Tag: dol

On January 14, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published a final rule, Strengthening Wage Protections for the Temporary and Permanent Employment of Certain Aliens in the United States, changing how wage levels are computed under the DOL’s four-tier wage structure. The January 14, 2021 rule is a revised version of a similar DOL rule, […]

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has put a strain on U.S. employers and the foreign workers they hire. Program Electronic Review Management (PERM) processing times have increased, and employers are seeing a sudden uptick in audits by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). The PERM process is the first step of the green card process for foreign […]

On December 2, 2020, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed a bill entitled “Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act of 2020.” The bill, which sets out new provisions focused on both green card and H-1B temporary worker reform, was passed without any public hearings and is said to pacify Big Tech’s hankering for cheap indentured labor. Notably, this is the […]

USCIS will be issuing new policy guidance in the USCIS Policy Manual regarding Schedule A designations. The purpose of the new guidance is to describe and clarify current Schedule A requirements, and it will not represent any policy changes. When it comes to filing employment-based petitions, current regulations require many employers to obtain a labor […]

On December 1, 2020, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California set aside two interim final rules upending the H-1B visa program and other employment-based immigration categories in Chamber of Commerce v. DHS. Both rules were announced in October and comprised of significant changes to the H-1B prevailing wage levels and eligibility criteria.  The […]

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Labor (DOL) have released new rules that will result in significant changes to the H-1B specialty occupation program, making it more difficult for skilled foreign workers to acquire H-1B visas and work permits. DHS’s new rule will impede on employers’ ability to sponsor foreign workers by restricting the definition […]