On December
20, 2001, the Senate passed H.R. 2277 and H.R. 2278 by unanimous consent.
If signed by the President, these new laws would allow for the following
changes:
- Spouses of E (treaty trader or treaty investor) visa holders
would become eligible for employment authorization (H.R. 2277).
- Spouses of L (intracompany transferee) visa holders would become
eligible for employment authorization (H.R. 2278).
- The period of time that the L applicant must be employed abroad
by the sponsoring company will be reduced from one year to six
months if the company has filed a blanket L petition and met the
requirements for expedited processing (H.R. 2278).
Immigration advocates are elated by the news of these two bills,
which were both passed by the House of Representatives in early
September.
The president is expected to sign the bills before the end of the
year. Assuming that the President signs these two bills into law,
caution should be exercised before taking advantage of these provisions
until the INS and Department of State have had the opportunity to
provide guidance and develop procedures.
We will provide additional information as it comes available, and
a detailed analysis of what this new law means to your company will
be forthcoming.
|
