Category: News

The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which replaces the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that has been in place for almost thirty years, goes into effect on July 1, 2020 and will change the way foreign investors can sue to protect their investments.  NAFTA established investor-state arbitration provisions which allowed foreign companies to sue the […]

The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) will go into effect on July 1, 2020 after all three countries certified their readiness to implement the new agreement. The USMCA aims to update the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which has governed trade and investment between the countries since 1993.  The NAFTA established the TN visa category, […]

On March 24, 2020, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published notice of the Secretary’s decisions to temporarily limit the travel of individuals from Canada  and Mexico into the United states at land ports of entry along the United States-Canada and United States-Mexico border to “essential travel.”  Given the outbreak and ongoing COVID-19 pandemic within […]

2018 Third-Party Worksites Memorandum In 2018, USCIS issued a policy memorandum mandating burdensome documentation requirements for employers placing H-1B workers at off-site locations. The mandate required employers to provide detailed itineraries illustrating “the dates of each service or engagement, the names and addresses of the [off-site] employers, and the names and addresses of the establishment, […]

While technically the Northern border between Canada and the United States remains closed due to COVID-19, our Associate Attorney Zach Ahlstrom details what activities are still allowed at the border. This includes traveling to the United States for work purposes and also applying for a TN or L-1 visa! Unfortunately, travel for pleasure purposes, such […]

The Canada Border Services Agency announced that as of June 8, 2020, foreign nationals who are immediate family members of Canadian citizens and permanent residents are exempt from the prohibition on entry to Canada providing they are entering to be with an immediate family member for at least fifteen days. The exemption aims to help […]

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) extended closure of its Trusted Traveler Program enrollment centers until at least July 6, 2020. The extended closure applies to all Global Entry, NEXUS, SENTRI, and FAST enrollment locations with public access.  Scheduled interviews for conditionally approved Trusted Traveler Program applicantshave been cancelled and must be rescheduled using the […]

U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced its plan to resume offering public services at some of its domestic offices on June 22, 2019. USCIS has been offering only emergency in-person public services for almost three months since it temporarily suspended in-person services at its field offices, asylum offices, and application support centers on March […]

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, President Trump issued a series of proclamations prohibiting the entry of all aliens who were physically present in China, Iran, the Schengen Area (comprised of 29 European countries), the United Kingdom, and the Republic of Ireland during the 14-day period prior to their entry or attempted entry to the […]

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that it is presently set to run out of money this summer and will begin attaching a 10% surcharge to application fees. Unlike most federal agencies, USCIS operates almost entirely on the money it raises from collected fees. A steep drop in applications for green cards, […]