On March 18, 2015, the US District Court for the Northern District of Florida granted the DOL's motion to temporarily stay through April 15, 2015 the court's prior order in Perez v. Perez. Perez had vacated the DOL's 2008 H-2B regulations on the basis that the Immigration and Nationality Act did not confer authority on the DOL to issue the regulations (Perez v. Perez, No. 3:14-CV-682-MCR-EMT, N.D. Fla. March 4, 2015). For a description of the Perez decision and background on litigation challenging the DOL's authority under the H-2B program, see Legal Update, DOL Stops H-2B Prevailing Wage and Labor Certification Processing after District Court Injunction.

The stay permits the DOL to temporarily resume processing prevailing wage and labor certification applications for the H-2B program through April 15th. The district court's vacatur of the DOL's 2008 H-2B Final Rule will be reinstated on April 16th.

The DOL and US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) are working jointly on a new rule governing the H-2B program that is expected to be promulgated by the end of April. The DOL issued an FAQ addressing the processing of H-2B-related applications while the temporary stay is in effect.

UPDATE: On April 16, 2015, the DOL announced that the district court for the Northern District of Florida had issued an order in Perez v. Perez the previous day, extending the temporary lift of the H-2B processing injunction from April 16, 2015 to May 15, 2015. In addition, on April 20, 2015, USCIS announced that it had resumed accepting premium processing requests for H-2B petitions. Beginning that day, employers could file a Form I-907 Request for Premium Processing Service:

USCIS is only accepting H-2B petitions that are not subject to the FY 2015 H-2B cap, which has already been met (see Legal Update, H-2B Cap Met for Fiscal Year 2015).