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Headlines:
State Dept. Broadcasts Pilot Program to Resume Home H-1B Nonimmigrant Visa Renewals – The pilot program will settle for purposes from January 29 to April 1, 2024.
OFLC Reminds Employers About Deadlines for Peak H-2A Submitting Season – The federal Division of Labor introduced that from January 2-4, 2024, it’ll settle for H-2B purposes for momentary nonprofessional staff requesting a begin date of April 1, 2024, or later.
USCIS Updates Coverage Steerage for Worldwide College students – U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Companies issued coverage steerage concerning the F and M scholar nonimmigrant classifications, together with the company’s function in adjudicating associated purposes for employment authorization, change of standing, extension of keep, and reinstatement of standing.
State Dept. Expands Consular Authority for Nonimmigrant Visa Interview Waivers – The Division of State has decided that a number of classes of interview waivers are within the nationwide curiosity. As of January 1, 2024, consular officers could have discretion to waive the in-person interview for these classes.
State Dept. Advises on Passport Processing – Passport processing instances have returned to the company’s pre-pandemic norm, the Division of State mentioned. Passport purposes might be processed inside 6 to eight weeks for routine service and a pair of to three weeks for expedited service. Processing instances don’t embody mailing.
Detained Staff Are Staff Due Minimal Wage in Personal Facility Contracted With ICE, Supreme Court docket of Washington Finds – Detained staff on the personal detention heart have been “workers” and subsequently have been due a minimum of the minimal wage, the Supreme Court docket of Washington held.
Particulars:
State Dept. Broadcasts Pilot Program to Resume Home H-1B Nonimmigrant Visa Renewals
On December 21, 2023, the Division of State (DOS) introduced a pilot program to renew home visa renewal for certified H-1B nonimmigrant visa candidates who meet sure necessities. The pilot program will settle for purposes from January 29 to April 1, 2024.
Participation within the pilot is restricted to people who’ve beforehand submitted fingerprints in reference to an utility for a previous non-diplomatic nonimmigrant H-1B visa, are eligible for a waiver of the in-person interview requirement, and meet different relevant necessities. DOS mentioned the purpose of the pilot is “to check the Division’s technical and operational potential to renew home visa renewals for particular nonimmigrant classifications and to evaluate the efficacy of this program in lowering worldwide visa wait instances by shifting sure workloads from abroad posts to america.”
Candidates who meet the necessities can take part in the course of the utility window by making use of on-line. Written feedback and associated supplies should be obtained by midnight April 15, 2024.
Particulars:
- DOS discover, 88 Fed. Reg. 88467 (Dec. 21, 2023).
OFLC Reminds Employers About Deadlines for Peak H-2A Submitting Season
On December 22, 2023, the Division of Labor’s Workplace of Overseas Labor Certification (OFLC) reminded employers that the submitting window to submit an H-2B Utility for Non permanent Employment Certification (Kind ETA-9142B and appendices) requesting work begin dates of April 1, 2024, or later will open on January 2, 2024.
OFLC mentioned it’ll randomly order for processing all H-2B purposes requesting a piece begin date of April 1, 2024, which are filed in the course of the preliminary three calendar days (January 2-4, 2024). OFLC warned:
If OFLC identifies a number of purposes that seem to have been filed for a similar job alternative, OFLC will challenge a Discover of Deficiency. If a number of filings are submitted in the course of the three-day submitting window, all purposes will obtain a Discover of Deficiency requesting that the employer show that the job alternatives should not the identical. Employers that fail to determine a bona fide want for every utility will obtain a non-acceptance denial for every utility.
Particulars:
USCIS Updates Coverage Steerage for Worldwide College students
On December 20, 2023, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Companies (USCIS) issued coverage steerage concerning F and M nonimmigrant college students, together with the company’s function in adjudicating purposes for employment authorization, change of standing, extension of keep, and reinstatement of standing for these college students and their dependents in america. USCIS mentioned it “expects that it will present welcome readability to worldwide college students and U.S. instructional establishments on a wealth of subjects, together with eligibility necessities, faculty transfers, sensible coaching, and on- and off-campus employment.”
For instance, USCIS mentioned, the steerage clarifies that F and M college students should have a international residence that they don’t intend to desert, however such a scholar could be the beneficiary of a everlasting labor certification utility or immigrant visa petition and should be capable of show an intent to depart after a brief interval of keep.
As well as, the steerage specifies how an F scholar searching for an extension of optionally available sensible coaching based mostly on a level in a science, know-how, engineering, or arithmetic area could also be employed by a startup firm, so long as the employer adheres to the coaching plan necessities, stays in good standing with E-Confirm, and offers compensation commensurate to that offered to equally located U.S. staff, amongst different necessities.
Particulars:
State Dept. Expands Consular Authority for Nonimmigrant Visa Interview Waivers
On December 21, 2023, the Division of State (DOS) introduced that it had consulted with the Division Homeland Safety and decided that a number of classes of interview waivers are within the nationwide curiosity. As of January 1, 2024, consular officers could have discretion to waive the in-person interview for:
- First time H-2 visa candidates (momentary agricultural and nonagricultural staff) and
- Different nonimmigrant visa candidates making use of for any nonimmigrant visa classification who:
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- Have been beforehand issued a nonimmigrant visa in any classification, except the one prior issued visa was a B visa; and
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- Are making use of inside 48 months of their most up-to-date nonimmigrant visa’s expiration date.
Consular officers should require in-person interviews on a case-by-case foundation or due to native circumstances. DOS encourages candidates to test embassy and consulate web sites.
Particulars:
State Dept. Advises on Passport Processing
On December 18, 2023, the Division of State (DOS) introduced that passport processing instances have returned to the company’s pre-pandemic norm. As of December 18, 2023, DOS mentioned, passport purposes might be processed inside 6 to eight weeks for routine service and a pair of to three weeks for expedited service, which prices an extra $60. Processing instances start when DOS receives an utility at a passport company or heart and don’t embody mailing instances.
DOS mentioned that this yr, demand for passports was “unprecedented.” Between October 2022 and September 2023, the company issued greater than 24 million passport books and playing cards, the best quantity in U.S. historical past.
Particulars:
Detained Staff Are Staff Due Minimal Wage in Personal Facility Contracted With ICE, Supreme Court docket of Washington Finds
The principle query on this case earlier than the Supreme Court docket of the State of Washington involved a problem to the detained-worker pay practices of the GEO Group Inc., which owns and operates the Northwest ICE Processing Heart (NWIPC), a non-public immigration detention heart in Tacoma, Washington, below a contract with the federal authorities. The plaintiffs objected to GEO’s observe of paying civil immigration detainees lower than Washington state’s minimal wage. Plaintiffs requested the courtroom to find out whether or not Washington’s Minimal Wage Act (MWA) applies to detained staff in a privately owned and operated detention facility. The courtroom concluded that it does.
GEO contracts with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to restrict as much as 1,575 noncitizen, noncriminal adults in administrative civil custody as they await evaluate and dedication of their immigration standing. Beneath the ICE contract, GEO developed and manages a Voluntary Work Program, the aim of which is to supply detainees alternatives to work and earn cash whereas confined. The NWIPC detainees “weren’t for use to carry out” the “core obligations” that, below the ICE contract, have been the obligations and duties of GEO. Nevertheless, GEO relied on the detained staff to carry out “considerably the core work required of GEO below the contract.” GEO paid its detained staff $1 per day to carry out these important duties.
The State of Washington and a category of NWIPC detainees sued GEO in September 2017. They alleged that GEO’s observe of paying detainees lower than Washington’s minimal wage to work within the detention heart violated Washington’s MWA.
The Supreme Court docket of Washington discovered that the detained staff on the personal detention heart have been “workers” inside the which means of the MWA. The plaintiffs argued that an exemption signifies that the Washington legislature contemplated the MWA’s utility to people in detention or custody who’re permitted to work. They argued that the exemption unambiguously applies solely to people detained in public, government-run establishments. Subsequently, they mentioned, the exemption doesn’t apply to the detained staff on the privately owned and operated facility. The Supreme Court docket of Washington agreed.
Particulars:
- Nwauzor v. The GEO Group, Inc., No. 101786-3 (Dec. 21, 2023).
- “CEO Group Should Pay Minimal Wage to Immigrant Detainees, Court docket Guidelines,” Reuters (Dec. 22, 2023).
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