Immigration Provisions Included in 2016 Budget Bill | Practical Law

Immigration Provisions Included in 2016 Budget Bill | Practical Law

On December 18, 2015 the US Congress passed a budget appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2016 containing numerous immigration-related provisions, including extensions to the E-Verify program, the EB-5 Regional Center program, the Special Immigrant nonminister religious worker program, and Conrad State 30 J-1 waiver program. The bill also provided for security-related changes to the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) and increased fees on employers using the H-1B and L-1 nonimmigrant work visa programs.

Immigration Provisions Included in 2016 Budget Bill

Practical Law Legal Update w-001-1114 (Approx. 4 pages)

Immigration Provisions Included in 2016 Budget Bill

by Practical Law Labor & Employment
Published on 30 Dec 2015 • USA (National/Federal)
On December 18, 2015 the US Congress passed a budget appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2016 containing numerous immigration-related provisions, including extensions to the E-Verify program, the EB-5 Regional Center program, the Special Immigrant nonminister religious worker program, and Conrad State 30 J-1 waiver program. The bill also provided for security-related changes to the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) and increased fees on employers using the H-1B and L-1 nonimmigrant work visa programs.
On December 18, 2015 Congress passed a budget appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2016 containing numerous immigration-related provisions. The bill reauthorizes until September 30, 2016:
  • The E-Verify program. For more information on E-Verify, see Practice Note, E-Verify for Employers: Best Practices.
  • The EB-5 Regional Center program, under which investments affiliated with a regional center may participate in the EB-5 immigrant investor program. For a summary of the EB-5 category, see EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa Fundamental Requirements Chart.
  • The Special Immigrant nonminister religious worker program, which allows religious workers to apply for permanent residence through their employment with a bona fide, nonprofit religious organization.
  • The Conrad State 30 J-1 waiver program, which waives the two-year foreign residence requirement for foreign medical graduates who have completed their medical education in the US and work in underserved areas of the country.
The bill also:
  • Imposes tougher security-related requirements on the Visa Waiver Program (VWP), under which citizens of 38 different partner countries may travel to the US without a visa. The changes include:
    • requiring that by April 1, 2016 all VWP travelers present an e-passport with a biometric-enabled chip and that all VWP partner countries implement validation methods for e-passports by October 1, 2016;
    • prohibiting travel under the VWP program to individuals who have traveled since March 2011 to Iraq, Syria or other countries designated by the US Secretary of State as state sponsors of terrorism, or to any country designated as a country or area of concern by the Secretary of Homeland Security; and
    • requiring that VWP partner countries implement additional security standards, with the possibility that their failure to comply would lead them to be suspended from participating in the program.
  • Reinstitute and increase the H-1B petition border security fee paid by employers to $4,000 for each covered petition.
  • Reinstitute and increase the L-1 petition or blanket application border security fee paid by employers to $4,500 for each covered L-1 filing.
  • Implement certain changes to the H-2B program, including:
    • reviving the cap exemption for H-2B "returning workers" (a prior cap exemption expired at the end of Fiscal Year 2007); and
    • subjecting H-2B employers to new wage requirements.
The appropriations bill became law when passed by both houses of Congress on December 18, 2015.