The Social Security Administration (SSA) has announced that it will resume sending its Educational Correspondence (EDCOR) notices (also called Employer Correction Request Notices) to employers that file Forms W-2, Wage and Tax Statement, containing name and social security number (SSN) mismatches. Specifically, in March or April 2019, SSA will send notices to each employer that files at least one 2018 Form W-2 with a name and SSN mismatch. Further, in September 2019, SSA will send notices to employers that filed their 2018 Forms W-2 late or on paper. Such notices will inform employers of the number of mismatches and that corrections are needed. Although a mismatch notice does not necessarily

The leaders of Canada, Mexico and the United States have signed the United States -Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), the next step toward replacing the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which governs more than $1.2 trillion of mutual trade. The USMCA includes 34 chapters, including new ones covering digital trade, intellectual property, anticorruption and good regulatory practices, and it contains new tariff schedules, labor laws and rules on which products can legally be imported or exported, including updated settlements and protections on textiles, agriculture and digital trade. The labor mobility provisions of the new pact, largely the same as those of NAFTA, ease the cross-bor

On April 1, 2019, USCIS will begin accepting Forms I-129, Petitions for Nonimmigrant Workers, subject to FY 2020 H-1B Cap. This means that employers have less than three months to prepare for the filing period, which will last for five business days, from April 1 to April 5, 2019. In order to prepare for the submission of H-1B application, contact your attorneys at Williams Global Law, and with their help follow these steps: Identify employees who need H-1B sponsorship. Due to the fact that the H-1B cap “lottery” becomes available only once a year, it is crucial to identify all employees who need sponsorship, and determine their eligibility. For example, if you have employees currently worki

On December 22, 2018, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) informed that the current lapse in annual appropriated funding for the U.S. government does not affect USCIS’ fee-funded activities. The agency’s offices remain open, and all individuals should attend interviews and appointments as scheduled. USCIS continues to accept petitions and applications for benefit requests, except the ones that were set to expire or suspend operations, or be otherwise affected, until they receive appropriated funds or are reauthorized by Congress. The EB-5 Immigrant Investor Regional Center Program is among programs that are awaiting reauthorization by Congress. USCIS has confirmed that it wi

On Tuesday, January 1, 2019, the U.S. Department of Labor’s (“DOL”) portal system iCERT received a record number of H-2B applications submitted by an unprecedented volume of simultaneous system users. The volume of submissions resulted in a temporary shutdown of the iCERT portal system for a period of seven (7) calendar days. According to the DOL, within the first five minutes of opening the semi-annual H-2B certification process, the iCERT system had an unprecedented demand for H-2B certifications with more than 97,800 workers requested in pending applications for the 33,000 available visas. With more than thirty-times the user demand on the iCERT system compared to last year on January 1,