On December 2, 2019, the cost to request premium processing of employment-based immigrant and non-immigrant petitions by U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) will increase from $1,410 to $1,440. In a statement, USCIS noted that the increase “is done in accordance with the Immigration and Nationality Act, reflects the full amount of inflation from the implementation of the premium processing fee in June 2001 through August 2019 READ MORE READ MORE

On Election Day, Sussex County, New Jersey, voters overwhelmingly supported a ballot referendum on whether the county should cooperate with federal immigration officials. The ballot measure was in response to New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal’s December of 2018 Immigrant Trust Directive, which effectively declared New Jersey a “sanctuary state.” Sussex County Immigration Ballot In response to the ballot question, “[s]hould the Board of Chosen Freeholders READ MORE READ MORE

The Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) announced the extension of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, and Sudan through January 4, 2021. What is TPS? TPS is a form of temporary status allowing individuals from certain countries to lawfully remain in the United States, when conditions in the designated country prevent citizens and nationals from safely returning or when the country is READ MORE READ MORE

A new law was passed in Pennsylvania prohibiting employment of unauthorized employees. Starting in October 2020, the construction industry employers are mandatorily required to verify the Social Security numbers of the employees. What is E-Verify? E-Verify is the second step of a two-step employment verification process. The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 enacted the Form I-9 (the first step), to require U.S. workers to verify READ MORE READ MORE

Sixty former workers of Load Trail, a leading trailer manufacturing business, have filed a class-action suit against the business for failure to pay for the overtime work. Background The workers claim that they have regularly worked around 55 hours per week and were never paid for the overtime. Workers also accuse Load Trail of having paid them in different schemes to avoid the overtime wages. According to READ MORE READ MORE