EIG COVID-19 Update | March 21, 2020

All week, EIG has sent global digests to inform our clients of all the COVID-19 developments impacting global immigration and global travel. The reports from this past week are available here.

International Updates

  1. Canada, Mexico, and the US | As previously reported, the US borders with Canada and Mexico are closed as of today, Saturday, March 21, for 30 days subject to extension upon review. All “nonessential travel” is suspended at this time.
  2. India | In a video on Thursday night, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told residents to observe a one-day curfew on March 22 from 7 AM until 9 PM.
  3. Ireland | The GNIB and all local immigration registration offices closed Friday evening indefinitely due to COVID-19. All appointments which were already booked have been canceled. The GNIB has not confirmed if they will issue rescheduled dates, but this is most likely because it is too early to gauge when they will re-open.
  4. Thailand | The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) has announced the guidelines for Air Operators performing flights into Thailand. As of midnight on March 22, passengers of ALL nationalities will be required to provide a health certificate certifying that the passengers “poses no risk of being infected by the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19),” issued within 72 hours of the date of travel and a health insurance policy that shows minimum medical coverage of 100,000 USD in Thailand and covers the COVID-19 Disease. If the passenger is unable to present the required documents, the Air Operator shall NOT issue a boarding pass, and the boarding shall be denied.
  5. The United States | E-Verify has confirmed that employers are still required to create cases for their new hires within three business days from the date of hire. Employers must use the hire date from the employee’s Form I-9 when creating the E-Verify case. If case creation is delayed due to COVID-19 precautions, select “Other” from the drop-down list and enter “COVID-19” as the specific reason.  E-Verify is extending the timeframe to take action to resolve Social Security Administration (SSA) Tentative Nonconfirmations (TNCs) due to SSA office closures to the public. E-Verify is also extending the timeframe to take action to resolve the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) TNCs in limited circumstances when an employee cannot resolve a TNC due to public or private office closures.

    The United States | The DOL has released guidance on whether employers will be required to re-post Labor Condition Applications if employees work from home. To read about the posting requirements for employees working from home during COVID-19, please read the DOL FAQs.

 

Also, please listen to EIG’s Immigration Nerds podcast for the country by country updates on all travel and border restrictions as of Tuesday, March 17.

We will continue to send updates daily or as more COVID-19-related news is available. We recognize this situation continues to evolve; if you have specific questions, please contact your employer or EIG attorney.