U.S. employers were not exactly surprised when U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently announced that the FY 2016 H-IB cap was reached with record-breaking numbers. However, many employers still reeling from the H-1B cap were taken aback when the USCIS Administrative Appeals Office handed down a precedent decision significantly impacting employers in a number of industries whose business model relies on placing H-1B employees at unanticipated client sites throughout the United States.
In the weeks preceding the H-1B cap, USCIS also issued interim policy guidance in an attempt to clarify the legal standard applied to the L-1B visa category, a nonimmigrant visa for intra-company transferees with specialized knowledge. With an unprecedented number of changes impacting business immigration in the last months, U.S. employers must stay nimble in their business immigration strategies.
