President Trump signed a proclamation on June 22, 2020, suspending four visa categories of substantial importance to US companies – H-1B, L-1, H-2B, and certain J-1 visas – for the rest of the calendar year, and laid the groundwork for regulatory changes to transform when and how employers can sponsor foreign workers to work in the United States. The executive order does not affect visa holders already in the United States who do not travel…

Today, the Supreme Court—in a 5-4 decision—invalidated the Trump Administration’s rescission of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (“DACA”) program, which provides protection against deportation and work authorization for 700,000 undocumented individuals who were brought to America as children. Mayer Brown submitted an amicus brief—which the Court cited—on behalf of 143 trade associations and businesses in support of the challengers of the Administration’s action. DHS v. Regents of the University of California (No. 18-587); Trump…

As a first step to implementing a system for broadening entry into the country, the Japanese government is currently engaging in discussions to begin permitting entry of certain individuals from Thailand, Vietnam, Australia and New Zealand for business purposes, including management, executives, specialists, technical trainees and internal company transferees.  As discussed in our prior blog post, these four countries are among the 111 countries whose visitors are largely restricted from entering Japan.  Although individuals…

On April 22, 2020, President Trump issued a “Proclamation Suspending Entry of Immigrants Who Present Risk to the U.S. Labor Market During the Economic Recovery Following the COVID-19 Outbreak,” to pause issuance of new immigrant visas to applicants who are outside the United States for 60 days.  As reported on this blog, although the proclamation is currently limited to aspiring immigrants who are outside the United States and do not yet have a valid…