Sarah Bileti

By Sarah Bileti and Emma Fahey

• The Department of State published the October 2023 Visa Bulletin Report on September 15, 2023 and announced that it will accept family and employment-based filings based on the Dates for Filing chart in October. As October is the first month of the 2024 government fiscal year (FY), the October Visa Bulletin Report shows some recovery from the retrogressions of the last several months of FY 2023. Every final action date in the October Visa Bulletin has advanced or remained the same relative to the September 2023 report, with notable advancements in the EB1 India category to 1/1/2017, from 1/1/2012 in September, and in the EB3 All Chargeability category from 5/1/2020 to 12/1/2021.  United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) also updated its FAQs on the employment based annual limit noting that in FY 2024 the annual employment-based visa numbers are estimated to be 165,000.
• The Department of State (DOS) began testing the implementation of digital visa authorization (DVA) at the U.S. Embassy in Dublin, Ireland earlier this September with a small number of K-1 (fiancé(e)) visas. If the initial trial is successful, the DOS hopes to extend the DVA to “other visa classes and additional posts in the future.”  Digital visa authorization would allow foreign nationals to travel without a traditional printed visa inserted into their passport, potentially eliminating the waiting time for the foreign national’s passport to be returned in the mail following a visa stamping appointment.

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Sarah Bileti

By Sarah Bileti and Emma Fahey

• Second Round of H-1B Cap Registration Selection – United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) conducted a second round of the H-1B cap lottery between July 28th and 31st for Fiscal Year (FY) 2024. The new selections were welcomed by employers and employees alike following extremely low selection rates in the initial round of the lottery, with USCIS reporting 780,884 registrations received for 85,000 available slots. The new selections were drawn from the existing pool of H-1B registrations submitted in March 2023 and did not require any additional action from employers. H-1B petitions for registrations selected in the second round must be filed between August 2, 2023 and October 31, 2023.

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Sarah Bileti

By Sarah Bileti and Emma Fahey

Employers will soon be required to use a new version of Form I-9 for Employment Eligibility Verification, according to a July 2023 announcement by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The introduction of the revised form corresponds with the end of temporary COVID-19 flexibilities that allowed employers to remotely examine employee identity and work authorization documents between March 20, 2020 and July 31, 2023. For employers enrolled in E-Verify, the DHS has approved a permanent procedure for the remote verification of employee Form I-9 documents that will take effect on August 1, 2023. Read more >>

Sarah Bileti

By Sarah Bileti

Question:  We are recertifying I-9 Forms that were processed under the COVID exception. Since our workforce is primarily remote, can we alter the form to allow for electronic signatures?

Answer: For employers who complete I-9s electronically, it is permissible to alter or create an I-9 form provided that employees are provided instructions for completing the form, the form is legible, there are not changes to the name, content, or sequence of the data elements and instructions, and no additional data elements or language are inserted.  An electronic signature may also be used provided that the system for capturing the electronic signatures meets the following criteria: Read more >>

Sarah Bileti

By Sarah Bileti

What is PERM?

To hire a foreign worker on a permanent basis, the most common pathway for employers to sponsor an employee for a Green Card is through obtaining a permanent Labor Certification from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL).  This Labor Certification is the first step in the sponsorship process, and it is obtained by filing an application through the DOL’s Program Electronic Review Management (PERM) process. Read more >>

Sarah Bileti

By Sarah Bileti

Question: We’re planning to lay off about 20 employees, and one of the affected workers has a sponsored H-1B visa. Are there specific requirements we need to follow?

Answer: Yes, there are specific obligations employers must adhere to when firing an H-1B nonimmigrant worker. First, you must notify the affected H-1B worker in writing of the termination and offer the reasonable cost of return transportation to the employee’s last place of foreign residence. It’s best for this offer of return transportation to also be communicated to the employee in writing. You aren’t obligated to pay return transportation costs for the employee’s family members or household items, and this obligation doesn’t arise if the employee quits the job. Read more >>