What is EB2-NIW?

Dec22

What is EB2-NIW? EB2-NIW stands for Employment-Based Immigration: Second Preference – National Interest Waiver. The EB-2 NIW visa is for foreign nationals who are highly skilled or hold advanced degrees and will show they have a project or endeavor that will serve the national interests of the United States & Individuals may self-petition for an EB-2 NIW visa.   What is NIW? National Interest Waiver (NIW): the labor certification required for EB2 is waived because it is in the interest of the United States, which means no employer is required. The endeavors that qualify for a national interest

December 22, 2022
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Biden Reverts Naturalization Test to 2008 Version

Biden Reverts Naturalization Test to 2008 Version
Mar01

Written by Taher Kameli & Chathan Vemuri In another reversal of Trump-era immigration policy, the Biden administration struck down the revised naturalization civic test implemented on December 1, 2020, replacing it with the older 2008 version of the test that had been in force up till that time.[1] This was done as part of President Biden’s February 2 Executive Order on “Restoring Faith in Our Legal Immigration System.”[2] The USCIS will go back to the 2008 test as of March 1, 2021, although there will also be an interim period during which both tests will be offered for

March 1, 2021
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District Court for the Northern District of California Strikes Down H-1B Regulations for Violating APA

Strikes Down H-1B Nonimmigrant Visa Program
Dec11

Written by Taher Kameli & Chathan Vemuri As noted before on this blog site, on October 8, 2020, the Department of Homeland Security issued an interim final rule that was meant to revamp the H-1B Nonimmigrant Visa program.[1] Called Strengthening the H-1B Nonimmigrant Visa Classification Program, this interim final rule changed the definition requirements for “specialty occupations,” among other aspects, in order to make applications for the H-1B Nonimmigrant Visa more challenging.[2]   The overall purpose behind the changes was to decrease reliance on the H-1B program and encourage employers to look more

December 11, 2020
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DHS Proposes End Work Authorization for Aliens with Final Removal

DHS Proposes to Cancel Work Authorization For Aliens
Dec01

Written by Taher Kameli & Chathan Vemuri On November 17, 2020, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) proposed a rule to cancel work authorization for non-resident aliens, subject to final removal awaiting deportation.[2] This cancellation of work authorization would specifically apply to those aliens subject to final removal awaiting deportation that has been released from DHS custody but still lack the requisite travel documents needed to deport them from the U.S.[3]    As part of its efforts to further entrench his immigration policy during the home stretch of his Presidency, the Trump Administration

December 1, 2020
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California Voters Approve Ridesharing Drivers from Labor Protections

California voters approve Uber-Lyft-sponsored proposition 22
Nov24

Written by Taher Kameli & Chathan Vemuri In an earlier post, we talked about how the First District Court of Appeal in California ruled that Uber and Lyft drivers were employees and were entitled to full protections under California’s Assembly Bill 5 law (AB5) such as paid sick leave, overtime, and fair wages.[1] Around the same time, however, Uber and Lyft were sponsoring a state ballot-initiative for Election Day known as Proposition 22 that would have exempted their drivers from the protections of AB5 and identified them as “independent contractors” rather than “employees.”

November 24, 2020
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State Appellate Court Classifies Uber and Lyft Drivers as Employees

Uber-Lyft Drivers either Employee or Independent Contractor
Nov11

Written by Taher Kameli & Chathan Vemuri The rise of the gig economy has to new forms of work that face tremendous obstacles when it comes up against worker legislation like the NLRA. No job has become more symbolic of the gig economy than the rideshare services known as Uber and Lyft. There has long been a debate about whether Uber and Lyft drivers were either employees or independent contractors. Being the latter would exempt Uber and Lyft from giving their drives their necessary protections and benefits under the National Labor Relations Act and other

November 11, 2020
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The Department of Labor’s New H-1B Wage Hike Rule Faces Overwhelming Legal and Empirical Challenges

H-1B Wage Hike implemented by Trump Administration
Oct30

Written by Taher Kameli & Chathan Vemuri The Trump administration caused an uproar among employers when it implemented its Interim Final Rule on October 8th, 2020 substantially increasing the amount in wages to be paid to employees who held H-1B visas in an attempt to pressure employers to drop them in favor of a domestic American workforce.[1]   In addition to boosting wages to pressure employers to look domestically for employees, it also changed the requirements for an H-1B visa by looking not simply for a college degree but specifically for degrees in “specialty occupations”

October 30, 2020
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SEC vs CFTC: two different reporting systems that require the reporting of similar data.

SEC and CFTC Record Similar Data with Two Different Systems
Oct28

Written by Taher Kameli & Chathan Vemuri Over the past several years, experts have called for the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to harmonize their regulatory standards in order to minimize duplicative or contradictory regulatory reporting requirements.[1] Not doing so has led to market participants creating “two different reporting systems and/or processes – one for the CFTC and one for the SEC” despite both require the reporting of similar data.[2] The obstacles posed to cross-jurisdictional transparency in following the regulatory rules and the

October 28, 2020
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Trump’s New Final Rule for the H-1B Visa and How It Helps Stifle Work-Based Immigration

Immigration Work-Based visa H-1b Changes Employment
Oct16

Written by Taher Kameli & Chathan Vemuri A recurring talking point from the Trump Administration has been that “illegal immigration” allegedly steal jobs from American workers.[1] He has consistently tried to link illegal immigration (however tenuously) to detrimental changes in the U.S. by pointing to the performance of the U.S. economy and the job market.[2] In the early days of his campaign, he was very clear that, in his view as well as that of his supporters, immigrants were “taking our jobs…our manufacturing jobs…[and] our money.”[3]   Since taking office in 2017,

October 16, 2020
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EB-5 To The Rescue

EB-5 TO THE RESCUE by Taher Kameli
Oct09

Written by Taher Kameli America needs help, here comes EB5? The “EB-5 Program” refers to employment-based immigration under section 203(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (codified as 8 U.S.C. § 1153(b)).  The EB-5 Program has been in existence since the 1980’s, and until recently, long-term stakeholders in the community thought that they had seen it all. But with the pandemic continuing to impact every sector of the U.S. and global economy, industry experts are now required to speculate as to how the EB-5 Program will be impacted.   Based on this introduction, one would expect the next couple paragraphs to

October 9, 2020
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