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The United States began implementing new changes to the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) on January 21, 2016. These changes are set out in the Visa Waiver Program Improvement and Terrorist Travel Prevention Act of 2015, which was passed by Congress in December 2015 and signed into law by President Barack Obama. These new changes impose further restrictions on those who have been qualifying under the Visa Waiver Program. The following people are no longer eligible to participate in the program: Nationals of VWP countries who have traveled to or been present in Iran, Iraq, Sudan, or Syria on or after...

Department of Homeland Security Changes Regulations to EB-1B Outstanding Professors and ResearchersBy Erin HoganToday the Department of Homeland Security published a final rule revising its regulations on certain highly skilled worker visa categories in an attempt to make it easier for those workers to remain working in the U.S. In addition to changes made to the H1-B1, E-3, and CW-1 nonimmigrant classifications, DHS made changes to the immigrant classification for employment-based first preference outstanding professors and researchers (EB-1B). The EB-1B category allows outstanding professors and researchers (hereinafter referred to collectively as "researchers") to seek permanent residency in the U.S. if...

Timing is everything. Congress sets a limit on the number of H-1B visas available each year. While the H-1B numbers for the next fiscal year do not become available until October 1, 2016, employers may file petitions to request numbers as early as six months in advance, i.e., April 1, 2016. As a result, we are writing to encourage employers to review their hiring needs and determine whether they should initiate H-1B processing for anticipated hires, or even recent hires in other nonimmigrant status now. This past fiscal year, we ran out of H-1B numbers within the first five days...

Employment-Based Immigration to be Impacted by DHS Proposals As we close out a year poised for much anticipated immigration reform, we are anticipating that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will be publishing in the Federal Register today (December 31, 2015), a laundry list of changes that will impact the employment-based immigration world. DHS has entitled this "Retention of EB-1, EB-2, and EB-3 Immigrant Workers and Program Improvements Affecting High-Skilled Nonimmigrant Workers." Among these changes are DHS's treatment of employment authorization documents (EAD), grant of grace periods to some nonimmigrants, and also codification of some of the current practices regarding...

Changes to the Visa Waiver Program (ESTA) Now Law Amendments to the Visa Waiver Program (ESTA) were enacted into law on December 17, 2015. The ESTA program allows citizens from a list of designated countries which the U.S. government deems has sufficient security checks and measures, to enter the U.S. for up to 90 days for pleasure or for business (not for work however) without first applying for a visa at an U.S. consulate abroad. The amendments include the following: Applicant must have a machine-readable and electronic passport by April 1, 2016; Applicant's country of nationality ("program country") must be...

Proposed Challenges to the Visa Waiver Program (ESTA) Yesterday the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 158 which poses amendments to the Visa Waiver Program (ESTA). The bill must now be passed by the U.S. Senate and then signed into law by President Obama, or if vetoed by him, voted by both houses of Congress to override the veto. The main takeaway is that the amendments are not law. With that said, it is still worth taking a look at what the proposals include. The ESTA program allows citizens from a list of designated countries which our government deems has...