U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced the release of a new version of the Employment Eligibility Verification, Form I-9, which is used to verify the identity and employment authorization of individuals hired to work in the United States. Employers and Human Resources staff may begin using this new Form I-9 or continue to use the current version of ... Read Full Article
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How the Travel Ban Impacts Employers
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled to partially unblock President Trump’s executive order temporarily banning travel to the U.S. from the following predominantly muslim countries: Iran, Syria, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. The ruling will keep in place part of the lower court injunction but will reinstate a travel ban for foreign nationals “who lack any bona fide relationship” ... Read Full Article
Labor Department Immigration Investigations Are Changing
The Labor Department has announced plans to more aggressively enforce employment-based nonimmigrant visa programs and crack down on abuses of worker visa programs through increased investigations. The statement, made two months after U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services announced it would begin targeting certain H-1B visa employers, calls for: Use of all tools ... Read Full Article
How the Department of State’s Plans for “Extreme Vetting” Will Affect the Recruiting Process
The U.S. State Department has announced new visa vetting procedures it plans to put into effect on May 18th, as part of President Trump’s “extreme vetting” visa policies. Applicants subject to the vetting provisions would be required to provide the following information: Travel history during the last 15 years, including source of funding for travel Address history ... Read Full Article
6 H-1B Alternatives for Hiring Foreign Talent
U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that it reached the annual 85,000 H-1B visa cap in the first five days of April 2017. While USCIS has not yet announced the total number of H-1B petitions it received, we know that, once again, USCIS will conduct a computer-generated lottery in the coming weeks to determine which petitions they will process. ... Read Full Article
Hire the Best Global Talent Like the San Antonio Spurs
I was recently watching the San Antonio Spurs basketball team and marveling at their accomplishments (5 championships, 16 years of 50 plus win seasons, and the fact that they are currently neck and neck for the best record in the NBA despite not having as many superstars as the Golden State Warrior or Cleveland Cavaliers). As you may know, much of the Spurs success has stemmed ... Read Full Article
Will Trump’s Next Executive Order Change Work & Student Visas?
In follow up to his "Immigration Guidance", President Trump may be gearing up for his next round of Executive Orders which look to tighten U.S. work visa programs (including the H-1B visa), impose stricter limitations on foreign students, eliminate the International Entrepreneur Rule, and enact measures that will severely curtail the options for U.S. employers to attract the ... Read Full Article
Start Planning for the H-1B Visa Season NOW
Even though we’ve just entered 2017, its time to start focusing on one of the most important dates of the entire year: April 3, 2017 -- the date when U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will begin accepting new H-1B visa petitions. While that may still be several months away, the time to start getting the visa petition ready is NOW. Demand by U.S. employers for ... Read Full Article