Jabardasth 23 november 2017

EB-1 remains current, minimal advancement in other categories.The US Department of State has released its November 2017 Visa Bulletin, setting out per-country priority date cutoffs that regulate immigrant visa availability and the flow of status adjustments and consular immigrant visa application filings and approvals.What Does the November 2017 Visa Bulletin Say?The bulletin includes both a Dates for Filing Visa Applications chart and an Application Final Action Dates chart. The former indicates when intending immigrants may file their applications for adjustments of status or immigrant visas, and the latter indicates when adjustment of status applications or immigrant visa applications may be approved and permanent residence granted. Unless otherwise indicated on the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) website, individuals seeking to file applications for adjustment of status with USCIS must use the Application Final Action Dates chart below. … [Read more...] about US Department of State Releases November 2017 Visa Bulletin

On April 18, 2017, as the House Committee on Appropriations marked up the FY 2017 agriculture spending bill, more than 65 agriculture and food industry groups sent a letter to Congress urging Congress to appropriate $3 million to FDA to fund a joint FDA/USDA consumer outreach program to educate consumers about foods produced with genetically modified organisms (GMOs).  In May 2017, as part of an overall federal budget agreement that prevented a government shutdown, the requested $3 million was appropriated to FDA to spearhead this initiative.Today, FDA announced that the initial phase of its Agricultural Biotechnology Education and Outreach Initiative will involve two public meetings in November 2017 to be held in Charlotte, North Carolina, and San Francisco, California.  The Charlotte, NC meeting will be held on November 7, 2017 and the San Francisco, CA meeting will be held on November 14, 2017. FDA also announced that it will be opening a … [Read more...] about FDA Announces November 2017 Public Meetings Concerning Its Agricultural Biotechnology Education and Outreach Initiative

In the final cranes and derricks in construction standard, 1926 – Subpart CC, which was issued August 9, 2010, crane operators were required to either be certified or qualified (depending on the option elected by an employer) by November 10, 2014. 29 C.F.R. § 1926.1427(k).  On February 10, 2014, OSHA proposed a three-year extension to the operator certification deadline and requested public comment on or before March 12, 2014. This extension is due, in part; to issues pertaining to the requirements in the standard addressing crane operator certification that arose shortly after OSHA issued the final rule.   After the final standard was issued, OSHA took the position that an operator is qualified to operate a particular piece of equipment if the operator is certified for that type and capacity of equipment or for higher-capacity equipment of that type.  Therefore, an operator certified to operate a 100-ton hydraulic crane may operate a 50-ton … [Read more...] about OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) Proposes to Extend Operator Certification Deadline – November 2017

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) publishes a monthly update to the applicable federal rates (AFRs) and 7520 rates.Planning professionals and their clients should take note of fluctuations in these rates and be mindful of planning opportunities that come with rate changes.The AFR is calculated by the IRS under Section 1274(d) of the Internal Revenue Code (the Code) and is used for many purposes.  One of its most common applications is to establish the minimum interest rate that can be charged on an intra-family loan without income or gift tax consequences.  These “safe harbor rates” are dependent upon two factors: (i) the term of the loan and (ii) the frequency of compounding of interest.For these purposes:Demand notes and notes with a term of three years or less are considered short-term obligations,Notes with a term of more than three years but less than nine years are considered mid-term obligations, andNotes with a term of more than nine years are considered … [Read more...] about IRS Announces November 2017 Applicable Federal Rates and 7520 Rates

Planning for a "Soft" Yates RepealForthcoming changes to the Department of Justice’s “Yates Memorandum” offer unanticipated legal compliance consequences for health systems that merit proactive consideration by the board.These changes are expected to make nuanced revisions to Yates, without forgoing DOJ’s fundamental enforcement commitment to individual accountability. While this is welcomed news, the related risk is that some directors, executives and managers may misinterpret the nuanced changes as a total repeal of Yates, with potentially unfortunate consequences for the health company’s legal compliance and risk evaluation efforts. These are individuals who are either unwilling to believe the government will enforce applicable penalties, or who calculate that the likely benefit of breaking the rule outweighs the potential penalty. They exist in every organization.The board may respond by sending a clear message to all organizational constituencies that … [Read more...] about Corporate Law & Governance Update: November 2017