By: Perry & Alznauer, P.C.
As the American workforce continues to struggle and cope with COVID-19, employees in various industries are highly impacted by layoffs and shutdowns. Employers are trying to get back on their feet while trying to put safety measures in place to keep everyone safe. U.S. government agencies are also taking precaution to protect both immigration agency personnel and foreign nationals.
Many businesses are likely months away from reopening and “public-facing” appointments such as interviews and court hearings are still being canceled. A realistic projection would probably be September to October until these steps in the immigration process go back to normal. It will be very difficult to predict how businesses will navigate safety measures to protect their entire workforce. Will employees be required to sign waivers and liability disclosures that they are willing to take risks while being on duty? All these “new protocols” will affect the whole hiring process and may have a huge impact on H-1B visas and PERM applications.
COVID-19 unmasked the need to add more healthcare workers, doctors, researchers, scientists, and even highlighted the important functions of other essential workers such as store clerks, delivery personnel, and farmers. Through this focus, the pandemic has highlighted the role of immigrants to our daily routines as well as the potential of immigration to contribute to economic growth and rebuilding and restoring the United States economy.
It is clear that the U.S. needs more scientists, researchers, infectious disease experts and laboratory technicians. U.S. immigration policy should accommodate visa applications for Nurses, Physical Therapists and other healthcare workers as hospitals and medical facilities given how staffing shortages even without the virus. These positions will require sufficient visas for the EB-1, EB-2 Schedule B and EB-3 petitions for workers to support this vital need in helping Americans.
The future will also require additional investment to be put in place as the economy is highly devastated by the virus. EB-5 investment visas will help in getting more money into the country as it needs more to fuel the economy.
Air travel will never be the same and there may be even stronger security and health measures than 911 has ever been implemented. Tourism which generates billions of dollars every year & supports millions of American jobs, as well as other non-immigrant visa applications, will most probably be different in the coming months. The State Department has yet to implement possible changes in non-immigrant visas such as B1/B2 Visitor’s visas, F-1 Student Visas, L Visas, O, P and H-1B.
The coronavirus pandemic struck amid a busy time in U.S. immigration policy. Reopening the workforce and applying for different kinds of visas depending on a foreign national’s qualification will require more effort, information gathering, increase in required documentation and maybe different medical requirements. Getting back to a more regular order of things will be a challenge for the government, employers and families.
