Legal Updates Archive

There are many known and unknown risks associated with using generative AI in the legal industry such as not fact checking the output of generative AI tools, confidentiality and security, bias and copyright issues. Attorneys who use generative AI need to determine if they are required to provide notice to the court.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services published a final rule, effective April 1, 2024, to adjust certain immigration and naturalization benefit request fees.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services plans to launch organizational accounts for non-cap filings and the fiscal year 2025 H-1B cap season.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has announced that the initial registration period for the fiscal year 2025 H-1B cap season will open at noon ET on March 6, 2024, and run through noon ET on March 22, 2024.

On January 12, 2023, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that it has received enough petitions to reach the cap for the additional 20,716 H-2B visas made available for returning workers for the first half of fiscal year 2024 with start dates on or before March 31, 2024, under the
H-2B supplemental cap temporary final rule.

Effective January 15, 2024, as part of annual inflation adjustments, the Department of Labor is increasing D-1, H-1B, H-2A and H-2B civil monetary penalties it assesses or enforces for employer violations.

The Department of State has released guidance and frequently asked questions on its new pilot program to resume domestic visa renewals for qualified H-1B nonimmigrant visa applicants who meet certain requirements.

On January 24, 2024, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services updated its policy guidance to provide that USCIS, “in our discretion and under certain conditions, may excuse a nonimmigrant’s failure to timely file an extension of stay or change of status request if the delay was due to extraordinary circumstances beyond the control of the applicant or petitioner.”

On January 13, 2024, the Department of Homeland Security announced that noncitizen workers who are victims of, or witnesses to, violations of labor rights can now access a “streamlined and expedited deferred action request process.”

The Department of Homeland Security is extending and redesignating Syria for Temporary Protected Status. DHS also announced Special Student Relief for F-1 nonimmigrant students from Syria. 

The U.S. Supreme Court recently denied certiorari in a case finding that a declaratory judgment on liability was sufficient to trigger the three-year statute of limitations for seeking contribution under section (g)(f) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, 42 U.S.C. § 9613(f).

In “the latest round in the battle over chlorpyrifos,” the Eighth Circuit recently found the Environmental Protection Agency’s ban on chlorpyrifos—a pesticide used in a variety of agricultural production—was arbitrary and capricious in violation of the Administrative Procedures Act. 

On November 27, 2023, the Minnesota Court of Appeals, for a second time, reversed and remanded the City of Eagle Lake’s determination that an environmental impact statement was not required for a proposal to construct a motorsports park on agricultural land. 

In December 2023, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency released its "Framework for Developing and Evaluating Site-Specific Sulfate Standards for the Protection of Wild Rice."

The Iowa Court of Appeals recently had an opportunity to review an employer’s drug testing policy and procedures, shedding helpful light on the importance of procedural and administrative requirements in the statute and in your policies.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services released frequently asked questions about employment-based adjustment of status.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced on December 13, 2023, that it has received a sufficient number of petitions needed to reach the congressionally mandated 65,000 H-1B visa regular cap and the 20,000 H-1B visa U.S. advanced degree exemption, known as the master’s cap, for fiscal year 2024.

The Department of Homeland Security published a Federal Register notice reiterating extensions of the periods to re-register for Temporary Protected Status under the existing designations of El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua and Sudan.

In Scripps College v. Jaddou, a U.S. District Court in Nebraska held that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services improperly denied the plaintiff’s I-140 immigration petition when it found that the beneficiary of the petition did not qualify for an employment-based first preference visa as an “outstanding professor or researcher.” The court ruled in favor of the plaintiff, Scripps College.

The Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration has announced Adverse Effect Wage Rates for H-2A agricultural workers in 2024 for range and non-range occupations.

The Department of State’s Visa Bulletin for January 2024 notes that H.R. 6363, a stopgap funding bill signed on November 16, 2023, extended the employment fourth preference Certain Religious Workers category until February 2, 2024.

On February 26, 2024, the Department of Homeland Security will increase premium processing fees charged by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

The Department of State announced a pilot program to resume domestic visa renewal for qualified H-1B nonimmigrant visa applicants who meet certain requirements. The pilot program will accept applications from January 29 to April 1, 2024.

On December 22, 2023, the Department of Labor’s Office of Foreign Labor Certification reminded employers that the filing window to submit an H-2B Application for Temporary Employment Certification (Form ETA-9142B and appendices) requesting work start dates of April 1, 2024, or later opened on January 2, 2024.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services issued policy guidance regarding F and M nonimmigrant students, including the agency’s role in adjudicating applications for employment authorization, change of status, extension of stay, and reinstatement of status for these students and their dependents in the United States. 

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services issued policy guidance, effective immediately, on how it analyzes an employer’s ability to pay the proffered wage for immigrant petitions in certain first, second and third preference employment-based immigrant visa classifications, including instances when the sponsored worker changes employers.

The Department of State announced a “bright forecast” for worldwide visa operations. DOS said its visa processing capacity “has recovered faster than projected. We issued more nonimmigrant visas worldwide in 2023 than in any year since 2015.”

USCIS will soon be announcing the opening of the fiscal year 2025 H-1B Lottery.

On October 7, 2023, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law the Voluntary Carbon Market Disclosures Act establishing reporting and disclosure requirements for voluntary carbon offset market participants that do business in California and other business entities that make certain climate-related claims about themselves or their products in California.

On August 24, 2023, a District of Minnesota Court issued an opinion granting a portion of a motion to dismiss arising from a challenge to Minnesota’s vehicle emissions standards for greenhouse gases by staying the case pending resolution of a similar challenge before the D.C. Circuit.

In a case primarily turning on county ordinance interpretation, the Minnesota Court of Appeals affirmed Grant County’s grant of a conditional use permit to neighboring Stevens County. 

On July 21, 2023, the U.S. EPA published a final rule titled “Removal of Title V Emergency Affirmative Defense Provisions from State Operating Permit Programs and Federal Operating Permit Program” 88 Fed. Reg. 47029 (2023). The rule removes the “emergency” affirmative defense provisions from the federal Title V operating permit program regulations. 

On November 21, 2023, the EPA released draft guidance for applying the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2020 ruling in County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund.

Trademark holders should be wary of official-looking communications urging them to take immediate steps to register their trademark or to renew their registration.

Beginning on January 1, 2024, the federal Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) will require “reporting companies” to report information about the organization, its “beneficial owners,” and, if formed after January 1, 2024, its “company applicants.”

If you do business in Washington, collect or process consumer health information, and such information is not HIPAA-regulated PHI, the Washington My Health My Data Act may apply to you. In particular, retail businesses, as well as health and fitness apps, wearables, or Internet of Things (IoT) developers, should pay attention to this law.

On November 9, 2023, the Department of Justice announced a landmark agreement with Apple Inc. to resolve allegations that the company illegally discriminated in hiring and recruitment against U.S. citizens and certain non-U.S. citizens whose permission to live in and work in the United States does not expire.

The Department of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Department of State, announced the lists of countries whose nationals are eligible to participate in the H‑2A and H‑2B visa programs in the next year. Each country’s designation is valid until November 8, 2024. Bolivia has been added to the list of countries eligible to participate in both programs.

Effective November 17, 2023, in consultation with the Department of Labor, the Department of Homeland Security is increasing the total number of noncitizens who may receive an H‑2B nonimmigrant visa by up to 64,716 for fiscal year 2024. 20,000 visas are reserved for nationals of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Haiti, Colombia, Ecuador and Costa Rica. The visas will be available "only to businesses that are suffering or will suffer impending irreparable harm, as attested by the employer." DHS is also providing temporary portability flexibility, explained in more detail in the temporary rule.

Following on the heels of the Department of Justice's $25 million settlement agreement with Apple Inc., DOJ has settled immigration-related discrimination cases with a New York City health care system and a staffing agency with offices nationwide.

On November 21, 2023, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that it is expanding myProgress (formerly known as personalized processing times) to Form I‑821, Application for Temporary Protected Status, and Form I‑485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status. myProgress will initially only be available for family-based or Afghan special immigrant I‑485 applicants.

The new federal Corporate Transparency Act requires the reporting of the ownership and organizers of many entities formed on or after January 1, 2024, and of the ownership of many active entities formed prior to January 1, 2024. The law imposes significant penalties for failure to comply.

Minnesota’s legislature passed a slew of laws in the 2022-23 session. One that continues to generate a fair amount of buzz among employers is the ban of virtually all noncompete agreements entered into on or after July 1, 2023, except for those relating to the sale or dissolution of a business. Although the new law is not retroactive, it limits the tools an employer can use moving forward to protect its business interests.

Bankers who have been in the game for some time will remember a scam that had great popularity in past decades: the fake Canadian cashier’s check. The most common targets were businesses that routinely shepherd funds to various parties involved in a transaction—title companies, law firms, money managers and the like. It was fraud, plain and simple, and money laundering to boot.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service and the Department of Labor have released the joint temporary rule implementing the process for employers who have a certified ETA 9142B with an employment start within fiscal year 2024 to apply for the 64,716 additional H-2B visa numbers.

While landlords must handle the situation of a death of an owner of a manufactured home (home) within a manufactured home community on a case-by-case basis, below is certain general information as it relates to this topic.

A notice informing employees of their rights under the new Minnesota Sick and Safe Time Act must be provided to each employee, in the employee’s primary language, by January 1, 2024, or at the start of the employment if it is after January 1, 2024.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced on October 13, 2023, that it has received enough petitions to reach the cap on H-2B visas for temporary nonagricultural workers for the first half of fiscal year 2024. October 11, 2023, was the final receipt date for new cap-subject H-2B worker petitions requesting an employment start date before April 1, 2024.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services provided additional guidance on its interpretation of changes to the EB-5 program made by the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022, specifically the required investment timeframe and how USCIS treats investors who are associated with a terminated regional center.

The Department of Homeland Security is suspending certain regulatory requirements for F-1 nonimmigrant students whose country of citizenship is Cameroon, regardless of country of birth (or individuals having no nationality who last habitually resided in Cameroon), and who are experiencing severe economic hardship as a direct result of the current armed conflict and humanitarian crisis in Cameroon.