Author: Lisa York

On Monday, June 21, 2021, Curray York & Associates (CYA) sponsored the 16th hole at the Colorado Canada Association’s Annual Almost On Canada Day Charity Golf Tournament. The Canada Colorado Association (CCA) is a not-for-profit, volunteer, business and social organization, serving Canadians and Friends of Canada happily living in Colorado. The organization’s signature event each year is its annual charity golf tournament. This year CCA is supporting the Colorado Adaptive Sports Foundation (CASF), which is one of Kroenke Sports Entertainment’s chosen charities.  CCA’s contribution to CASF will flow down to the Rolling Mammoth wheelchair lacrosse team.  For more information about this inspiring group please go to Rolling Mammoth.

Attorneys Lisa York and Sarah Collins participated in the event and administered CYA’s Dice/Trivia Raffle game in which tournament participants rolled the dice and answered challenging trivia questions about golf, Canada, and U.S. Immigration! CYA will be announcing the raffle winners (by raffle ticket #) on the CYA website on July 1, 2021 (Canada Day!).

This week Vice President Kamala Harris travels to Guatemala and Mexico to meet with governmental officials and outline the Biden administration’s efforts to remedy the “root causes” of mass migration from Central America to the U.S.  This will be the Vice President’s first international trip.  She traveled first to Guatemala where she pledged hundreds of thousands of coronavirus vaccine doses, $310 million in regional humanitarian aid, and a $4 billion long-term plan to boost development and security across Central America.  She is also expected to discuss battling corruption and upholding democratic norms.  In Mexico, she will meet with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to discuss the expansion of immigration enforcement cooperation with the U.S. as part of a regional approach to managing migration.

Today, President Biden rescinded President Trump’s Health Care Insurance Ban which was issued on October 4, 2019, and suspended the entry of immigrants unless they could demonstrate they would be covered by approved health insurance within 30 days of entry or would be able to pay for “reasonably foreseeable medical costs.” The controversial entry-ban, had been on hold while its legality was litigated in federal court.

USCIS has announced that applicants, petitioners, requestors, and beneficiaries may now call the USCIS Contact Center (800-375-5283) to reschedule their biometric services appointments. Previously, applicants were required to submit written requests to reschedule biometrics appointments. Applicants must establish good cause for rescheduling and must call before the date and time of their original appointment to reschedule.

On May 13, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) published a notice in the Federal Register further delaying the implementation of the agency’s final rule on the computation of prevailing wages for PERM labor certifications and Labor Condition Applications until November 14, 2022 (with a phased-in transition to the new computation system). The final “Wage Rule” was initially scheduled to go into effect in March 2021 (with an effective date of July 1, 2021, and a phased-in transition to the new wage computation system). The new “Wage Rule” would have significantly changed the way the USDOL calculates prevailing wages. In February 2021, the USDOL published a notice in the Federal Register delaying the implementation of the final rule. In March 2021, the USDOL published an additional two notices further delaying implementation of the rule. The USDOL is delaying implementation of the new “Wage Rule,” so that it can research how the rule will affect the U.S. economy, U.S. employers, and both U.S. and foreign workers. Our hope is that the USDOL will decide to withdraw the new “Wage Rule” after it completes its research.

Starting on April 23, 2021, the UK is imposing a travel ban on travelers arriving in the UK who have been in India within the past 10 days. There is an exemption for UK citizens and those who are UK residents, but they will still be required to pay for a mandatory 10-day stay in a designated quarantine hotel. India joins the following countries on the UK’s “Travel Ban List”: Angola, Argentina, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Burundi, Cape Verde, Chile, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, Ethiopia, French Guiana, Guyana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, Qatar, Rwanda, the Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa, Suriname, Tanzania, the UAE, Uruguay, Venezuela, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

As of April 23, 2021, many countries have imposed COVID-related travel bans and restrictions on travelers who have been physically present in India. Canada has issued a 30-day ban on direct flights to Canada from India. The U.K. has banned travel to the U.K. for anyone (except UK citizens and those with UK residence) who have been physically present in India for the past 10 days. Australia is limiting direct flights from India to Australia. Many other countries such as the UAE, Japan, Singapore, Pakistan, and Oman have also imposed additional travel restrictions on travelers from India. While the U.S. has not yet imposed a travel ban or additional travel restrictions on travelers coming from India to the U.S., the CDC has placed India in the highest COVID risk category (Level 4) and is advising against travel to India. The CDC warns that even those who have been fully vaccinated risk contradicting COVID variants and spreading them while in India.

The Biden Administration has announced that it will appoint new DHS leadership including: (1) Ur Jaddou, USCIS Director; (2) Jon Meyer, DHS General Counsel; (3) Chris Magnus, CBP Commissioner; (4) Rob Silvers, DHS Under Secretary for Policy; (4) John Tien, DHS Deputy Secretary; and (5) Jen Easterly, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Director. Click here for more information.

The FY 2022 H-1B registration period begins tomorrow, Tuesday, March 9, 2021 at 10am MT, and runs until Thursday, March 25, 2021 at 10am MT.  USCIS will notify the “winners” by March 31, 2021.  If your employee is “selected” to proceed with an H-1B (i.e. if you employee “wins the H-1B lottery”), then you must file your H-1B petition with USCIS between April 1, 2021 and June 30, 2021.

On March 5, 2021, USCIS provided tips on how to avoid the most common errors (creating the wrong type of USCIS online account and registering an employee more than once) in completing a registration for the H-1B cap. USCIS reminds employers to select “I am an H-1B Registrant” as the account type when setting up a registration account and provided guidance on how to avoid duplicate registrations for the same employee.  Click here for more information.