by the agency.

  This lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, by Meyner and Landis LLP and co-counsel, Mintz Levin and other firms, alleged the rejections were unlawful, and  that USCIS acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner in refusing to accept timely and properly filed H-1B petitions subject to the annual statutory cap.  More specifically, USCIS arbitrarily rejected H-1B petitions filed after October 1 simply because the H-1B worker’s intended employment start date—naturally—also fell after October 1.

  Based on this timeline, USCIS created an absurd choice: foreign workers needed to start on October 1 (and not a day later), or the U.S. employer was required to misrepresent the intended employment start-date by “back-dating” the petition.

  Moreover, USCIS was inconsistent in not rejecting these petitions across the board—as some with an employment start date after October 1 were accepted without issue. There is no law, regulation or form instruction that require an employer to specify only an October 1 start date in the H-1B petition.

  On April 29, 2021, the U.S. employers voluntarily dismissed the lawsuit after USCIS agreed to accept and adjudicate the H-1B petitions that the agency had previously rejected, and the employers had received receipt notices for their refiled petitions.

  “We fully expected and received swift justice from USCIS for our client, RCI, and the other representative clients in this litigation who had fallen victim to the Service’s arbitrary and capricious attempt to reject certain cap-subject H-1B petitions but not others,” said Scott Malyk, Partner, Meyner and Landis LLP, Newark, NJ. “The agency had improperly rejected some H-1B petitions simply because the H-1B worker’s intended start date fell after October 1.  This meant foreign workers were required to either start on October 1 (and not a day later) or the business, under the USCIS’ regime, was required to otherwise misrepresent the employment start-date by ‘back-dating’ the petition.  On behalf of our client, we refused to do so and, thus, were left with no choice but to seek the appropriate remedy in the District Court.”

  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Anthony F. Siliato, Scott R. Malyk or Lin R. Walker.

• 25Feb

  Premium Processing Now Permitted for the E-3 Visa Classification, Reserved For Australian Nationals

  E-3 Australian Nationals Comments Off on Premium Processing Now Permitted for the E-3 Visa Classification, Reserved For Australian Nationals

  USCIS has just announced that effective February 24, 2021, Australian nationals requesting a change of status to an E-3 visa classification or extension of stay for someone who is currently in the United States in valid E-3 status may now, for the first time ever, request premium processing of that petition. This is a meaningful development for our Australian clients and their employers, as standard processing times for E-3 petitions filed with the USCIS Service Center have ballooned to more than 6 months, effectively precluding E-3 holders from changing jobs and renewing driver’s licenses, oftentimes compelling clients to travel abroad (during COVID) to apply for the renewal at the US Embassies abroad.

  The USCIS premium processing service allows petitioners to pay an additional filing fee of $2,500 to expedite the adjudication of certain forms. In exchange for paying for this expedited process, USCIS will render a decision within 15 business days of filing.

  By way of background, the E-3 classification allows Australian citizens (but not Australian permanent residents) to enter and work in the United States in a specialty occupation (i.e.; a professional level position) for up to two (2) years. The E-3 classification also allows the dependents of the principal applicant to enter the United States in E-3D status and further permits the spouse of the principal applicant to apply for his/her own work authorization once in the United States. Further details can be found here.

  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Anthony F. Siliato, Scott R. Malyk or Lin R. Walker.

• 29Jan

  Biden Administration Maintains Travel Restrictions for Schengen Area, U.K., Ireland, Brazil, China, and Iran and Adds South Africa

  Uncategorized Comments Off on Biden Administration Maintains Travel Restrictions for Schengen Area, U.K., Ireland, Brazil, China, and Iran and Adds South Africa

  On January 25, 2021, President Biden issued a Presidential Proclamation maintaining travel restrictions on individuals from the Schengen Area, U.K., Ireland, and Brazil. This Proclamation further adds restrictions on individuals from South Africa and reiterates that previous restrictions implemented by the Trump Administration remain in effect for China (Proclamation 9984) and for Iran (Proclamation 9992).

  More specifically, this Proclamation restricts and suspends the entry into the United States, as immigrants or nonimmigrants, of noncitizens of the United States who were physically present within the Schengen Area, the U.K. (excluding overseas territories outside of Europe), Ireland, Brazil, and South Africa during the 14-day period preceding their entry or attempted entry into the United States.

  For additional details click here.

  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Anthony F. Siliato, Scott R. Malyk or Lin R. Walker.

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