The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released the Fall Unified Agenda, updating the Improvement of the Employment Creation Immigrant Regulations. DHS has now moved the stage of rulemaking from “long-term actions” to “proposed rule stage.” This new release also changes the date of the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) from “to be determined” to January 2017. To read the full text of the release, please view the Spring 2016 update.

In addition, Statement of Need, Summary of the Legal Basis, and Anticipated Costs and Benefits sections have been added. Of note under “Anticipated Costs and Benefits” is that “the rule would benefit entrepreneurs seeking to participate in the program by providing the opportunity to mitigate the harsh consequences of unexpected changes to business conditions through priority date retention in limited circumstances.”

Greenberg Traurig will continue to monitor this activity and will provide an update as soon as the proposed rules are published.