Dream Act MPLG welcomes the relief that would come with the approval and implementation of these bills. However, we remain cautious of their outcomes based upon the current Administration’s conservative stance on immigration. 2017 DREAM ACT The Senate and House each introduced new bills, S. 1615: Dream Act of 2017 and H.R. 3440: Dream Act…
H-1B CAP – How to Prepare for and What to Expect on October 1st The USCIS confirmed at the end of June that it has returned all rejected H-1B CAP petitions, and petition adjudication is underway. We expect requests for evidence (RFEs) and approvals to keep trickling in through the summer. Here are a few…
The January 2017 Rule On January 17, 2017, the final rule published by the Department of Homeland Security took effect, codifying many sections of the American Competitiveness in the Twenty-First Century Act of 2000 (AC21), as well as many other laws relating to the employment of foreign workers. We are providing the details of the new rule…
EB-1 Retrogresses Again in 2017 for Indians and Chinese For the second year in a row, the priority date for EB-1 retrogressed for Indian and Chinese born foreign nationals. This visa category is reserved for the brilliant among us – aliens of extraordinary ability in science, business, and the arts; outstanding researchers; and executives and…
USCIS Site Visit Initiative for H-1B Dependent Employers and Consulting Companies On July 19, 2017, MPLG attorneys attended a USCIS hosted Employment Visa Engagement event at the USPTO in San Jose, CA. Representatives from the USCIS, Western Regional, Fraud Detection & National Security (FDNS) Unit spoke at this event. They discussed their new targeted site…
Executive Action: Employment Based Immigration The President has directed the Secretaries of DHS & DOS to submit recommendations by March 20, 2015. In the meantime, the DHS Secretary Johnson has issued a Memorandum outlining the following new policies: Reduce wait times for employment-based visas and improve visa processing Visas have gone unused due to processing issues.…
Executive Action: H-4 Employment Authorization President Obama announced that employment authorization would be given to certain H-4 dependent spouses. USCIS first proposed Federal rule on May 12, 2014 allowing for employment authorization of H-4 dependent spouses. The public comment period on that rule was held until July 11, 2014. Immigration advocates, including the American Immigration…
Executive Action: Undocumented Immigrants & Deferred Action There are approximately 11 million immigrants in the U.S. who have either entered the US without advance permission or entered with permission and overstayed their visas, and are therefore “unlawfully” in the U.S. These people are referred to by the immigrant advocacy community as “Undocumented Immigrants.” They are…
President Obama: Major Immigration Announcement President Obama is expected to make a major announcement about immigration reform this Thursday evening. It is anticipated that he will roll out a plan that would effectively grant relief from deportation to as many as 5 million undocumented immigrants by using his Executive Authority on how our current immigration laws…
California’s 2015 Update to the Overtime Exemption for Computer Professionals California’s Labor Code contains some of the most, if not the most, employee-friendly laws in the United States; and much of the code is spent dealing with the minimum wages employees must be paid, and the maximum hours they can be made to work without requiring…