Law stated as of 21 Apr 2015 • USA (National/Federal)
The US District Court for the Northern District of Florida granted the DOL's motion for a temporary stay of the court's order in Perez v. Perez vacating the DOL's 2008 H-2B regulations, allowing the DOL to process H-2B prevailing wage and labor certification applications until April 15, 2015. The DOL and US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) are jointly preparing a new rule governing the H-2B program that is expected to be promulgated by the end of April.
The stay permits the DOL to temporarily resume processing prevailing wage and labor certification applications for the H-2B program through April 15th. The district court's vacatur of the DOL's 2008 H-2B Final Rule will be reinstated on April 16th.
The DOL and US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) are working jointly on a new rule governing the H-2B program that is expected to be promulgated by the end of April. The DOL issued an FAQ addressing the processing of H-2B-related applications while the temporary stay is in effect.
UPDATE: On April 16, 2015, the DOL announced that the district court for the Northern District of Florida had issued an order in Perez v. Perez the previous day, extending the temporary lift of the H-2B processing injunction from April 16, 2015 to May 15, 2015. In addition, on April 20, 2015, USCIS announced that it had resumed accepting premium processing requests for H-2B petitions. Beginning that day, employers could file a Form I-907 Request for Premium Processing Service:
With a H-2B cap exempt petition.
Individually to request premium processing service for an H-2B petition that was previously filed.