Categories: USA Immigration

Immigration News Update Mid-January 2021

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After efficiently beating again the Division of Labor preliminary unlawful regulation on how prevailing wages are calculated for labor certification and H-1B course of, the DOL has simply printed its up to date wage regulation. It is rather like a repackaged Christmas present you actually didn’t need. Primarily nothing has modified, its nonetheless as terrible because it was, AND, we are going to litigate to cease it. The excellent news is that it’ll NOT go into impact for no less than 60 days after the Biden Administration is sworn in, giving us time to defeat it within the courts once more.

DHS additionally printed its ridiculous and unlawful regulation on modifying the H-1B lottery to award spots to those that receives a commission probably the most. This regulation will go down in flames fairly shortly, as it’s instantly opposite to the precise legislation creating the H-1B lottery.

Learn beneath for extra on these and the opposite essential immigration information.

At Kuck Baxter Immigration, we’re devoted to offering you as much as the minute data by Twitter, Fb, Linkedin, our Weblog, and our Podcast. Don’t overlook to verify these out, and don’t hesitate to ship your questions or feedback. Info and data are energy.

On daily basis at 2:00 pm, now we have been doing every day Fb Stay occasions every single day on the Kuck Baxter Immigration Fb Web page, in each English and Spanish. You might be all the time welcome to cease by and ask your questions stay or ship a personal fb message.

Throughout regular occasions, we recurrently converse at neighborhood occasions, persevering with authorized schooling seminars, Human Useful resource conferences, and at universities and schools across the US. If you want us to talk to your group without cost, tell us! Additionally, take a look at our web site and are available on out to an occasion! We additionally do a Fb stay each week, in each English and Spanish, each Friday at 2 pm. Observe us on our Fb web page and catch the motion! You can even comply with us on our YouTube web page, which has a whole lot of movies encompassing each immigration subject.

Our Weblog is up to date every week with data, breaking information, and solutions to questions it is advisable to know!

You can even hearken to our Prime 50 rated podcast, “The Immigration Hour” podcast, that we submit every Wednesday. Obtain it and hear at your leisure. You probably have feedback on the podcast, or matters you prefer to us to speak about on The Immigration Hour, tell us!

Right here is the Immigration Information You NEED to Know Now

UP-TO-DATE IMMIGRATION NEWS

Division of Labor to Publish Last H-1B and PERM Wage Rule – On January 12, 2021, the Division of Labor (DOL) supplied a sophisticated copy of ultimate rulemaking modifications to the prevailing wage system for the employment-based inexperienced card course of and the H-1B nonimmigrant visa. DOL expects to publish the ultimate rule this week to exchange a previous interim rule on wages that was struck down by a courtroom in December.

USCIS Points Last Rule Prioritizing Larger Wages in H-1B Cap Choice Course of – USCIS printed a ultimate rule prioritizing the choice of new H-1B petitions in 2021 primarily based on proffered wages.

USCIS Proclaims Delays in Issuing Receipt Notices Filed at Lockbox Services– USCIS introduced delays of 4 to 6 weeks in sending out receipt notices after receiving correctly filed functions and p

Judges Block Trump Asylum Rule, Refugee Native Placement Order– A U.S. district decide blocked the Trump administration’s rule that will have severely restricted asylum in the USA by curbing eligibility standards. In one other ruling on the identical day, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Courtroom of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit dominated towards a Trump government order requiring consent from state and native entities for refugee placements.

SAVE Points Discover on Verifying Candidates’ Prolonged Deferred Motion Underneath DACA – The Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements program introduced that it might confirm when an applicant for a federal, state, or native authorities profit or license has acquired deferred motion beneath Deferred Motion for Childhood Arrivals.

 

 

THE DETAILS

Division of Labor to Publish Last H-1B and PERM Wage Rule

On January 12, 2021, the Division of Labor (DOL) introduced ultimate rulemaking (once more) to the prevailing wage system for the employment-based inexperienced card course of and the H-1B nonimmigrant visa. This rule will probably be publisehd this week in response to its full loss on the same rule in November.

How Will this Rule Impact Employers and Immigrants?

Congress has mentioned that employers sponsoring immigrants for H-1B visas or labor certifcation primarily based inexperienced playing cards should pay the “prevailing wage.” What’s the prevailing wage? That’s alleged to be the common charge of wages paid to equally certified US employees within the location the place the H-1B- or inexperienced card-sponsored worker will work. The Division of Labor publishes, by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) wage survey which,in flip tells employer the prevailing wage that have to be supplied to an H-1B employee or in a inexperienced card petition, relying on the extent of required expertise. Their methodology supplied a typical entry-level wage across the seventeenth percentile of all wages in an occupation; probably the most skilled degree within the wage survey was across the 67th percentile.

The brand new ultimate rule says that the minimal wage that have to be supplied to an entry-level employee is now the thirty fifth percentile of all wages and the best degree for knowledgeable employees within the ninetieth percentile. The ultimate rule additionally offers a gradual transition interval and doesn’t start to enter impact till July 1, 2021, thereafter it offers a three-year transition interval earlier than absolutely taking impact.

Waht the DOL has NOT finished is clarify HOW it calculates these wages. Yeah, type of an issue, proper? Don’t fear although, we will probably be including this rule to our current problem of the outdated rule, so we are able to shortly cope with the truth that the Division of Labor actually ignored ALL of the feedback to this proposed rulemaking!

USCIS Points Last Rule Prioritizing Larger Wages in H-1B Cap Choice Course of

On January 7, 2021, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Providers (USCIS) printed a ultimate rule prioritizing the choice of new H-1B petitions in 2021 primarily based on increased proffered wages.

The brand new rule offers precedence to petitions that provide “Degree IV” wages (wages across the Seventy fifth-Eightieth percentile of native wages for the occupation) primarily based on the Division of Labor’s Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey, after which offers precedence in descending order to petitions providing Degree III, Degree II, and Degree I wages. The choice of new H-1B petitions when demand exceeds the obtainable 85,000 numbers has been by random choice, or “lottery,” for over a decade. The ultimate rule states that random choice will occur just for petitions within the lowest wage band for which numbers are nonetheless obtainable.

The rule is scheduled to enter impact March 9, 2021, earlier than the FY 2022 H-1B visa lottery. Nonetheless, there are a number of potential impediments. President-elect Biden’s inauguration will happen nicely earlier than the rule’s efficient date.

Biden might scrap this rule, or, extra doubtless, the rule willbe challenged in courtroom primarily based on the argument that Congress mandated that H-1B visas be made obtainable within the order through which petitions are filed, not primarily based on wages supplied.

Particulars:

·        USCIS ultimate rule, https://bit.ly/38s6r9s

·        USCIS information launch, https://www.uscis.gov/information/news-releases/uscis-modifies-h-1b-selection-process-to-prioritize-wages

·        “With Democratic Senate Majority, Biden Has Energy To Rapidly Undo Trump Regulatory Rollbacks,” Forbes, https://bit.ly/3i0pQBF

·        “DHS Publishes Last Rule To Finish H-1B Visa Lottery,” https://www.forbes.com/websites/stuartanderson/2021/01/08/dhs-publishes-final-rule-to-end-h-1b-visa-lottery/?sh=7b8df1f94af0

USCIS Proclaims Delays in Issuing Receipt Notices Filed at Lockbox Services

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Providers (USCIS) introduced delays of 4 to 6 weeks in sending out receipt notices after receiving correctly filed functions and petitions with a USCIS lockbox. The company mentioned quite a lot of elements have been accountable, together with “COVID-19 restrictions, a rise in filings, present postal service quantity and different exterior elements.” Amongst different issues, USCIS mentioned there could also be “vital delays” in receipt notices for Type I-765, Software for Employment Authorization, primarily based on classes associated to F-1 college students.

USCIS mentioned its lockbox workforce was working additional hours and redistributing its workload to attenuate delays. “We don’t anticipate any receipting delays that will end in a fee that’s previous its validity date,” the company mentioned. For individuals who haven’t but filed an utility, USCIS recommends submitting on-line if doable, making a USCIS on-line account to verify case standing, and finishing a Type G-1145, E-Notification of Software/Petition Acceptance to request a textual content message and/or e mail when USCIS accepts the shape by way of a lockbox.

Particulars:

·        USCIS alert, https://www.uscis.gov/information/alerts/uscis-lockbox-updates

Judges Block Trump Asylum Rule, Refugee Native Placement Order

On January 8, 2021, a U.S. decide within the Northern District of California blocked the Trump administration’s rule that will have severely restricted asylum in the USA by curbing eligibility standards. Choose James Donato blocked the rule on the premise that Chad Wolf, whom President Trump appointed as Performing Secretary of Homeland Safety, didn’t have the authority to impose guidelines as a result of he was not lawfully appointed. Noting that limiting the choice “would end in a fragmented and disjointed patchwork of immigration coverage,” Choose Donato mentioned the short-term restraining order applies nationwide.

Choose Donato mentioned the federal government “has recycled precisely the identical authorized and factual claims made within the prior instances, as if they’d not been soundly rejected in well-reasoned opinions by a number of courts. This can be a troubling litigation technique. In impact, the federal government retains crashing the identical automotive right into a gate, hoping that sometime it would break by.”

Asylum on the U.S.-Mexico border is in any other case additionally restricted attributable to COVID-19 pandemic-related and different causes. President Trump reportedly withdrew his nomination of Mr. Wolf to function Secretary of Homeland Safety after Mr. Wolf condemned those that rioted and invaded the U.S. Capitol and mentioned he supported an orderly transition to the Biden administration.

In one other ruling on the identical day, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Courtroom of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit dominated towards a Trump government order requiring consent from state and native entities for refugee placements.

 

Particulars:

·        “Choose Blocks Dramatic Overhaul of U.S. Asylum System From Taking Impact,” Reuters, https://reut.rs/3s40ZBs

·        U.S. Choose Blocks Trump Administration’s Sweeping Asylum Guidelines,” Related Press, https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-immigration-courts-local-governments-3d6ab9e79153e67d974cee1bf592862f

USCIS and SAVE Subject Discover on Verifying Candidates’ Prolonged Deferred Motion Underneath DACA

The Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program introduced that it might confirm when an applicant for a federal, state, or native authorities profit or license has acquired deferred motion beneath Deferred Motion for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).

SAVE famous that candidates might current an unexpired Type I-766, Employment Authorization Doc (EAD), together with an I-797, Extension Discover, issued by USCIS exhibiting that their deferred motion has been prolonged for one 12 months. This unexpired EAD should include a Class code of C33 and be issued on or after July 28, 2020, SAVE mentioned, including that SAVE consumer businesses might have to institute further verification in these conditions.

Particulars:

·        USCIS discover, https://www.uscis.gov/save/whats-new/verifying-applicants-extended-deferred-action-under-daca

 

Immigration Company Info

Division of Homeland Safety:DHS.gov/coronavirus

–      https://www.dhs.gov/coronavirus-news-updates

–      https://www.dhs.gov/information/2020/03/17/fact-sheet-dhs-notice-arrival-restrictions-china-iran-and-certain-countries-europe

–      Overview and FAQs: https://www.ice.gov/coronavirus

–      Necessities for ICE Detention Services: https://www.ice.gov/doclib/coronavirus/eroCOVID19response

ReqsCleanFacilities.pdf

–      Updates and Bulletins:https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/coronavirus

–      Accessing I-94 Info: https://i94.cbp.dhs.gov/I94/#/residence

Division of Labor:

  • Workplace of International Labor Certification:

–      OFLC Bulletins (COVID-19 bulletins included right here): https://www.foreignlaborcert.doleta.gov/

–      COVID-19 FAQs:

§ Spherical 1 (Mar. 20, 2020): https://www.foreignlaborcert.doleta.gov/pdf/DOL-OFLC_COVID-19_FAQs_Roundpercent201_03.20.2020.pdf

§ Spherical 2 (Apr. 1, 2020): https://www.foreignlaborcert.doleta.gov/pdf/DOL-OFLC_COVID-19_FAQs_Roundpercent202_04.01.2020.pdf

§ Spherical 3 (Apr. 9, 2020): https://www.foreignlaborcert.doleta.gov/pdf/DOL-OFLC_COVID-19_FAQs_Roundpercent203.pdf

State Division:https://www.state.gov/coronavirus/

Justice Division

 

Company Twitter Accounts

·        EOIR: @DOJ_EOIR

·        ICE: @ICEgov

·        Research within the States: @StudyinStates

·        USCIS: @USCIS

 

Immigrant and worker rights webinars. The Division of Justice’s Immigrant and Worker Rights Part (IER), of the Civil Rights Division, is providing quite a few free webinars for employees, employers, and advocates. For extra data, see https://www.justice.gov/crt/webinars.

E-Confirm webinar schedule. E-Confirm has launched its calendar of webinars at https://www.e-verify.gov/calendar-field_date_and_time/month/202004.

 

For Particulars on these and different matters, click on www.immigration.web!

Authorities Company Hyperlinks

Observe these hyperlinks to entry present processing occasions of the USCIS Service Facilities and the Division of Labor, and the Division of State’s newest Visa Bulletin with the newest deadlines for visa numbers:

USCIS Service Middle processing occasions on-line: https://egov.uscis.gov/cris/processTimesDisplay.do

Division of State Visa Bulletin:

https://journey.state.gov/content material/visas/en/law-and-coverage/bulletin.html

Visa utility wait occasions for any submit:https://journey.state.gov/content material/visas/en/common/wait-occasions.html/

 

Kuck Baxter Immigration — In The Information

 

Member/Agency Information

Charles Kuck was quoted in The Occasions of India regarding the publication of the brand new Division of Labor wage regulation: “We will probably be amending our lawsuit to hunt to enjoin this lame try to repair its prior unlawful regulation. We stay assured that his regulation won’t ever see the sunshine of day as written.”

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/us-agency-issues-final-wage-rules-for-h-1bs-and-green-card-holders-higher-wages-to-apply-in-a-phased-manner/articleshow/80244803.cms

Mr. Kuck was quoted by Law360 in “Biden’s Win Means Massive Enterprise for BigLaw.” Mr. Kuck mentioned, “Within the immigration space of legislation, the Trump administration has made, on common, one regulatory or coverage change every day since January 20, 2017. [Biden] will spend the following 4 years reversing just about all of those administrative modifications, and hopefully searching for an entire restructure of our immigration legal guidelines.” He added, “Nearly all immigration attorneys are busier than they’ve ever been. However now we have been busy holding again the floodwaters within the dike, just like the little Dutch boy. A President Biden will convey sanity again to our system, and a restorative effort to permit us to affirmatively help our shoppers.”

https://www.law360.com/company/articles/1323126/biden-s-win-means-big-business-for-biglaw

Mr. Kuck was additionally quoted by Bloomberg Legislation in “New Steerage Particulars Visa Ban’s Nationwide Curiosity Exceptions .” Mr. Kuck mentioned that this proclamation is “principally an entire stroll again of the prior exemptions and prohibitions” discovered within the authentic order. For instance, the State Division’s definition of jobs that pertain to vital infrastructure industries within the new steering is a serious growth of the way it might have historically been outlined, he mentioned. Mr. Kuck has filed a pal of the courtroom transient within the Gomez case difficult the ban. “The typical individual thinks a nuclear plant, however now it encompasses IT companies, communications, meals and agriculture. I can’t consider a sector that’s not included” beneath the H-1B candidates’ exemptions, he mentioned. Mr. Kuck predicted that many visa hopefuls caught outdoors the USA will doubtless have the ability to show they qualify for a nationwide curiosity waiver to the ban. “It looks like most individuals caught proper now, who’ve been denied an exemption prior to now, will simply qualify. It’s an entire stroll again as a result of they know they’re going to lose this litigation.”

The article is at https://information.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/visa-ban-national-interest-exceptions-detailed-in-new-guidance.

Kuck Baxter Immigration LLC printed its US authorized information for Company Immigration. It may be discovered at https://iclg.com/practice-areas/corporate-immigration-laws-and-regulations/usa

 

Kuck Baxter Immigration LLC has an workplace in Adel, Georgia, close to the Irwin, Folkston, and Stewart Detention Facilities, which maintain greater than 6,000 detained immigrants. The brand new workplace is managed by our Senior Counsel Elizabeth Matherne, the previous Director for the Southern Poverty Legislation Middle’s Irwin Detention Challenge.

We’ve got modified the situation of our podcast–The Immigration Hour— to Stitcher. We’re getting into our thirteenth 12 months of steady broadcasts. Pay attention every week for our newest tackle immigration and immigration legislation!

You’ll be able to comply with us on Twitter @KuckBaxter or @CKuck

You can even get continuously up to date information on our Fb web page.

Be happy to succeed in out with any questions or for assist in your immigration case at 404-816-8611 or immigration@immigration.web.

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