|
|
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that it reached the statutory H-1B visa cap of 65,000 for fiscal year 2014 during the first week of the filing period. This is the first time since 2008 that the cap has been met during the first week.
The H-1B program allows U.S. businesses to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations requiring theoretical or technical expertise (e.g., scientists, engineers, and computer programmers).
by Elaine Young
Employers wanting to hire foreign workers through the H-1B visa program need to be ready to file petitions with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on April 1. U.S. businesses use the H-1B program to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise in specialized fields. The first possible start date for most H-1B employees is the first day of the federal fiscal year, October 1. Therefore, petitions submitted on April 1, 2013, will apply to the 2014 federal fiscal year, which begins October 1, 2013.
Here’s an overview of what to consider before April 1 and some information about how the H-1B process may change in the future.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has published a revised Form I-9, and employers should begin using it right away.
The new form went into effect today. The revision date of the form is printed in the lower left corner. Employers are encouraged to begin using the new form now, but forms dated February 2, 2009, and August 7, 2009, will be accepted until the effective date of the revised form—May 7, 2013.
All employers are required to complete a Form I-9 for each employee hired in the United States. The purpose of the form is to verify employees’ identity and employment authorization. Employers shouldn’t complete the revised Form I-9 for current employees if a properly completed form is already on file.
by Richard L. Rainey
North Carolina’s law requiring employers and local governments to use the federal E-Verify system when hiring new employees is taking effect in phases. January 1 is the next effective date.
The requirement to use E-Verify begins January 1 for employers with at least 100 but fewer than 500 employees in North Carolina. For employers with at least 25 but fewer than 100 employees in North Carolina, the requirement will start on July 1. Employers with 500 or more North Carolina employees had to begin using the system on October 1, 2012.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is inviting public comment on proposed revisions to Form I-9, the form all U.S. employers are required to keep on employees to document that they are eligible to work in the United States. Comments will be accepted until May 29.
Key revisions to the form include: read more…
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will begin accepting H-1B visa petitions for fiscal year 2013 on Monday, April 2.
Petitions for the visas, which allow nonimmigrant specialists to temporarily work in the United States, will be considered accepted on the date USCIS takes possession of a properly filed petition with the correct fee. The agency advises that it won’t rely on the date the petition is postmarked.
As in past years, the congressionally mandated cap on H-1B visas is 65,000. Employers seeking H-1B status for nonimmigrant employees are accustomed to the cap being exceeded in just a few days, although the recession slowed demand for H-1B workers to the point that it took from April to November 22, 2011, for the cap to be met for fiscal year 2012 petitions, and the 2011 cap was never reached.
The U.S. Supreme Court has decided to hear arguments in Arizona v. United States, the lawsuit concerning the constitutionality of the state’s controversial immigration enforcement measure S.B. 1070. The bill originally was scheduled to become law in June 2010. However, shortly before it went into operation, the U.S. District Court for Arizona issued an injunction preventing four key parts of the measure from taking effect. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that ruling, and the following provisions of the law have remained stalled since:
Alabama employers may see some relief in a federal judge’s opinion on the state’s tough new immigration law even though most of the law was allowed to stand.
Chief U.S. District Judge Sharon Lovelace Blackburn ruled on September 28 that key parts of House Bill 56, which was signed into law June 9, can take effect. But she blocked enforcement of Sections 11(a), 13, 16, and 17.
A new North Carolina state law soon will require use of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) E-Verify system to check if workers are legally entitled to work in the United States.
Under the new law, signed by Governor Bev Perdue on June 23, all employers in North Carolina that employ 25 or more workers eventually will be required to use the system. The new law will take effect at different times based on an employer’s size and type: read more…
Following through on the strategy announced in April, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer filed a petition yesterday asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review the lower court decisions blocking implementation of key provisions of S.B. 1070, Arizona’s tough immigration law.
A federal district judge in Arizona blocked four provisions of the law, formally known as the Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act, from taking effect in July 2010. The injunction allowed certain aspects of the law to go into effect but blocked other provisions, including one making it a crime for an illegal immigrant to solicit, apply for, or perform any work in the state.
|
|||||||
