Last week, the New Jersey Supreme Court updated the Statewide Judicial Policies to conform to New Jersey’s Immigrant Rights Directive. New Jersey Supreme Court Directive 04-79 stops court officials from collecting information about an individual’s immigration status unless it is absolutely necessary. » Read More

Yesterday Ray Lahoud, Chair of our Immigration Law Group, spoke on Form I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification at our in-house lunch and learn, “Are You I-9 Compliant?”

Ray spoke to a crowd of HR Professionals, business owners, management, and administrators from several organizations and companies. » Read More

On Friday, United States Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) updated its internal policies related to the adjudication of naturalization applications of lawful permanent residents who partake in the marijuana industry in states like Pennsylvania and New Jersey, which have enacted laws permitting “‘medical’ or ‘recreational’ use of marijuana.” » Read More

On Saturday, the Trump administration, through a Tweet from @realDonaldTrump at 9:47 p.m., floated the idea of sending all those entering at the border to sanctuary states and cities across the United States, where the president said the states and cities can take “care of” immigrants seeking admission, and in many instances asylum protection, at the United States border with Mexico, at designated ports of entry. » Read More

On Wednesday, nearly 300 people were arrested at a worksite raid in what Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has called the “biggest workplace immigration raid in a decade.”  The raid at a Dallas-area receiving warehouse owned and operated by New Jersey based CVE Group Inc., » Read More

On Friday, the New Jersey Immigrant Trust Directive went into effect—essentially ending any cooperation between the State and Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) on immigration enforcement matters.  Announced in December of 2018 by New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal, the Immigrant Trust Directive effectively declared New Jersey a “sanctuary state.” » Read More

ABC-7 New York reported yesterday that Joe Giudice—husband of Real Housewives of New Jersey star Teresa Giudice—has been released from federal prison and is on his way to a federal immigration detention facility, where he will await the decision of an appeal of an Immigration Court order deporting Giudice to his native Italy. » Read More

Yesterday, United States Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) announced it immediately resumed premium processing for all H-1B petitions, following a halt on the service for several months to allow USCIS to bring current applications that were then pending for extended durations. » Read More

Starting April 1, 2019, United States Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) will accept new H-1B Quota-Based Visa Petitions for the 2020 Fiscal Year, for an employment start date of October 1, 2019.

USCIS’ regular H-1B visa cap limits annual H-1B approvals to 65,000 visas, with an additional 20,000 H1-B visas for individuals who earned a master’s degree or higher from a U.S. » Read More

Norris McLaughlin’s Immigration Group notes the impact of the partial government shutdown on the U.S. Immigration System as follows:

Form I-9 and E-Verify

E-Verify expired as a result of the government shutdown.  Employers will not have access to E-Verify to initiate new employee verifications, resolve non-confirmations, and verify employment authorization.  » Read More