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Category: Immigration

CWC Publishes Updated “Form I-9” Process Outline Resource

The Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC), our affiliated nonprofit membership association, has updated its resource entitled Outline of the Form I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification Process. The Immigration Reform and Control Act requires employers to verify the identity and work authorization of all their new hires. Failure to verify new hires or knowingly hiring unauthorized workers subjects an employer to substantial...
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Category: Immigration

USCIS Announces FY 2026 H-1B Visa Lottery To Begin March 7

The initial registration period for the FY 2026 H-1B visa lottery will open March 7, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency has announced. Employers wanting to file H-1B visa petitions on behalf of foreign worker beneficiaries for FY 2026 (October 1, 2025—September 30, 2026) must submit an electronic H-1B lottery registration between March 7 and March 24, 2025. After...
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Category: Agency Enforcement

Trump Administration Sets Its Sights on Immigration Policy Reform

The Trump Administration is cracking down on illegal immigration and is eager to enforce immigration policies and deport unauthorized individuals. President Trump issued numerous immigration-related executive orders during his first week in office. Most relate to securing the United States’ southern border and are not directed at employers or employees. However, companies are reporting raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement at...
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Category: Immigration

Fifth Circuit Rules DACA Unlawful

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program is unlawful, but the program will continue to protect current DACA beneficiaries, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled January 17. Under Texas v. United States, new DACA applications will not be processed, but the court stayed its ruling for current DACA beneficiaries so they can keep their DACA status...
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Category: Immigration

DHS Issues Another Rule Seeking To Modernize the H-1B Visa Program

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) component of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has published a second final rule aimed at modernizing the H-1B specialty occupation visa program. The “Modernizing H-1B Requirements” final rule goes into effect January 17, 2025. In February 2024, USCIS published the first part of its H-1B modernization rule, which implemented a new lottery process to reduce fraud....
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Category: Discrimination and Harassment

DOJ Releases Fact Sheet on Anti-Discrimination Rights of Green Card Holders

The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, Immigrant and Employee Rights Section, has issued a Fact Sheet that outlines workplace discrimination protections for permanent residents (often called “green card holders”). IER’s two-page Fact Sheet, published in November, is entitled “Lawful Permanent Residents’ Employment Rights Under the Immigration and Nationality Act.” It delineates protections under the INA in three areas: hiring, firing,...
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Category: Immigration

USCIS Provides Automatic 36-Month Extension for Green Card Renewals

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is lengthening the automatic extension period of Permanent Resident Cards (“Green Cards”) to 36 months for lawful permanent residents who file a timely application for renewal (Form I-90). An employee will be able to use an expired Green Card and a Form I-90 receipt notice to verify continued employment authorization on the Form I-9....
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Category: Immigration

USCIS Conducts Second H-1B Registration Lottery

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has conducted a second H-1B visa registration lottery to generate enough petitions to fill this year’s visa cap allotment. Employers selected in the second lottery should have received notice from USCIS that they are now eligible to file an H-1B petition for the beneficiary named in the selected registration. CWC members that registered in...
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Category: Immigration

USCIS Quietly Updates I-9 Form With New Expiration Date

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency has issued an updated version of the Form I-9 with a new expiration date of May 31, 2027. USCIS administers the employment eligibility verification requirements of the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA). USCIS has updated the Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, with a new expiration date of May 31, 2027. The previous version...
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Category: Discrimination and Harassment

Ninth Circuit Rules That §1981 Prohibits Hiring Discrimination Based on U.S. Citizenship Status

The Civil Rights Act of 1866—commonly referred to as Section 1981—not only protects against intentional race discrimination but also against hiring discrimination based on U.S. citizenship, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held June 27, 2024, in Rajaram v. Meta Platforms. Section 1981 provides that “all persons” within U.S. jurisdiction “shall have the same right … to...

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