DHS has released the long-awaited proposed rule that mostly codifies the way USCIS already interprets many details of employment-based immigration law. The proposed rule does, however, suggests a few new initiatives in the areas of petition revocation and employment authorization rules.
I have been silent on this rule as it wound its way through the rulemaking process. There has been much speculation about its scope, but very few actually knew which immigration issues would even be covered in the proposal, and many of the guesses missed the mark. For example, what many thought would be increased EAD availability for those with approved I-140 turned out to be essentially a hardship EAD that first requires an H-1B to abandon their nonimmigrant status.
I will not be outlining the whole rule in this blog. It covers way too many separate immigration topics, and there will be general discussions of this rule all over the internet. Later, however, I will discuss some of the specific details that I find particularly interesting.
But remember, this is not a new law - just a proposed rule. Public comments will be accepted until February 29, 2016. And this is going to be a big fight. Many strong groups will oppose many of these proposals; employers won’t like the enhanced portability provisions, workers won’t like the very limited EAD availability, and anti-immigrants will hate it all. Get out the popcorn, this is going to be a show.
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