By Roujin Mozaffarimehr This week, two District Courts set aside the Interim Final Rule, Strengthening Wage Protections for the Temporary and Permanent Employment of Certain Aliens in the United States, 85 FR 63872 (Oct. 8, 2020), of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California (Chamber of…
by Roujin Mozaffarimehr On October 7, 2020, the Department of Labor published an interim final rule (IFR) (85 FR 63918) that dramatically changes the calculation methodology of the prevailing wage for OES-based wage levels for all occupations. This new rule took effect immediately on October 8, 2020 and impacts wage rates for H-1Bs, H-1B1s, and…
By Radhika Balaji, Associate Attorney The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an unprecedent amount of uncertainty—several proclamations, travel restrictions, and government lock downs have prevented many from freely traveling back to the US. Unfortunately, amidst the pandemic, the USCIS has not provided relief to Legal Permanent Residents (LPRs) of the US who are stuck out…
By Radhika Balaji, Associate Attorney On August 3, 2020, President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order (EO 13940) on “Aligning Federal Contracting and Hiring Practices With the Interests of American Workers.”[1] This EO directs heads of federal agencies to review federal contracts and assess any negative impact on U.S. workers stemming from the use of…
By Roujin Mozaffarimehr On Friday July 31st, The Department of Labor (DOL) announced that it entered into a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The MOA will allow the two departments to share immigrant and nonimmigrant petition records and data. This includes data within the Office of Foreign…
By Roujin Mozaffarimehr As we reported back in June, on June 22, 2020, President Donald Trump signed a Presidential Proclamation suspending the entry of H-1B and H-2B visas and accompanying dependents, certain J visas, and L visas and accompanying dependents, and extending the April 2020 suspension on certain immigrants. banning visa issuance through December 31, 2020. The…
By Roujin Mozaffarimehr On Wednesday August 12th, The United State Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued an order limiting the scope of the nationwide injunction on the Public Charge rule that took effect earlier this year. Last month, we reported that the United States District Court, Southern District of New York issued two…
USCIS Offices Reopening – Updates – Q&A By Radhika Balaji, Associate Attorney After Shelter-in Place Orders began being lifted across the country, USCIS began reopening its offices in the beginning of June. Since then, reopening of the USCIS MPLG has received several questions related to interview and biometrics appointments as well as case processing. We…
By Roujin Mozaffarimehr Today, USCIS announced that it plans to publish its final rule in the Federal Register on Monday, August 3rd, 2020 to increase fees across the board for immigration-related filings. A copy of the rule for public inspection can be found here. Notable changes include: I-90 Application to Replace Permanent Resident Card (online…
By Roujin Mozaffarimehr On July 29th, The United States District Court, Southern District of New York issued two decisions to temporarily enjoin the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State from implementing the recent Public Charge Rule that took effect earlier in February 2020.[1] Below, we discuss the recent changes to the Public…