Florida Governor Signs Employment Eligibility Verification Bill into Law
7/2/20
By: Melissa Santalone Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has signed into law a bill on verification of employees’ legal authorization to work in the U.S. that is a far cry from the original bill proposed at the beginning of the legislative discussion. As we discussed here, the initial bill would have required all Florida employers to…
Florida Legislature is One Among Several Pushing for Mandatory Use of “E-Verify”
11/8/19
By: Melissa Santalone A Florida State Senator has filed a bill that would require, beginning January 1, 2021, all Florida businesses to use the “E-Verify” system to check whether each newly hired employee is authorized to work in the U.S. The “E-Verify” system is a web-based system operated by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)…
DHS to Double Number of H-2B Visas for the 2019 Summer Season
4/8/19
By: Kenneth Levine Despite the current Administration’s two-year campaign to issue executive orders placing limits on U.S. work visas, a surprising limited expansion of the H-2B work visa program was announced by DHS this week. This development is especially welcome news for the landscaping, seafood processing, forestry and hospitality industries, all of whom depend heavily…
Latest Update on the H-1B Visa Application Process
2/11/19
By: Layli Eskandari Deal The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has issued a final rule implementing changes to the H-1B visa program for petitions filed under the H-1B cap (better known as the H-1B visa lottery). The rule reverses the order whereby USCIS selects H-1B petitions for the standard allotment of 65,000 visas and…
New Developments in TPS and DACA
1/18/18
By: Kenneth S. Levine This past week the Department of Homeland Security announced the termination of Temporary Protected Status for citizens of El Salvador. DHS reports that there are approximately 200,000 El Salvadoran citizens living and working in the United States. TPS designation for El Salvador will officially terminate on September 9, 2019. USCIS has…
California’s Protecting Immigrant Worker Protection Act (AB-450)
1/11/18
By: Layli Eskandari Deal On October 5, 2017 Governor Brown signed AB-450 into law further taking California into the federal immigration landscape. The new State law took effect on January 1, 2018. Here are some key elements: Employers no longer can voluntarily grant access to nonpublic areas of the company to any immigration enforcement agent.…
The Entrepreneurs Parole Visa – Full Steam Ahead – For Now
12/4/17
By: Kenneth S. Levine On 12/1/2017 a Federal Judge ruled that the Department of Homeland Security did not have legal cause to delay the enactment of a visa program for foreign entrepreneurs. The program, referred to as the “International Entrepreneur Rule,” was supposed to have gone into effect on 07/17/2017. On 7/10/2017 the current presidential…
Update on Temporary Protected Status (TPS) For Citizens of Nicaragua, Honduras, & El Salvador
11/9/17
By Kenneth S. Levine On 11/6/2017 the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued an announcement on the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program for citizens of Nicaragua and Honduras. Currently, there are approximately 60,000 Nicaraguans and Hondurans who reside and work in the U.S. under the TPS designation. DHS announced that the TPS program for Nicaragua…
You’ve Got Mail: E-mail Notifications Effective in E-Verify
7/8/13
By: Kelly Eisenlohr-Moul Among the more significant changes in the 2013 Form I-9 is an optional field for the employee’s e-mail address. If the employee supplies an electronic address, whether work or personal, the employer must use the address provided when initiating an E-Verify case. US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (USCIS) recently announced the intended…