It’s shaping up to be yet another eventful year for immigration in 2018. As we have seen over the last year, the current presidential administration is working tirelessly to discourage legal immigration, as well as increase enforcement actions against undocumented immigrants. This trend promises to continue into the next year, as we have seen through several proposed changes to U.S. immigration regulations that are scheduled to be published for notice and comment, in addition to changes in policy. The proposals for changes to the regulations, and the changes to policy, each will have a distinct impact U.S. immigration, as well as on employers who rely on foreign nationals to supplement their workforce.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that it is “clarifying—that is, restricting— the definition of which employees with economics degrees may enter as professionals under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Previously, the occupation of economist had not been narrowly defined for purposes of the TN category under NAFTA. Professionals who use their economics degrees in a variety of financial, analytical and business informatics positions have successfully entered the United States in TN status. However, the new guidance defines economists as engaging primarily in activities consistent with the profession of an economist—conducting research, preparing reports and formulating plans to address economics problems, or monetary and fiscal policy. The guidance specifically calls out other occupations related to economics, such as financial analysts, marketing analysts and market research analysts, as no longer eligible for the TN classification of economist.