On January 10, 2025, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it has received enough petitions to reach the cap for the additional 20,716 H-2B visas made available for returning workers for the first half of fiscal year 2025 with start dates on...
Topic: Immigration Articles
USCIS Updates O-1 Guidance on Extraordinary Ability Evidence
On January 8, 2025, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) updated its policy guidance, effective immediately, to clarify how it evaluates evidence to determine eligibility for O-1A nonimmigrants of extraordinary ability, including adding examples of...
Miller Mayer’s Steve Yale-Loehr on H-1B Visas and Trump Administration Dynamics
Steve Yale-Loehr was quoted by the Los Angeles Times in California's Tech Titans Say H-1B Visas Are Vital. Will Trump Defy MAGA and Support Them? He said that despite the deficiencies in the H-1B program, he believes that "most employers try to follow the rules. At...
Practice Alert Released on Garcia Perez v. USCIS Litigation
The Northwest Immigrant Rights Project and the National Immigration Litigation Alliance released a practice alert on the final settlement agreement in Garcia Perez v. USCIS, effective September 26, 2024. The alert notes that in that case, four asylum seekers...
Court Rejects Employer’s Challenge to DOL Determination Letter re Posting Required Notices
In Broadgate v. Su, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit rejected an appeal of an order in which the Department of Labor (DOL) had issued a determination letter finding that the company had willfully violated the Immigration and Nationality Act by not...
DHS Raises CBP Civil Monetary Penalties
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has raised civil monetary penalties for various violations. The new penalty amounts, adjusted for inflation, are effective for penalties assessed after January 2, 2025, whose associated violations occurred after November 2,...
VWP Designated Countries List To Be Updated on Website, No Longer Announced in Federal Register
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a final rule on December 27, 2024, that updates the agency's practice for notifying the public of countries designated for participation in the Visa Waiver Program (VWP). The VWP's list currently includes 42...
OFLC Reminds Employers About H-2B Application Filing Timelines for 2025 Peak Filing Season
On December 30, 2024, the Department of Labor's Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) reminded employers and other stakeholders that the filing window to submit an H-2B Application for Temporary Employment Certification (Form ETA-9142B and appendices)...
Steve Yale-Loehr on Undocumented Chinese Migrants
Steve was quoted by the South China Morning Post in What Fate Awaits Undocumented Chinese Migrants in the U.S. Under Donald Trump? For those with removal orders, he said, "it's a matter of [U.S.] Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) finding out where they are,...
Miller Mayer’s Steve Yale-Loehr on NYC Migrant Crisis
Steve was quoted by Newsday in NYC Migrant Crisis: For a Migrant Father and His Sons, a Year of Struggle, Fear and Hope in New York (available by subscription). Many asylum applicants have no written evidence that could qualify them for asylum, he said. "It's very...
