When Immigration Matters

The Biden Administration has announced that it is reviving the International Entrepreneur Program, which provides foreign-born entrepreneurs a temporary immigration pathway for up to five years.  Primarily aimed at start-ups, the program will be accessible to individuals who have founded new companies within the three years prior to applying and that has attracted at least $250 000 in capital from American Investors or at least $100 000 in grants from Federal, State or local government agencies. 

The program was first introduced by the Obama administration in 2017 but was blocked from being implemented by President Trump shortly after his inauguration.   In reviving the program, the Biden administration hopes to attract promising entrepreneurs to the USA since the program not only allows its beneficiaries to legally work for their start-up companies, but it also provides work authorization for accompanying spouses.

H-1B Season is upon us.  The good news is we expect USCIS to announce the the date the H1-B Registration period begins shortly.  

Today January 25, 2021, President Biden issued a “Proclamation on the Suspension of Entry as Immigrants and Non-Immigrants of Certain Additional Persons Who Pose a Risk of Transmitting Coronavirus Disease.”   In regard to both immigrants and non immigrants:

DALLAS – Managing Attorney Karen-Lee Pollak from the Dallas law firm Pollak PLLC, once again has earned recognition as a Texas Super Lawyer in 2020 by Texas Monthly Magazine based on her work in Immigration Law.

THE TRUMP PLAN

The Trump administration announced new, long-anticipated restrictions for the H-1B high-skilled visa program on October 6, 2020, some of which will go into effect this week.  The rules are "far and away, one of the most significant reforms made to the H-1B program in the past 20 years," said Deputy Secretary of Labor Patrick Pizzella.  The rule from the Department of Labor, which will go into effect Thursday morning, will change how much employers will be required to pay foreign workers they hire on H-1B visas and Green Cards, forcing them to pay workers more.  The rule may be viewed at https://s.docworkspace.com/d/ANohAcmTk6tJqNS2uqWdFA

Breaking: Tonight,  the District Court for the Northern District of California in Immigration Legal Resource Centre v. Wolf enjoined the USCIS Final Rule increasing fees.  The Final Rule was supposed to go into effect on October 2, 2020 and will not pending the final adjudication of the above referenced case.  A copy of the Order is attached at https://s.docworkspace.com/d/AC_LxhOTk6tJkISSqqWdFA

Breaking:  Tonight the House of Representatives passed a bipartisan continuing resolution to extend federal government funding through December 11 and avoid a government shutdown at the end of the month.

Today, our client and 22 individual and organizational plaintiffs, including family-based immigrant visa petitioners, diversity visa lottery winners, and nonimmigrant visa sponsors, including those who want to bring in healthcare professionals from abroad to help during the pandemic, sued to prevent the devastating effects of President’s Trump’s unlawful and unconstitutional immigration ban.  Litigators from the American Immigration Lawyers Association, Justice Action Center and Innovation Law Lab, with pro bono support from Mayer Brown LLP as Lead Counsel, filed the plaintiffs’ claims as an amended complaint in Gomez v. Trump, (copy attached) which had initially challenged President Trump’s April immigration ban.  Today’s amended complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, marks the first legal challenge to the entirety of President Trump's immigration ban, which has been extended through the end of 2020.