The US Department of State has released the immigration numbers available during September, 2010. Please click here  to view the Visa Bulletin for September 2010.

The US Department of State has released the immigration numbers available during August, 2010. Please click here  to view the Visa Bulletin for August 2010.

As of June 25, 2010, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) had received 23,500 petitions towards its H-1B fiscal year 2011 cap of 65000 for regular H-1B and 10,000 petitions towards its H-1B Master’s Exemption Cap of 20,000. The USCIS started accepting H-1B applications for FY 2011 on April 1, 2010.

A new Migration Policy Institute report finds that immigration unambiguously improves employment, productivity and income  - to view the report please click here.

As of June 11, 2010, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) had received 22,200 petitions towards its H-1B fiscal year 2011 cap of 65000 for regular H-1B and 9,400 petitions towards its H-1B Master’s Exemption Cap of 20,000. The USCIS started accepting H-1B applications for FY 2011 on April 1, 2010.

 

Please contact us today - 617 367 6750 - if you need help with filing an H-1B  visa for the 2011 fiscal year.

The US Department of State has released the immigration numbers available during July, 2010. Please click here  to view the Visa Bulletin for July 2010.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has unveiled an updated design of the Green Card. Please click here to see how the new card differs from the old. If you want to see a Q&A sheet from USCIS, please click here.

The US Department of State has released the immigration numbers available during June, 2010. Please click here  to view the Visa Bulletin for June 2010.

Interesting arcticle on some of the myths surrounding immigrants and immigration. Please click here to continue reading the article.

The US Department of State has released the immigration numbers available during March, 2010. Please click here  to view the Visa Bulletin for March 2010.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will begin accepting applications for the H-1B temporary visas starting April 1, 2010. Please click here for further information. If you are planning to file an H-1B petition(s), please contact us at 617-367-6750.

The US Department of State has released the immigration numbers available during April, 2010. Please click here  to view the Visa Bulletin for April 2010.

The US Department of State has released the immigration numbers available during May, 2010. Please click here  to view the Visa Bulletin for May 2010.

The US Department of State has released the immigration numbers available during February, 2010. Please click here  to view the Visa Bulletin for February 2010.

The US Department of State has released the immigration numbers available during January, 2010. Please click here  to view the Visa Bulletin for January 2010.

The US Department of State has released the immigration numbers available during December, 2009. Please click here  to view the Visa Bulletin for December 2009.

The US Department of State has released the immigration numbers available during November, 2009. Please click here  to view the Visa Bulletin for November 2009.

The Department of State announced the opening of the registration period for the DV-2011 Diversity Visa lottery. The entries for the Diversity Visa lottery must be submitted electronically between 12pm (EDT), Friday, October 2, 2009, and 12pm (EST) Monday, November 30, 2009. Please click here for further information.

The US Department of State has released the immigration numbers available during October, 2009. Please click here  to view the Visa Bulletin for October 2009.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reopened the fiscal year 2009 H-2B petition filing period and are now accepting new H-2B petitions. Please click here for further information. 

The US Department of State has released the immigration numbers available during September, 2009. Please click here  to view the Visa Bulletin for September 2009.

USCIS announced that it will resume Premium Processing Service for R-1 nonimmigrant religious worker petitions filed by certain R-1 petitioners. Only those petitioners who have passed an on-site inspection are eligible to use Premium Processing Service. This is effective from July 20th 2009.

 

For further details, please click here.

The US Department of State has released the immigration numbers available during August, 2009. Please click here  to view the Visa Bulletin for August 2009.

As of June 26, 2009, approximately 44,800 H-1B cap-subject petitions and approximately 20,000 petitions qualifying for the advanced degree cap exemption had been filed with the USCIS. For more details, please click here.

Many immigrants in the Silicon Valley, California are now choosing to go home or abroad instead on pinning thier hopes on the immigration overhall and settling in the US. To read this interesting article by Reuters, please click here.

As of July 1, 2009, all Visa Waiver Program passports must be electronic passports to be eligible for travel to the United States under the Visa Waiver Program. This includes Visa Waiver Program applicants who present emergency or temporary passports to transit the United States.

For more information, please click here.

The US Department of State has released the immigration numbers available during July, 2009. Please click here  to view the Visa Bulletin for July 2009.

The US Department of State has released the immigration numbers available during June, 2009. Please click here  to view the Visa Bulletin for June 2009.

As of May 22, 2009, approximately 45,700 H-1B cap-subject petitions and approximately 20,000 petitions qualifying for the advanced degree cap exemption had been filed. USCIS will continue to accept both cap-subject petitions and advanced degree petitions until a sufficient number of H-1B petitions have been received to reach the statutory limits, taking into account the fact that some of these petitions may be denied, revoked, or withdrawn. - US Citizenship and Immigration Service. 

To see the complete bulletin, please click here.

On April 23 2009, Senators Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.)  reintroduced the H-1B and L-1 Visa Fraud & Abuse Prevention Act of 2009, which aims to puts new restrictions on H-1B and L-1 visa programs that respectively let skilled foreign workers and foreign employees of American corporations work in the United States. 

If enacted, this will place further burden on American businesses in their efforts to hire the best possible candidates to join their workforce. Recent articles layout well-reasoned arguments as to why this proposed Act is and will be the wrong path for America. 

Click here for an article in Business Week and here for an article from the Heritage Foundation.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced an updated number of filings for H-1B petitions received for the fiscal year 2010 program.

Please click here for details.

The US State Department has curtailed/suspended all non-essential consular and visa services in Mexico until May 6, 2009 due to the flu outbreak.

For further details, click here.

"Some critics have suggested that the H-1B program provides a way for U.S. companies to hire less expensive foreign workers instead of equally qualified Americans.  This is simply not the case.  The law specifically requires that H-1B workers be paid salaries that are at least equal to similar American workers.  Microsoft supports strong enforcement of the H-1B rules and strong action against employers who violate the rules."

The above is a quote from a blog published by the General Counsel at Microsoft, Brad Smith. It addresses some of the myths surrounding the professional workers (like the one mentioned above) as well as the valuable contribution made by the professional workers both at Microsoft and other US corporations - "For example, last year 35 percent of Microsoft’s patent applications in the U.S. came from new inventions by visa and green card holders."

Please click here to read the complete post.

 

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that will continue to accept H-1B nonimmigrant visa petitions subject to the fiscal year 2010 (FY 2010) cap until the number of application received until the the cap is reached - 65,000 regular cap and the 20,000 U.S. master’s degree or higher at which point they will make additional announcements. To read the USCIS announcement in full, please click here.

The US Department of State has released the immigration numbers available during May, 2009. Please click here  to view the Visa Bulletin for May 2009.

 

Microsoft recently responded to a request for information from Senator Charles E. Grassley on how the  reduction in force announced by Microsoft would affect its diverse workforce. 

Please click here to read the response from Microsoft.

USCIS will expand Premium Processing Service for designated Forms I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker to include alien beneficiaries who have reached or are reaching their limitation of stay in H-1B nonimmigrant status.  For further information click here.  

The US Department of State has released the immigration numbers available during February, 2009. To view the February Bulletin, please click on the link below: 

http://travel.state.gov/visa/frvi/bulletin/bulletin_4417.html 

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has made significant revisions to the special immigrant and nonimmigrant (R-1) religious worker visa. The DHS believes the changes will  ensure the integrity of the religious worker program by establishing a requirement that employers submit a formal petition for temporary religious workers, and by providing for increased inspections, evaluations, verifications, and compliance reviews of religious organizations. The following is the actual list of changes of the ruling for the religious visas published by the Department of Homeland Security.

 

Petitioning Requirements

·         U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will require in every instance the filing of a petition by an employer on behalf of a nonimmigrant religious worker (the petition requirement already exists for special immigrants and for organizations seeking to extend the stay for or change status to nonimmigrant religious workers already in the U.S.).

·         The employing U.S. organization must complete and submit the Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker (Form I-129) or Petition for a Special Immigrant (Form I-360) (except in cases where the special immigrant is self-petitioning). This requirement will allow USCIS to verify the eligibility of the petitioner, the alien beneficiary, and the job offer prior to the issuance of a visa or admission to the United States.

·         Petitioning employers will be required to submit an Attestation (included in the Forms I-129 and I-360) verifying the worker’s qualifications, the nature of the job offered, and the legitimacy of the organization.

 

Onsite Inspections

·         The final rule provides additional notification to petitioners that USCIS may conduct onsite inspections of organizations seeking to employ religious workers.

·         Inspections are intended to increase deterrence and detection of fraudulent petitions and to increase the ability of the agency to monitor religious workers and ensure their compliance with the terms of their religious worker classification.

·         If an onsite inspection yields derogatory information not known to the petitioner, USCIS will issue a Notice of Intent to Deny the petition. The petitioner may submit additional documentation to rebut the derogatory evidence.

·         A denial of a petition may be appealed to the USCIS Administrative Appeals Office.

 

Evidentiary Requirements for Petitioning Organizations

·         All petitioning organizations must submit a currently valid determination letter from the Internal Revenue Service establishing their tax-exempt status. (Note: A valid determination letter includes those issued before the effective date of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) of 1986 and also those which may be issued under future IRC revisions).

·         Petitioning organizations that are not classified as “religious organizations” by the Internal Revenue Service must establish the religious nature and purpose of their organization. They must also certify that they are affiliated with a religious denomination that is tax exempt by completing the Religious Denomination Certification in the revised Forms I-129 and I-360.

 

Nonimmigrant Religious Worker Classification

·         Every petition for a nonimmigrant religious worker (R-1) classification must be initiated by a prospective or existing employer through the filing of a Form I-129 with USCIS. The beneficiary (the religious worker) will no longer be able to obtain an R-1 visa at a U.S. Consulate abroad or at a port-of-entry without prior approval of the Form I-129 by USCIS.

·         USCIS is amending the standard initial period of stay for nonimmigrant religious workers from three years to up to 30 months. The period of stay granted is always based on the petitioner’s need for the alien’s services. The revision gives the agency the opportunity to review, at an earlier time, whether the terms of the R-1 visa have been met. (Requests for one potential extension of an additional 30 months will be considered.)

 

Special Immigrant Religious Worker Classification

·         USCIS is expanding its interpretation of qualifying prior work experience to include work that is not in the exact same position as the job offered.

·         The final rule allows for a short break in the continuity of the required two-year religious work experience when the beneficiary was engaged in further religious training or on a sabbatical.

 

New Definitions and Proposed Changes to Existing Definitions

·         The rule provides enhanced definitions of the terms Religious Vocation and Religious Occupation.

·         The final rule amends the definition of Religious Vocation to be a formal lifetime commitment to a religious way of life.

·         The final rule amends the definition of Religious Occupation by removing the list of occupations listed as examples in the proposed rule. The amended definition requires that the occupation relate primarily to a traditional religious function that is recognized as a religious occupation within the denomination.

·         The rule defines the term Minister to be a person duly authorized by a religious denomination to conduct religious worship and other duties performed by clergy; but requires no uniform types of training for all denominations. Petitioning organizations may submit evidence of the individual denomination’s requirements for ordination to minister, the duties allowed to be performed by virtue of ordination, and the denomination’s levels of ordination, if any.

·         A definition of Denominational Membership is added to clarify how a petitioner can establish that the beneficiary is a member in the same religious denomination as the U.S. employer seeking to employ him or her.

 

 

·         The rule defines Religious Denomination as a religious group or community of believers governed or administered under some form of “ecclesiastical government.” USCIS acknowledges, however, that some denominations lack a central government. Accordingly, the religious entity may satisfy the ‘ecclesiastical government’ requirement by submitting a description of its own internal governing or organizational structure.

 

Compensation Requirements

·         In both the immigrant and nonimmigrant programs, compensation can include either salaried or non-salaried compensation.

·         Verifiable evidence must demonstrate how the alien will be supported.

·         The only exception to the compensation requirement is for certain nonimmigrant religious workers who are participating in an established program for temporary, uncompensated missionary work within the petitioning organization, which is part of a broader, international program of missionary work sponsored by the denomination. Such missionary workers would nevertheless have to submit evidence of financial resources sufficient to support them during their work.

 

Revocation Procedures and Appeal Rights

·         Appeal rights and revocation procedures are currently applicable to immigrant religious workers.

·         The final rule adds a provision allowing an appeal of a denied nonimmigrant religious worker petition.

·         The final rule also establishes procedures for revocation of the approval of nonimmigrant religious worker petitions. As with immigrant religious worker petitions, the revocation may be automatic or may require notice depending on the grounds for revocation. A petition that is revoked on notice may be appealed.

 

Extension of Nonminister Categories Affected by the Sunset

·         On October 10, 2008, President Bush signed the Special Immigrant Nonminister Religious Worker Program Act, Public Law 110-391.

·         This legislation granted a six-month extension of the two special immigrant categories for nonministers that expired on October 1, 2008. These two categories now expire on March 6, 2009.

·         Although this legislation was enacted on October 10, 2008, it does not become effective until the Secretary of Homeland Security publishes final regulations eliminating or reducing fraud, issues a certification to Congress, and publishes a notice in the Federal Register that such regulations have been issued and are in effect.

·         Now that the regulations are published and effective, USCIS has resumed the acceptance and processing of nonminister special immigrant religious worker petitions.

 

Pending Nonminister Cases Affected by the Sunset

·         Noniminister special immigrant and nonimmigrant religious worker cases that have been held in abeyance will be adjudicated in accordance with the final rule. Request for Evidence will be issued for any evidence required as per the new regulations if such evidence was not initially submitted and not contained in the record

 

The Visa Waiver Program (VWP) enables eligible citizens or nationals of certain countries to travel to the United States for tourism or business for stays of 90 days or less without obtaining a visa. The program is overseen by United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

 

As of 17^th November, 2008, citizens of 7 additional countries can enter the United States under VWP, these are Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, the Republic of Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, and Slovakia under the Visa Waiver Program.

 

The above mentioned countries are in addition to those already covered by the program namely  Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brunei, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

 

 

In order to qualify for the VWP, the prospective country must meet various security requirements stipulated by the United States Administration.

 

 

An audit of H-1B applications entitled the “H-1B BFCA Benefit Fraud & Compliance Assessment” and results of which were released earlier in October, 2008 suggests that one in five H-1B visas are either fraudulent or contain technical violations. The audit was released by the Office of Fraud Detection and National Security, which is part of the USCIS. The report was produced at the request of Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.

 

A random sample of 246 applications found 13 percent of the applicants used forged documentation, false businesses or addresses, false job offers, or misrepresented their immigration status. Another 7 percent had technical violations such as requiring the applicant to pay the application fee or list a salary substantively above what the applicant would actually be paid.

 

The USCIS plans to tighten up its procedures for vetting and approving the H1B applications in the wake of this audit to try eliminate the types of problems identified in the audit.

Some of the changes that maybe under consideration are:

 

• Increases in the number of visits investigators make to the sites of potential H-1B employers, to confirm that the companies exist, the nature of their business and the job descriptions of the H-1B applicants involved.
• Modifying the evidence required to extend an H-1B visa, such as a W-2 form to confirm the salary being paid.
• Changes to the I-129 forms used in the applications to make them less cumbersome to fill out and less prone to error.
• A plan to use "open-source" data to verify the identity of petitioners. Open-source is any form of data that is open to the public.

 

The USCIS is also working with the Department of Labor on changes to the Immigration and Naturalization Act that would allow a broader use of the $500 that is paid by each applicant into an anti-fraud fund that is supposed to pay for the policing of the system.

Trupti N Patel & Associates can help companies comply with the requirements of the H-1B Program. If you employ H1B workers, please contact us to see how we can help your organization comply with the rules & regulations governing the H1B Program.

Diversity Immigration (DV) Category

 

The Immigration and Nationality Act provides a maximum of up to 55,000 immigrant visas each fiscal year to permit immigration opportunities for persons from countries other than the principal sources of current immigration to the United States. The Nicaraguan and Central American Relief Act (NACARA) passed by Congress in November 1997 states that beginning with DV-99, up to 5,000 of the 55,000 annually-allocated diversity visas will be made available for use under the NACARA program. This reduction has resulted in the DV-2009 annual limit being reduced to 50,000. DV visas are divided among six geographic regions. No one country can receive more than seven percent of the available diversity visas in any one year.

 

For November, immigrant numbers in the DV category are available to qualified DV-2009 applicants chargeable to all regions/eligible countries as follows. When an allocation cut-off number is shown, visas are available only for applicants with DV regional lottery rank numbers below the specified allocation cut-off number:

 

Region	All DV chargeability Areas Except Those listed Separately
Africa	12, 500	Egypt 5, 900 Ethiopia 6,300 Nigeria 6,000
Asia	5,300
North America (Bahamas)	3
Oceania	325
South America/Caribbean	550

 

Entitlement to immigrant status in the DV category lasts only through the end of the fiscal (visa) year for which the applicant is selected in the lottery. The year of entitlement for all applicants registered for the DV-2009 program ends as of September 30, 2009. DV visas may not be issued to DV-2009 applicants after that date. Similarly, spouses and children accompanying or following to join DV-2009 principals are only entitled to derivative DV status until September 30, 2009. DV visa availability through the very end of FY-2009 cannot be taken for granted. Numbers could be exhausted prior to September 30.

 

Advance Notification of DV Immigrant Category Rank Cut-offs which will apply in December

 

For December, immigrant numbers in the DV category are available to qualified DV-2009 applicants chargeable to all regions/eligible countries as follows. When an allocation cut-off number is shown, visas are available only for applicants with DV regional lottery rank numbers below the specified allocation cut-off number:

 

 

Region	All DV Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed Separately
Africa	15,100	Egypt 8,700 Ethiopia 7,900 Nigeria 6,700
Asia	6,850
Europe	12,900
North America (Bahamas)	4
Oceania	440
South America & Caribbean	750

 

 

This article summarizes the availability of immigrant numbers during November. Allocations were made, to the extent possible under the numerical limitations, for the demand received by 8^th October in the chronological order of the reported priority dates. The cut-off date for an oversubscribed category is the priority date of the first applicant who could not be reached within the numerical limits. Only applicants who have a priority date earlier than the cut-off date may be allotted a number. Immediately that it becomes necessary during the monthly allocation process to retrogress a cut-off date, supplemental requests for numbers will be honored only if the priority date falls within the new cut-off date.

Employment-based Preferences

 

The worldwide level for annual employment-based preference immigrants is at least 140,000.

 

First: Priority Workers: 28.6% of the worldwide employment-based preference level, plus any numbers not required for fourth and fifth preferences.

 

Second: Members of the Professions Holding Advanced Degrees or Persons of Exceptional Ability: 28.6% of the worldwide employment-based preference level, plus any numbers not required by first preference.

 

Third: Skilled Workers, Professionals, and Other Workers: 28.6% of the worldwide level, plus any numbers not required by first and second preferences, not more than 10,000 of which to "Other Workers".

 

Fourth: Certain Special Immigrants: 7.1% of the worldwide level.

 

Fifth: Employment Creation: 7.1% of the worldwide level, not less than 3,000 of which reserved for investors in a targeted rural or high-unemployment area, and 3,000 set aside for investors in regional centers by Sec.

 

In the chart below, the listing of a date for any class indicates that the class is oversubscribed, current means that numbers are available for all qualified applicants; and unavailable means that no numbers are available.  Numbers are available only for applicants whose priority date is earlier than the cut-off date listed below.

 

Employment Based	All Chargeability Areas except those listed	China (Mainland)	India	Mexico	Philippines
1st	Current	Current	Current	Current	Current
2nd	Current	01JUN04	01JUN03	Current	Ccurrent
3rd	01MAY05	01FEB02	01OCT01	01SEP02	01MAY05
Other Workers	15JAN03	15JAN03	15JAN03	15JAN03	15JAN03
4th	Current	Current	Current	Current	Current
Certain Religious Workers	Unavailable	Unavailable	Unavailable	Unavailable	Unavailable
5th	Current	Current	Current	Current	Current
Targeted Employment Areas	Current	Current	Current	Current	Current

 

 

The Department of State has available a recorded message with visa availability information which can be heard at:  +1 202-663-1541. This recording will be updated in the middle of each month with information on cut-off dates for the following month.

 

Employment Third Preference Other Workers Category: The NACARA Act  states that once the Employment Third Preference Other Worker (EW) cutoff date has reached the priority date of the latest EW petition approved prior to November 19, 1997, the 10,000 EW numbers available for a fiscal year are to be reduced by up to 5,000 annually beginning in the following fiscal year. This reduction is to be made for as long as necessary to offset adjustments under the NACARA program. Since the EW cut-off date reached November 19, 1997 during Fiscal Year 2001, the reduction in the EW annual limit to 5,000 began in Fiscal Year 2002.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently completed a multi-year redesign of the naturalization test. The revised test, with an emphasis on the fundamental concepts of American democracy and the rights and responsibilities of citizenship, will help encourage citizenship applicants to learn and identify with the basic values we all share as Americans.

Why the tests were redesigned
The purpose of redesigned tests is to ensure that naturalization applicants have uniform, consistent testing experiences nationwide, and that the civics test can effectively assess whether applicants have a meaningful understanding of U.S. government and history. Following a basic U.S. history and civics curriculum, the redesigned test will serve as an important instrument to encourage civic learning and patriotism among prospective citizens.

The new tests will consists of updated English reading and writing prompts, and a list of 100 new history and government questions. The resulting redesigned test was publicly introduced on September 27, 2007. Naturalization applicants will begin taking the revised test on October 1, 2008.

The US State Department has decided that the soon-to-be issued U.S. Passport Card will suffice for employment verification purposes, and will be accepted on the Form I-9. The E-Verify Program - an online system that verifies an individual’s work eligibility - used by employers will also accept the new U.S. Passport Card.

 

The U.S. Passport Card was designed as a response to new border travel requirements, which require U.S. citizens to carry both a state issued identification card (e.g. drivers’ license) as well as a birth certificate or a U.S. Passport in order to cross U.S. land borders between the United States, Mexico, Canada, Bahamas and the Caribbean. The U.S. Passport Card holders will not need to carry the two forms of identifications mentioned above.

The U.S. Passport Card is a more convenient and cheaper alternative to a standard U.S. Passport for individuals crossing the United States border from the aforementioned countries.

 

As of February 2008, applications for the U.S. Passport Card became available and close to
half a million people have already applied for the card. The U.S. Passport Card is wallet sized, and is expected to become popular with individuals living in border towns and cruise passengers. The card is valid for 10 years, and is only applicable for land and sea travel. The U.S. Passport Card is cannot be used for international air travel, or any other travel requiring a U.S. passport.

The card is expected to be available to applicants in the fall of 2008.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced August 15, 2008 a series of proposed rule changes that will streamline procedures for hiring workers under the H-2B program.  These changes are being proposed are to review and improve temporary worker visa programs using existing authorities.  The proposed rule, which has been sent to the Federal Register, supplements the extensive reforms of the H-2B program already proposed by the Department of Labor in its proposed rule published on May 22. 

The H-2B nonimmigrant temporary worker program allows U.S. employers to bring foreign nationals to the United States to fill temporary non-agricultural temporary jobs for which U.S. workers are not available.  The proposed changes to the H-2B program, discussed by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff on June 10, will encourage and facilitate the lawful employment of foreign temporary workers while ensuring the integrity of the H-2B program. The proposed rule is designed to remove unnecessary limitations on H-2B employers while both preventing fraud and abuse and protecting the rights of temporary workers.  The proposed rule will:

·         Reduce from six months to three months the time H-2B workers must wait outside the
United States before they are eligible to re-obtain status under the H or L classification

·         Require employer attestations on the scope of the H-2B employment and the use of
recruiters to locate H-2B workers

·         Crack down on employers and recruiters who impose fees on prospective H-2B workers in connection with or as a condition of an offer of H-2B employment

·         Require an approved temporary labor certification in connection with all H-2B petitions

·         Preclude, with limited exception, the change of the employment start date after the grant of the temporary labor certification

·         Require employers to notify DHS when H-2B workers fail to show up for work, are
terminated, or abscond from the worksite

·         Change the definition of “temporary employment” to provide that a job is of a temporary nature when the worker will end in the near, definable future and to eliminate the requirement that employers show “extraordinary circumstances” to be eligible to hire H-2B workers where a one-time need for the workers is longer than one year but shorter than three years

·         Prohibit the approval of H-2B petitions for nationals of countries that are determined to  be consistently refusing or unreasonably delaying repatriation of their nationals

·         Establish a land-border exit system pilot program, which requires H-2B workers admitted through a port of entry participating in the pilot H-program to also depart through a participating port and to present designated biographic and/or biometric information upon departure. 

USCIS will accept public comments 30 days following publication of the proposed rule in the Federal Register.