Global Immigration Counsel : Immigration Lawyer & Attorney : Littler Mendelson Law Firm : Permanent Residence, Labor Certification : Global Immigration Counsel

The Times of India reports that, beginning February 1, 2010, an online application process for U.S. visas will be launched at consulates in India. Applicants will complete applications and answer additional questions online, print out a confirmation page, and then bring the document to a consular office.

Although the global economic crisis caused a decrease in the number of U.S. visa applications overall, student visa applications from India — the United States’ top source of foreign students —was up 9%, from 94,563 to 103,260, in 2009 as compared to 2008.

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Two bills introduced in both the House and Senate last week would make significant changes to the H-2B guest worker program. Both the Increasing American Wages and Benefits Act of 2010 (S. 2910) introduced in the Senate, and the H-2B Program Reform Act of 2009 (H.R. 4381) introduced in the House of Representatives, would establish new procedural and monetary requirements for employers that seek to hire temporary foreign workers, as well as impose stiffer penalties for noncompliance with these new requirements. Continue reading about this development on Littler's Washington D.C. Employment Law Update blog.
 

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Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) have introduced legislation that would prevent large companies that conduct mass layoffs from hiring foreign labor through guest worker programs. The Employ America Act (S. 2804) (pdf) builds on similar prohibitions included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA or “Economic Stimulus”), which prevents companies receiving funds through the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) from replacing laid-off citizen workers with foreign labor. Continue reading about this development on Littler's Washington D.C. Employment Law Update blog.
 

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