USCIS has, in a communication to stakeholders, informed that if petitioners bundle multiple L-1B petitions related to the same project, where the location and the specialized knowledge duties of the beneficiaries are the same, USCIS will consider them together. It will also consider petitions for L-1A managers included with the bundle if such persons will be managing the L-1B beneficiaries who will be working on the project. Additionally, it will consider Forms I-539, Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status, filed for a beneficiary’s qualifying dependents included in the bundle.

For the purpose of bundling L-1 petitions, USCIS has informed that petitions from the same petitioner; filed on behalf of beneficiaries employed at the same foreign entity, and who will be working on the same project at the same location, performing the same specialized knowledge duties; filed under the same service (either all premium processing or non-premium processing); filed on behalf of L-1A managers, if they will be managing the L-1B beneficiaries who will be working on the project; could be included in the bundle. However, each petition must be packaged separately with its own fees and supporting evidence.

Petitioners can also submit more than one bundle of L-1 petitions if there is more than one specialized knowledge occupation related to a project. If filing more than one bundle of petitions for beneficiaries who will be performing different specialized knowledge duties for the same project, petitioners may number each bundle for ease of processing.

USCIS has also reminded that while petitions may be submitted as a bundle, each petition must be individually supported by the required evidence. All required evidence, as well as Form G-28, Form I-907 for Premium Processing, must be included with each petition within the bundle.

The US Embassy in New Delhi has announced that starting December 1, 2011, the US Consulate General in Chennai will be the sole Blanket L category visa acceptance and processing center in India. Companies throughout India will be requested to send Blanket L applicants exclusively to Chennai for visa interviews. The Embassy has announced that this change is in order to streamline the Blanket L visa issuance process, and is part of the US Government's ongoing effort to provide efficient visa services throughout India.

This change, however, does not affect the spouses and children of L1 visa holders. They and individual L1A and L1B visa applicants may still be processed at any US Consulate in India. Also, this centralization affects only the location for processing of L1 Blanket visas. It does not change the law or policy for visa processing.  

On September 20, 2011, the Office of the Administrative Law Judges (ALJ) of the U.S. Department of Labor, Washington, DC, issued a Decision and Order approving a Settlement Agreement between the Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division, and Board of Education of Prince George’s County in the matter of violations related to teachers in H-1B nonimmigrant status. A determination by the Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division had been issued on April 4, 2011 after an investigation that stated that the Board of Education of Prince George’s County had committed numerous violations of the Immigration and Nationality Act, specifically:

1. willful failure to pay wages as required,
2. failure to pay wages as required, and
3. failure to maintain documentation as required. 

The violations listed were related to 1,044 H-1B workers employed by the St. George’s County Public Schools, most of which were most likely teachers on H-1B

The terms of the approved settlement include:

• payment of over $4.2 million in back wages to the 1,044 workers identified in the Administrator’s determination;
  
  
• agreement to a two-year debarment period in which
  
  
  1. petitions filed to the Department of Homeland Security under Sections 204 (employment-based immigrant petitions) and 214(c) (employment-based non-immigrant petitions including H’s and L’s) will not be approved and
  2. the Employment and Training Administration of the Dept. of Labor will invalidate the Board’s Labor Condition Applications for H-1B, E-3 and H-1B1 workers and will not accept for filing any application or attestation submitted to the Board for permanent labor certification or under the H-non-immigrant classification (including H-1B, H-1A, H-2A and H-2B);
  
  
• payment of a civil penalty in the amount of $100,000 conditioned on the two-year debarment, which was reduced from over $1.7 million (if the Board does submit an application, they will be liable for the full penalty).

In addition to the Board, six individual H-1B workers in the Prince George’s County public schools had objected to the Administrator’s determination and requested hearings. Five of the six individual prosecuting parties raised only the issue of debarment, arguing that being unable to extend their H-1Bs and continue or start the permanent residency process through the Board was unfair and contractually disallowed.  A sixth individual additionally objected to the Administrator’s determination for failing to address his claims of retaliation or discrimination from the Board after he raised concerns regarding the H-1B program.  While the September 20, 2011 Order approved the Settlement Agreement,  a subsequent Order by the ALJ dated October 5, 2011 dismissed all the cases objecting to the debarment but allowed the case regarding the possible discrimination from the Board to go forward.  .  

The Department of Labor (DOL) has announced a 60-day postponement of the effective date for the final rule concerning the wage methodology for the Temporary Non-Agricultural Employment H-2B program, postponing the effective date from September 30, 2011 to November 30, 2011. The Wage Rule revises the methodology for calculating the prevailing wages to be paid to H–2B workers and U.S. workers recruited in connection with a temporary labor certification for use in petitioning the DHS to employ a nonimmigrant worker in the H–2B status.

DOL had published the Wage Rule on January 19, 2011 and had originally set the effective date for January 1, 2012. However, on June 16, 2011, a court issued a ruling that invalidated the January 1, 2012 effective date of the Wage Rule and ordered the DOL to announce a new effective date for the rule. Subsequently, DOL published the Final Rule on August 1, 2011, which set the new effective date for the Wage Rule at September 30, 2011, without altering the substance of the Wage Rule. In September 2011, suits was filed reliefs to bar the DOL from implementing the Wage Rule, in the US District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, Alexandria Division and the US District Court for the Northern District of Florida, Pensacola Division.

DOL has now informed that in consideration of the two pending challenges to the Wage Rule and its new effective date, it is postponing the effective date of the rule from September 30, 2011, until November 30, 2011.

On September 12, 2011, the Office of Foreign labor Certification (OFLC) issued Questions and Answers regarding the delays in issuing Prevailing Wage Determinations (PWD) and H-1B Labor Condition Applications (LCA). Reminding employers that they can obtain a prevailing wage on their own without the assistance of the National Prevailing Wage Center (NPWC), OFLC observed that DOL’s regulations provide the employer with the following alternative sources for obtaining a prevailing wage in support of an H-1B application:

• A wage rate set forth in a collective bargaining agreement (CBA);
• A wage rate for the occupation and area of intended employment under either the Davis-Bacon Act (DBA) or the McNamara-O'Hara Service Contract Act (SCA), which are available at http://www.wdol.gov; 
• A wage rate produced by a survey conducted by an independent authoritative source that meets the requirements set forth in Departmental regulations; or 
• A wage rate produced by another legitimate source of information, including the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment Statistics Survey (OES) data, which is available at http://www.flcdatacenter.com.

OFLC mentioned that as long as the employer provides a prevailing wage in support of its H-1B application, whether through obtaining a PWD from the NPWC or through the other sources listed above, there should not be any consequences to the foreign worker on whose behalf the H-1B application was filed. 

OFLC however cautioned that if the H-1B employer selects an incorrect prevailing wage, then the employer is responsible for that wage attestation in the event of an investigation or enforcement action. The Department’s regulations state that when an employer obtains a prevailing wage determination from the NPWC, the Department of Labor will accept that wage as correct and will not question its validity, i.e. the employer is granted “safe harbor”. However, the Department cannot grant this same "safe harbor" to employers who obtain their own prevailing wages under the regulations.