• The start of the New Year has been marked by a few immigration controversies. An important federal court decision of January 9th has resulted in the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) resumption of DACA status renewal and temporary employment authorization application acceptance and processing for the registered DACA individuals. USCIS recommends that applicants should apply 120 to 150 days prior to their current DACA grant expiration. Discuss your employees’ DACA eligibility under the newly restarted adjudication process with your immigration legal counsel.
  • While the current presidential administration continues to eliminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for certain countries (e.g., El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua), please keep in mind that validity of employment authorization documents (EADs) is automatically extended for the transitional period. TPS-based EADs for nationals of Honduras have been automatically extended through July 4, 2018, and TPS EADs for the citizens of Nicaragua are now valid through March 6, 2018. Also, Nicaraguans who timely renew their TPS registration by February 13, 2018 should be receiving new EADs valid through January 5, 2019 (i.e., the last day of TPS eligibility for Nicaraguans). When updating corporate I-9 files for the TPS employees, remember that they fall under the category of workers that may continue working with an expired EAD if they followed TPS registration and employment authorization application filing guidelines.
  • Scam Alert: USCIS is warning employers against responding to e-mail requests allegedly coming from the government and requesting employees’ Forms I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, data. Even though the messages appear to have originated from a government e-mail address (uscis.gov), they are not legitimate and USCIS does not request I-9 files via e-mail.
  • USCIS has reached the congressionally mandated H-2B visa cap for the first half of the government’s fiscal year 2018 (FY2018). December 15, 2017 was the last date the new H-2B petitions were accepted for employment start date prior to April 1, 2018. Cap exempt H-2B petitions (e.g., extension of H-2B stay petitions, change of employer and certain other proceedings) may still be filed.