On December 31, 2020, President Trump issued a Proclamation to extend Presidential Proclamation 10014, which suspended the entry of immigrants, and Presidential Proclamation 10052, which suspended the entry of foreign nationals in certain nonimmigrant visa categories. Both proclamations, which were scheduled to expire on December 31, 2020, have been extended until March 31, 2021.  The President issued these proclamations in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in order to protect American workers and promote economic recovery in the U.S.

As background, Presidential Proclamation 10014 suspended the issuance of employment-based, family-based, and Diversity Lottery immigrant visas at U.S. Consulates abroad. For more information regarding this proclamation, please review our previous post on this topic.

Presidential Proclamation 10052 prevented foreign nationals from applying for H-1B, H-2B, L-1A, L-1B, or certain J-1 visas, if they were outside the U.S. on June 24, 2020 and did not hold a valid H-1B, H-2B, L-1A, L-1B, or J-1 visa at that time. Foreign nationals may be exempt from this proclamation if their entry is deemed to be in the U.S. national interest by the Department of State. Please click here for information regarding this proclamation, and here regarding the national interest exemption criteria.

If you have any questions about how the extension of these proclamations impacts your business and/or foreign national employees, please reach out to the Immigration Attorneys at Ryan Swanson & Cleveland.

Amy Royalty can be reached at [email protected].
Jen Chen can be reached at [email protected].
Cody Nunn can be reached at [email protected].
Marsha Mavunkel can be reached at [email protected].
Janet Cheetham can be reached at [email protected].
Joel Paget can be reached at [email protected].