The Department of Labor’s (DOL) Administrative Review Board (ARB) recently upheld the final decision of an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) who found that the petitioner failed to pay the H-1B beneficiary the required wage under the H-1B provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). The petitioner, a not-for-profit corporation…
The H-2B visa category allows U.S. employers in industries with peak load, seasonal or intermittent needs to augument their existing labor force with temporary workers. Congress has set the numerical limit for H-2B visas at 66,000 per fiscal year. The Save Our Small and Seasonal Businesses Act of 2005 (SOS…
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently issued a final rule in the Federal Register amending various aspects of the religious workers program. The final rule amends the regulations to improve the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS’s) ability to detect and deter fraud and other abuses in the…
In a Leadership Journal entry issued by the Acting Director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), several rule changes to the H-2B program were proposed. Little about the program has changed to accommodate employers’ needs or improvement in worker protections. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is proposing…
The Administrative Appeals Office recently withdrew the decision of the Director, Vermont Service Center and remanded the matter to him for further action and consideration. In the aforementioned case, the Petitioner is a Mississippi Limited Liability Company supplying labor and industrial services for the marine and petroleum/chemical industries in the…
The L-1B intra company business visa allows specialized knowledge employees to transfer from a foreign company to a U.S. parent, affiliated, or subsidiary branch to perform temporary jobs. For a foreign applicant to attain L-1B visa status, three requirements must be met. First and foremost, the petitioning U.S. company must…
The U.S. immigration system is constantly changing. At a recent stakeholders meeting, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced several upcoming changes to the Labor Certification and Labor Condition Application process. Expect More PERM Audits The DOL announced that with Backlog Elimination Centers (BECs) closing, the DOL will now be…
Many of our clients ask us why certain nonimmigrant visa categories allow individuals to enter the United States and apply for permanent residency while other nonimmigrant categories do not. The answer is “dual intent.” So what exactly is dual intent? The doctrine of dual intent states that even though a…