High Skilled Labor

Lawsuits Challenge Change to H-1B Lottery Selection That Would Hurt Small Businesses, Start-ups

Lawsuits Challenge Change to H-1B Lottery Selection That Would Hurt Small Businesses, Start-ups

Businesses and industry organizations are among those pushing back against a rule that would change eligibility for filing an H-1B petition. The new rule would require the H-1B lottery selection to be conducted by salary level. A range of industries—from health care to higher education—that employ U.S. and H-1B workers… Read More

Ban on J-1 Exchange and Other Employment-Based Visas Set to Expire

Ban on J-1 Exchange and Other Employment-Based Visas Set to Expire

A ban blocking certain employment-based visas implemented and extended by former President Trump is set to expire on March 31. The ban has likely prevented hundreds of thousands of people from participating in the American economy. In June 2020, the Trump administration… Read More

USCIS Begins to Reverse Course on H-1B Petitions

USCIS Begins to Reverse Course on H-1B Petitions

Employers and workers are starting to see a shift from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on unlawful restrictions of the H-1B specialty occupation visa category. Over the past nine months, USCIS rescinded three policy memoranda after federal courts found the agency’s positions to be contrary to the law and… Read More

U.S. Businesses Sue USCIS for Rejecting H-1B Petitions for not Backdating the Employment Start Date

U.S. Businesses Sue USCIS for Rejecting H-1B Petitions for not Backdating the Employment Start Date

A federal lawsuit filed on behalf of seven U.S. businesses challenges USCIS arbitrary rejection of H-1B nonimmigrant employment-based petitions filed after October 1 solely because the H-1B worker’s intended employment start date falls after October 1. Read More

Challenging USCIS’ Arbitrary Rejections of H-1B Petitions Filed After October 1

Challenging USCIS’ Arbitrary Rejections of H-1B Petitions Filed After October 1

This lawsuit challenges USCIS' arbitrarily rejected H-1B petitions filed after October 1 simply because the H-1B worker’s intended employment start date—naturally—also fell after October 1. Read More

The Biden Administration Is Already Supporting Employment-Based Immigration, But Uncertainty Remains

The Biden Administration Is Already Supporting Employment-Based Immigration, But Uncertainty Remains

Business immigration has already benefited from the change in administrations. On January 25, President Biden issued an executive order directly replacing a Trump-era executive order that wreaked havoc on the H-1B visa category. Biden’s ‘Made in America’ Order The recent executive order adopted “Buy American” policies and revoked President… Read More

What You Need to Know About the Latest Changes to the H-1B Registration Process

What You Need to Know About the Latest Changes to the H-1B Registration Process

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently issued a final rule changing the way U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) selects the registrations of U.S. employers that want to file H-1B petitions subject to the annual “cap.” The end result could dramatically reduce the number of recent foreign graduates… Read More

Council Submits Amicus Brief Supporting Reversal of USCIS’ Misinterpretation of the First Regulatory Test for an H-1B Specialty Occupation

Council Submits Amicus Brief Supporting Reversal of USCIS’ Misinterpretation of the First Regulatory Test for an H-1B Specialty Occupation

The American Immigration Council filed this brief in support of a U.S. employer’s challenge to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service’s denial of a computer programmer H-1B petition. Read More

Your COVID-19 Vaccine Was Likely Made by an Immigrant

Your COVID-19 Vaccine Was Likely Made by an Immigrant

The development of a COVID-19 vaccine is a global endeavor. The scientists and entrepreneurs creating the vaccine are of many nationalities and immigration statuses—as are the millions of people impacted by the pandemic who are anxiously awaiting a vaccine. The three pharmaceutical companies with vaccines near-ready for distribution—BioNTech, Pfizer, and… Read More

Comments Filed To Address Substantive Flaws in Proposed H-1B Regulatory Changes

Comments Filed To Address Substantive Flaws in Proposed H-1B Regulatory Changes

The American Immigration Council and the American Immigration Lawyers Association filed comments to address the substantive flaws in the Department of Homeland Security’s proposed changes because of concern that DHS will try to move forward with the rules as issued. The rule was set aside by the federal… Read More

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