Maddy Ellis participated in the American Immigration Lawyers’ Association (AILA) lobby day in April where she met with staffers in Virginia Senator’s Mark Warner’s office and Virginia House Representative Barbara Comstock’s office and pushed for business immigration reform, especially with respect to increasing the H-1B cap and reducing backlogs on employment-based green cards (items in the currently proposed Senate I-Squared Act bill).
In addition, Maddy attended the AILA Spring conference in DC where she received the latest legislative updates on immigration law. Among items of interest to our clients and colleagues that were relayed at the conference (note that these items are not intended as legal advice, but as information relayed at the conference only):
· In the President’s budget proposal, filing fees will be charged for U.S. Department of Labor PERM labor certification applications, which will probably start in FY 2017;
· For U.S. naturalization (citizenship) applications, credit card payment and electronic filing options are likely to be implemented this fall;
· Regulations will be issued to expand I-601 waivers (for grounds of inadmissibility) and to clarify what hardship means;
· Parole for entrepreneurs and researchers is unlikely to happen any time soon, but use of the National Interest Waiver category to expand options to apply for U.S. permanent resident status for entrepreneurs and researchers is already underway (though formal guidance has not yet been issued);
· For L-1B visas, specialized knowledge does not have to be proprietary and a preponderance of the evidence standard will be used;
· An original I-797 approval notice is not required for entry at the border – a copy can be produced – but secondary inspection will likely occur in these cases in order to verify the copy;
· Employers’ use of USCIS E-Verify to determine eligibility of employees to work in the U.S. is shared with ICE and OSC if there are irregularities – since the program is voluntary, employers are not advised to use E-Verify;
· Soon there will be electronic Forms I-9; and
· If the U.S. Department of State revokes a visa while the visa holder is in the U.S., the visa holder does not automatically lose his or her status in the U.S. as long as the Form I-94 is still valid.
Coming up next week – Maddy is speaking on nonimmigrant visa strategies for researchers at the 2015 Symposium by the Council for Global Immigration, a SHRM affiliate, on June 9th in Washington, DC. For more information about this program, click here.
In addition, Maddy attended the AILA Spring conference in DC where she received the latest legislative updates on immigration law. Among items of interest to our clients and colleagues that were relayed at the conference (note that these items are not intended as legal advice, but as information relayed at the conference only):
· In the President’s budget proposal, filing fees will be charged for U.S. Department of Labor PERM labor certification applications, which will probably start in FY 2017;
· For U.S. naturalization (citizenship) applications, credit card payment and electronic filing options are likely to be implemented this fall;
· Regulations will be issued to expand I-601 waivers (for grounds of inadmissibility) and to clarify what hardship means;
· Parole for entrepreneurs and researchers is unlikely to happen any time soon, but use of the National Interest Waiver category to expand options to apply for U.S. permanent resident status for entrepreneurs and researchers is already underway (though formal guidance has not yet been issued);
· For L-1B visas, specialized knowledge does not have to be proprietary and a preponderance of the evidence standard will be used;
· An original I-797 approval notice is not required for entry at the border – a copy can be produced – but secondary inspection will likely occur in these cases in order to verify the copy;
· Employers’ use of USCIS E-Verify to determine eligibility of employees to work in the U.S. is shared with ICE and OSC if there are irregularities – since the program is voluntary, employers are not advised to use E-Verify;
· Soon there will be electronic Forms I-9; and
· If the U.S. Department of State revokes a visa while the visa holder is in the U.S., the visa holder does not automatically lose his or her status in the U.S. as long as the Form I-94 is still valid.
Coming up next week – Maddy is speaking on nonimmigrant visa strategies for researchers at the 2015 Symposium by the Council for Global Immigration, a SHRM affiliate, on June 9th in Washington, DC. For more information about this program, click here.
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