New Year, New Opportunities: Trends and Upcoming Developments in Immigration Law

2023 saw the rollout of a litany of administrative, regulatory, and executive updates and changes that touch virtually all aspects of the U.S. immigration system, with the impact of these changes expected to be felt in full force in 2024. Employers who engage in routine visa sponsorship, skilled immigrants with extensive experience in their respective fields, entrepreneurs, and investors all stand to benefit from many if not all of these changes and are well served by familiarizing themselves with these policy and regulatory changes, updated immigration trends, and the new opportunities they present. Continue reading “New Year, New Opportunities: Trends and Upcoming Developments in Immigration Law”

Proposed Student Visa Rules end Duration of Status, Require Extension Applications


On September 25, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the DHS agency with jurisdiction over F-1 foreign student visa holders, published new proposed regulations that would end the long time U.S. practice of issuing “Duration of Status”  to F-1 students. Instead, F-1 visa holders would be limited to 2 or 4 year visa terms depending upon their country of origin, and be required to reapply for F-1 Status through USCIS to obtain extensions, or to leave the United States and apply for an extension .  The proposed regulations were immediately criticized by the higher education community. The rules were called ill-conceived, misguided, unnecessary, and a burden to an industry that has already seen a steady decline in international student admissions. Read the full blog post here.

F-1 Student Ban from 100% Remote Education Rescinded

On July 14, 2020, the Trump Administration rescinded SEVP guidance issued last week,  which forbid F-1 students from attending universities that were planning to be 100% remote during the fall 2020 semester.  With the rescission, schools may now revert to following  the SEVP March 9 Broadcast Message: Coronavirus Disease 2019 and the March 13  COVID-19: Guidance for SEVP Stakeholders . Read more about this important development in our education law blog, UpdateED.

 

 

 

ICE Bars F-1 Students from 100% Remote Programs for Fall Semester

On July 6, 2020 the  Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) provided long awaited guidance for the fall 2020 semester. In an unexpected about face from guidance issued in March 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 response effort by higher education,  SEVP has determined that foreign students on F-1 visas cannot attend universities that will be 100% remote during the fall 2020 semester. Continue reading “ICE Bars F-1 Students from 100% Remote Programs for Fall Semester”

COVID-19 Immigration Agency Suspensions and Cancellations 3/29/2020 Update

The Duane Morris Immigration Team is dedicated to providing the most up to date information and zealous advocacy on behalf of our clients during the COVID-19 emergency.  Below we have compiled information from various U.S. agencies on all aspects of travel, USCIS appointments, ICE activities and Removal Proceedings. This post will be updated as changes develop. Duane Morris has developed a COVID-19 Strategy Team which is providing regular updates on all business and employment related matters impacted by the COVID -19 pandemic. A second webinar on Business Continuity Planning for a Pandemic will be held on Wednesday, March 18. To register, click here.

Continue reading “COVID-19 Immigration Agency Suspensions and Cancellations 3/29/2020 Update”

I-9 Compliance More Important than Ever during E-Verify Outage

By: Valentine Brown

The government has been shut down for 29 days,  with no signs go reopening anytime soon. Although USCIS has continued to operate due to being self-funded by application filing fees, E-Verify’s funding was discontinued by the shutdown, so the system has been inoperable since December 22, 2018. For many employers, using E-Verify as part of an immigration compliance scheme is voluntary, however for federal contractors and employers in several states, E-Verify is mandatory. In either case, losing the availability of this valuable double check on employee eligibility to work leaves an employer relying on the I-9 process. Below are a few reminders to get employers through the shutdown and to make sure they are ready when the E-Verify system is back up and running:

Make copies of employee documents used for I-9 completion: To be sure, copying an employee’s identity documents is not required for the I-9 process, however it has increasingly become considered as a best practice for employers, especially in our new age of 6000+ ICE I-9 audits per year. (But remember, for E-Verify employers, photo matching  requires employers to make copies of green cards, work permits and U.S. passports when they are presented for verification purposes.) Keeping copies of documents with the I-9 form has several benefits in the shutdown context. At some point the government will reopen and the employee’s information will have to be inputted to the E-Verify system. Having copies of the employee’s documents will serve to ensure that the employer has the correct employee information, for submission and as a double check on the information entered on the I-9 form. Having copies will reduce the likelihood that the employer will have to go back to the employee for additional information once E-Verify is back up and running. Reducing the number of employee contacts during the I-9/E-Verify process reduces the opportunities for unwitting I-9 discrimination to occur, including document abuse and citizenship status discrimination.

Conduct careful review of all  documents presented for I-9 purposes: Without the E-Verify check available, employers will be relying on their own judgment as to the validity and veracity of immigration-related documents presented during the shutdown. While it is not necessary for employers to be a fake document expert, it is required that they review the presented documents to make sure they appear valid and relate to the person who is presenting them. Immigration documents, such as work permits and green cards have changed over the years, so determining what is a valid document is not always as easy as it seems it should be. In the M-274  Handbook for Employers, there are many samples of what the various immigration documents look like as well as descriptions of their security features. Employers should use information in the handbook to compare to documents presented if they have questions.

Store shutdown period I-9s together: Best practice is to store I-9s separately from employee files in order to ensure that information on the I-9 forms remains private and is not inadvertently, or purposely used to make employment decisions. I recommend three I-9 files: (1) active employees with no reverification required (2) active employees with reverification required (3) terminated employees stored in order by termination date. I would add another temporary category of I-9s prepared during the shutdown. This will allow employers to easily identify those I-9s that will have to be entered into E-Verify once it is back up and running. After the shutdown is over, the I-9s can be folded back into the three standing files as described above.

With no signs of stopping, the shutdown maybe with us for a while. Taking extra care now with your I-9 forms will ease the burden of catching up on E-Verify entries, once the system is back up and running.

 

 

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The opinions expressed on this blog are those of the author and are not to be construed as legal advice.

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