Effective April 11, 2025, certain foreign nationals in the US must register online with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), while others are already registered based on their status. This requirement is based on a 1940 law that mandates every foreign national who is in the US for 30 days must be registered and fingerprinted … Continue Reading
On 19 March, the UK Home Office announced increases to visa and sponsorship fees to take effect from 9 April. There are increases for most fees listed which will impact almost everyone including Skilled Worker visa holders, sponsors, and those applying for settlement and citizenship. The increases range from as little as £8.50 (which leads … Continue Reading
Employers should expect changes to their immigration and hiring enforcement regimes under a second Trump administration. Based on campaign rhetoric and promises, those changes will include emboldened and focused immigration policies to remove millions of undocumented workers and tighten the legal immigration system. Below is a summary of expected employment-related immigration changes and practical steps … Continue Reading
In this mini blog series we will provide an overview of the key aspects to consider when sending one of your employees to and from Germany. First, we will take a look at short term assignments (up to six months) from an inbound and outbound perspective for citizens of certain countries outside the EU.… Continue Reading
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently announced updates to the H-1B visa lottery process, availability of online H-1B filings, and increases to most U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) petition filing fees. The H-1B visa lottery and online filing changes will go into effect before the next lottery opens on March 6, 2024, and … Continue Reading
On December 21, 2023, the United States Department of State (DOS) published a notice detailing the implementation of a domestic visa renewal through a limited pilot program. The pilot program resurrects a process the DOS discontinued in 2004 and will allow certain eligible applicants to renew an H-1B visa in the United States without needing … Continue Reading
Join Gregory Wald and Annabel Mace for an insightful and comprehensive webinar reviewing recent changes and trends in US I-9 and UK right to work rules and regulations on Wednesday, October 18, from 8:30 – 9:45 a.m. PDT / 4:30 – 5:45 p.m. BST. This webinar brings together legal experts in immigration and employment verification … Continue Reading
The Home Office is picking up the pace on immigration compliance matters – we have seen increased activity on everything from right to work enforcement to visa curtailments as well as requests for further evidence across all aspects of sponsorship. We will be focusing on these and other challenges in our webinar on 14 September … Continue Reading
The UK government has announced changes to the EU Settlement Scheme from September 2023 which will affect those living in the UK with pre-settled status. The changes have been made following the case of R (Independent Monitoring Authority for the Citizens’ Rights Agreements) v the Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] in which … Continue Reading
Now that we’re almost half-way through 2023, it’s time again to review the developments in state and local labor and employment laws. State legislatures and city councils continue to be very busy making new laws and amending existing laws. In fact, due to the large number of updates, we are splitting our post into two parts. … Continue Reading
This is the second in our series of GCC updates, focusing on new developments in UAE immigration, personal data and Emiratisation rules.… Continue Reading
The Home Office has published its latest Statement of Changes to the Immigration Rules, most of which will take effect from 12 April this year. The key changes of interest to employers are likely to be these:… Continue Reading
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that the initial registration period for the fiscal year (FY) 2023 H-1B cap will open at noon EST on March 1st and run through noon EST on March 17, 2023. USCIS intends to notify selected registrants by March 31st. Employers sponsoring selected registrants will be able to file cap-subject H-1B petitions in April.… Continue Reading
On January 12, 2023, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced two significant updates to its premium processing expansion plan: (1) implementation of premium processing for all EB-1 Multinational Executive and Manager and EB-2 National Interest Waiver (NIW) categories and (2) a future expansion of premium processing for F-1 Students Seeking OPT and STEM OPT … Continue Reading
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) just announced, effective January 5, 2023 at 12:01 AM EST, airline passengers (two years of age and older) traveling from mainland China (Peoples Republic of China (PRC)) and the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong or Macau must provide either a negative COVID test or documentation … Continue Reading
The Home Office has updated its ‘Workers and Temporary Workers: guidance for sponsors’. The changes affect UK employers with sponsor licences and provide clarification on how to amend a sponsored worker’s start date in the UK after their visa has been granted. Sponsors should take note of the changes in order to comply with their … Continue Reading
UK employers are generally aware of the need to carry out prescribed checks to ensure their employees have the right to work, and the consequences of illegal employment (civil penalty of £20,000, risk to sponsor licence or, in extreme cases, criminal prosecution). But the way in which the Home Office says these checks must be … Continue Reading
In March this year, we wrote about the abrupt suspension of UKVI priority services for new applications made from outside the UK here. Today, after a full 5 months, UKVI has reinstated “priority services” for new work visa applications. The suspension was UKVI’s response to the large influx of applications under the Ukraine Family Scheme. … Continue Reading
On March 10, 2022, the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published a Field Assistance Bulletin (FAB) entitled “Protecting Workers from Retaliation.” The FAB provides guidance on worker anti-retaliation protections available under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the Migrant and Seasonal … Continue Reading
The Home Office has published its latest Statement of Changes to the Immigration Rules taking effect from 6 April 2022 which includes new immigration routes, as well as some changes and rebranding for existing routes. The Home Office is presenting these changes as part of its commitment to simplify the Immigration Rules and provide greater … Continue Reading
UK Visas & Immigration (UKVI) has taken the decision without prior warning to suspend priority and super-priority visa processing services for all applications being made from outside the UK. Not only have the services been suspended, but the UKVI update says that “applications for study, work and family visas may take longer to process.” This … Continue Reading
Back in August we reported on proposed additional visa routes slated for launch in Spring 2022 as part of the ‘UK Innovation Strategy’ to help retain the UK’s position as a hub for global business. It’s common for changes to the Immigration Rules to be released each year around March/April, so what can we expect … Continue Reading
