Business Immigration in a Minute by Honigman LLP

• United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) announced that it will begin accepting FY2022 cap-subject H-1B registrations on March 9, 2021 at 12:00 PM EST. The registration window will run through March 25, 2021 at 12:00 PM EST. Employers seeking to sponsor employees for cap-subject H-1B status must complete an electronic registration on behalf of each employee through their myUSCIS account during this 17-day window. If more registrations are submitted than available H-1B numbers, USCIS will conduct a random selection lottery for available H-1B numbers from the submitted registrations. USCIS will notify employers and their authorized representatives of selected registrations by March 31, 2021.

• USCIS issued a policy memorandum reinstating its prior policy of presuming that computer programmer positions are specialty occupations that qualify for H-1B status. Previously, USCIS had taken the position that certain computer programmer positions were presumptively ineligible for H-1B status.

• Effective February 15, 2021, non-essential travelers seeking to enter Canada by land must present a negative COVID-19 PCR test taken within 72 hours of arrival. Travelers that do not present a negative test may be subject to a fine of up to $3,000 CAD and follow up by health officials. Anyone intending to travel to Canada for personal or business reasons should carefully review the information at this link.

• The Department of Labor (“DOL”) updated its processing times for permanent labor certification (“PERM”) applications and prevailing wage requests. As of January 31, 2021, the DOL is adjudicating PERM applications filed in or before July 2020 and processing prevailing wage requests filed in or before August 2020.

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