Dear Colleagues,
On October 16th ISSS communicated information to campus units regarding two new rules that impacted the sponsorship of all H-1Bs on campus and some green cards. The first rule, the Department of Labor’s “Strengthening Wage Protections” Rule, has been in effect since October 8th and significantly raised the minimum wage employers were required to pay their new H-1B employees. The second rule, the Department of Homeland Security’s “H-1B Strengthening” Rule would have significantly changed the criteria employers would need to establish to demonstrate a position required specialty knowledge, which is a requirement to make the position eligible for an H-1B visa. This rule was due to take effect on December 7th.
In our correspondence on October 16th we mentioned that these rules were subject to litigation and that we would keep campus apprised of any developments. Last week, a court ruled that these two rules were not implemented in a lawful manner. As a result, the H-1B Strengthening Rule did not become active, and the Strengthening Wage Protections Rule has been suspended. The Department of Labor is reversing the processes that took effect on October 8th, and starting on December 15th will begin issuing wages using the previous processes.
Although there remains a possibility that either DHS or DOL could challenge this decision, we are pleased that we can share some positive news for our university community today. As always, ISSS will be working with our hiring departments regarding the specifics of their individual requests and will be reaching out to them as needed. We want to thank you for your attentiveness to this matter and your continued advocacy for international education at the University of Illinois.
Sincerely,
Martin McFarlane
Director
International Student and Scholar Services
Illinois International
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
432 Turner SSB
610 E. John St | M/C 306
Champaign, IL 61820
217.333.1303 | fax: 217.244.0530 | mmcfarln@illinois.edu
isss.illinois.edu