Month: November 2017

A panel of the 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday granted a preliminary stay of the lower court’s injunction, which had prevented the administration from enforcing the  latest version of President Trump’s travel ban. The current version of the travel ban applies to nationals from Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela, Yemen, and Somalia.

In granting the stay, the court cited the Supreme Court interim decision concerning the previous version of the ban, and created the same exception for persons with a “credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States.” Familial relationships under this exception include grandparents, grandchildren, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and cousins, while any relationship to an entity must be “formal, documented and formed in the ordinary course, rather than for the purpose of evading [the ban].” The exceptions do not apply to nationals of North Korea or Venezuelan government officials, for whom the full ban remains in place.

The current travel ban applies differently to nationals from each of the eight countries. If you are impacted by the ban and have plans to travel outside the country, please consult your immigration attorney before making travel arrangements or departing the United States.

USCIS reports that employers are being targeted in an email scam requesting employers to submit I-9 information. The emails are reportedly sent from a fraudulent email, [email protected], and contain USCIS labels, employer addresses, and links to websites that appear government related. If you receive an email purporting to be from USCIS and requesting I-9 information, do not respond or click on any links within the email. If you receive a fraudulent email, you can forward the email to the USCIS webmaster at [email protected].

Employers must complete a Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, for every employee on their payroll, and these forms must be retained for the required period of time. Employers are not, however, required to submit the forms to USCIS.