Requirements for Traveling to Germany from the United States

 

Traveling to Germany from the United States

As more vaccines are administered across the world, many people are starting to feel more comfortable traveling. Because of the close relationship between the U.S. and Germany, many U.S. travelers may start traveling to Germany and vice versa for business or to see family and friends.

Today’s article will focus on the requirements for entering Germany from the United States.

Holders of a valid German passport may enter the Federal Republic of Germany at any time, even if there are entry restrictions.

Everyone entering Germany by way of plane starting on March 31st, 2021, must be tested for COVID-19 before their flight departs for Germany. The test must come back negative, and the results must be presented to the airlines before take-off. Children under the age of 6 are exempt from this.

The test may not be administered more than 48 hours before entering the Federal Republic of Germany. Test results must be kept for at least 10-days.

What If I'm Vaccinated

Having been vaccinated does NOT exempt you from having to provide a negative COVID-19 test.

More information about the testing requirements can be found here. A list of tests recognized by the German government can be found here.

If you are traveling to Germany and have been in a high-risk area (like the United States) within the last 10 days, then you will likely be required to quarantine for 10-days after entry. Quarantine times may differ depending on the individual states and country from which you are traveling.

Travelers must also complete a Digital Entry Registration here before arriving in Germany and have the confirmation of registration with them upon entry.

The regulations for quarantine are determined by the individual federal states. These regulations can be found at the bottom of this page.

Read more of our blog here and check again soon to read about how individuals traveling from Germany can enter the United States.

How the Suez Canal’s Blockage will Affect the Global Supply Chain

 

How the Suez Canal’s Blockage will Affect the Global Supply Chain

The Suez Canal has been in the headlines recently because of a ship that has run aground and blocked the entire canal. The Ever Given isn’t just any ship either. She is a 400m, 219,000+ ton ultra-large container ship (ULCS). It was on its way from China to the Netherlands.

The Suez Canal is one of the most vital waterways in the world. Around 50 ships pass through the 120-mile canal each day. The Suez Canal connects Asia and the Middle East with Europe and the East Coast of the United States. The Suez Canal takes just 12 to 15 hours to navigate from the Middle East to Europe, compared to taking 8 to 10 days without the canal.

The Global Supply Chain

The Suez Canal has been blocked for three days and could take even longer to clear. Billions of dollars worth of goods are not able to get to their destination on time. Once the Ever Given is dislodged, the ports will be congested, causing even more delays. This event will most likely cause many to reevaluate their reliance on the global supply chain and condenser alternative, more technology-driven options.

Just-in-time shipping has been a recent trend in the global supply chain, cutting out extra time and increasing efficiency, but unforeseen situations like this show their faults. Many industries that rely on this sort of just-in-time shipping may be experiencing a shortage of supplies at this time.

Contracts

Because of the blockage in the Suez Canal, it is likely that many contracts have been breached due to delays. To avoid liability in future situations like these, make sure you have a force majeure clause in your contracts. Force majeure refers to events outside of reasonable control that prevent someone from fulfilling a contract.

Need help adding a force majeure clause to your contract? Contact us!

Check out the rest of our blog for more content!

What is an L-1 Visa? And How Do You Qualify for One?

 

What is an L-1 Visa?

What is an L-1 visa? L-1 visas are temporary, non-immigrant, employment-based visas. These visas are reserved for company employees who hold management or executive positions or have specialized knowledge. There are two types of L-1 visas, L-1A, and L-1B.

• L-1A visas are for transferees within a company who hold either an executive or management position outside of the United States.
• L-1B visas are for transferees within a company who has a specialized skill vital to the company.

L-1 visas are typically for executives, managers, and certain employees of a company outside of the United States with offices/subsidiaries in the United States. In many cases, those companies will send people to oversee a new office and make sure it is operating successfully. That is who the L-1 visas are for.

The L-1A Visa

The L-1A visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows companies to transfer executives or managers from a foreign office to an office in the United States. L-1A visas also are available for executives/managers of foreign companies that do not yet have a subsidiary in the United States but wish to open one. They can use an L-1A visa for an executive or manager to send them to the United States to establish a subsidiary.

To qualify for the L-1A visa, the executive/manager must have worked for the qualifying company for at least one year out of the past three years. They must be seeking to enter the United States to do work in an executive or managerial capacity for the approved company.

The L-1B Visa

The L-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows companies to transfer employees with specialized knowledge related to their position. Like the L-1A visa, L-1B visas are available for specialized employees of foreign companies that wish to open a subsidiary in the United States but have not done so yet. The specialized employee may be granted an L-1B visa to help their company establish a subsidiary in the United States.

To qualify for the L-1B visa, the employee must have worked for the qualifying company for at least one year out of the past three years. They must be seeking to enter the United States to provide services to your company using your specialized knowledge.

More Details

When referring to a position’s capacity, here is how the USCIS describes it:

• Executives: “Executive capacity generally refers to your ability to make a wide range of decisions without much oversight.”
• Managers: “Managerial capacity generally refers to your ability to supervise and control the work of professional employees and to manage the organization, or a department, subdivision, function, or component of the organization. It may also refer to your ability to manage an essential function of the organization at a high level, without direct supervision of others.”
• Employees with specialized knowledge: “Specialized knowledge either means knowledge you have about the petitioning organization’s product, service, research, equipment, techniques, management, or other interests and its application in international markets, or an advanced level of knowledge or expertise in the organization’s processes and procedures.”

As of now, the L-1 visas are still banned from being issued under Presidential Proclamation 10052, however, the ban will expire at the end of the month on March 31^st, 2021 unless extended.

An L-2 visa is a non-immigrant visa for the spouse and unmarried children under 21 of the valid L-1 visa holder.

At BridgehouseLaw, one of our focus areas is assisting our clients in obtaining employment-based visas. If you are interested in obtaining an L-1 or L-2 visa, contact us. We’d be happy to speak to you.

What Small Businesses Need to Know About the Second Draw PPP Loans

 

PPP Part Two: What Your Small Business Needs to Know

The second draw of the U.S. Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) permits an additional $285 billion in loans to pandemic-impacted businesses at an interest rate of one percent and with five-year maturation. PPP loans are not subject to collateral or personal guaranty requirement. An entity is only eligible for a second draw PPP loan if the entity received a first draw PPP loan, the full amount of which has been used on eligible expenses prior to disbursement of the second draw. The exclusivity period for small businesses with under 20 employees ends today at 5 p.m. ET.

New Reduced Revenue Requirement

The second draw of PPP loans is subject to additional restrictions, the most significant of which is the requirement that the borrower experienced reduced revenues of 25% or more in 2020 as compared to the same time period (either quarterly or annually) in 2019. In order to assert this revenue reduction, businesses must provide corroborating documentation in the form of (1) quarterly financial statements; (2) quarterly or monthly bank statements for the entity showing deposits from relevant quarters; or (3) annual IRS tax filings of the entity. More information on these documentation requirements can be found here.

Key expansions:

Expanded Permissible Expenses. PPP loan funds may be used for the following categories of expenses: payroll, rent, mortgage interest, utilities, software, and cloud computing expenditures, costs not covered by insurance for property damage, worker safety costs.

Expanded Eligibility of Entities. Now, housing cooperatives, destination marketing organizations, news organizations, 501(c)(6) non-profit business associations are eligible for PPP loans.

To get in contact with one of our attorneys click here.

Biden Revokes Green Card Ban

 

Biden Revokes Green Card Ban

On February 24, 2021, the Biden Administration revoked the green card ban, formally known as Proclamation 10014, in part because it “harms industries in the United States that utilize talent from around the world . . . ” The Trump Administration first enacted Proclamation 10014 in April 2020 as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, impeding the entry of employment-based immigrants. Proclamation 10014 affected not only businesses but also families. It is estimated that as a result of Proclamation 10014, as many as 120,000 family-based preference visas were not issued.

The revocation of Proclamation 10014 means that once State Department processing is once again normalized, family-sponsored immigrants and Diversity Visa immigrants may gain entrance to the United States.

Revoking Proclamation 10014 is likely just one step in the Biden Administration’s path to immigration reform. Biden supports expanding the number of high-skilled visas, simplifying the naturalization process, and ending limits on employment-based visas by country. On February 18, 2021, the Biden Administration unveiled a sweeping immigration reform bill, which would create an eight-year pathway to citizenship for eleven million undocumented people in the U.S., as well as expand worker visas and reform the H-1B visa program. Another vestige of the Trump Administration’s restrictive immigration policy, the nonimmigrant visa ban, is set to expire on March 31, 2021.

Although glimpses of a post-pandemic future are certainly in sight, COVID-19 travel restrictions remain in effect until expressly lifted by President Biden. As such, the general National Interest Exception (“NIE”) requirement to enter the U.S. remains.

To discuss obtaining an NIE, contact us. We’d be happy to help.

To read more of our blog posts, click here

North Carolina Easing COVID-19 Restrictions

 

North Carolina Easing COVID-19 Restrictions

Starting on Friday, February 26, at 5 PM, North Carolina will ease many restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. North Carolina’s Governor, Roy Cooper, announced his plans for Executive Order No. 195 on Wednesday to get rid of the statewide stay-at-home order, among other things.

The decision for Executive Order No. 195 follows recent reports that COVID-19 numbers have decreased, and vaccine distribution has increased.

Over 1.5 million North Carolinians have gotten at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, which is around 12.7% of the State’s population. These reports also show that many COVID-19 related trends such as confirmed cases and hospitalizations are decreasing.

 

What is Changing?

Executive Order No. 195 lifts the stay-at-home order placed on North Carolinians which required businesses to close and people to stay home between 10 PM and 5 AM.

The limit on indoor gatherings increases from 10 people to 25.

Alcohol sales for onsite consumption have extended from 9 PM to 11 PM.

An increased capacity for businesses.

 

Capacity Increases

Executive Order No. 195 allows some businesses to open up at 30% capacity and others to open up at a 50% capacity.

Businesses allowed to open at 30% capacity:

• Bars
• Conference Spaces
• Lounges
• Night Clubs
• Indoor areas within Amusement Parks
• Movie Theaters
• Entertainment Facilities
• Sports Arenas/Fields
• Venues

These businesses may not exceed 250 people except for large indoor event venues if they follow additional safety measures and limit their capacity to 15%.

Businesses allowed to open at 50% capacity:

• Restaurants
• Breweries/Wineries/Distilleries
• Fitness/Physical Activity Facilities
• Pools
• Museums/Aquariums
• Retail Stores
• Outdoor areas within Amusement Parks
• Salons

 

Safety First

Governor Cooper still advises everyone to remain cautious and keep their guard up. Wearing a mask and social distancing in most places is still required. Washing your hands is encouraged.

To learn more about North Carolina’s Executive Order No. 195, click here.

To read more of our blog, click here.

Stay healthy and safe.

From your friends as BridgehouseLaw.

The 2021 H-1B Visa Applications

 

2021 H-1B Visa Applications

What is an H-1B Visa?

The H-1B visa is an employment-based, temporary work, non-immigrant visa. This visa offers companies the opportunity to bring highly-skilled, credentialed foreign citizens into the U.S. for employment in a specialty occupation for up to 6 years. After the H-1B expires, the visa holder can reapply.

The company, as the employer, must sponsor the H-1B applicant. These visas are only available for a short period, so the sponsors and applicants must be ready to apply within the allocated window. The list of H-1B occupations is broad, but some level of knowledge and at least a bachelor’s degree or its equivalent is required. Some examples of these specialty occupations include:

• Engineers
• Accountants
• IT Professionals
• Architects
• Educators

And many more.

The 2021 H-1B Visa Application

The sponsoring employer must submit a Labor Conditions Approval (LCA) to the Department of Labor and register for the H-1B lottery if the application is subject to the H-1B cap. Once the LCA is approved and if the application is selected in the lottery (if necessary), the employer will submit a Form I-129 to USCIS, along with required fees, documentation, and the applicant’s resume and work qualifications.

The 2021 H-1B lottery registration period (for the 2022 fiscal year) will open at noon EST on March 9th and will stay open until noon EST on March 25th. Applicants selected in the lottery should hear back from the USCIS by March 31st.

Fees

A general list of H-1B fees include:

• Registration fee – $10
• Base filing fee – $460
• ACWIA fee (for employers with 25 or fewer full-time employees) – $750 OR ACWIA fee (for employers with 26 or more full-time employees) – $1,500
• Fraud Prevention and Detection fee – $500
• Public Law 114-113 fee (only for companies with over 50 employees where more than half of the employees are under H-1B/L1 status) – $4,000
• Premium Processing fee (optional) – $2,500

Obtaining an H-1B Visa

The H-1B visa winners are chosen at random through a lottery system. The H-1B will be capped at 65,000, with an additional 20,000 for candidates with advanced degrees. To read more about the H-1B on the USCIS website, click here.

Obtaining an H-1B visa is often confusing and difficult for the applicant, as well as the employer sponsor. At BridgehouseLaw, we make that process easier by guiding the sponsor every step of the way through the application process. If you would like help in filing for an H-1B, contact us! We would be happy to help.