United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) has revised its Form I-129, which employers use to petition for temporary workers in a variety of nonimmigrant visa classifications. The revised version of the form was published on the same day that the final fee rule became effective (November 23, 2010). USCIS will accept previous editions of Form I-129 for 30 days, or until December 22, 2010.

In other words, the last day that USCIS can accept previous editions of the form is December 22, 2010. Petitions must be postmarked or filed on or before this date for the previous edition to be accepted. On or after December 23, 2010, USCIS will only accept the revised form (with the November 23, 2010 revision date) and will reject requests using previous editions of the form. Petitions postmarked or filed on or after this date require the new version of Form I-129.

On November 10, 2010, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (“CIC”) published regulations in the Canada Gazette, which reinstate the Canadian Federal Immigrant Investor Program (“IIP”). These regulations come into force on December 1, 2010.

On June 26, 2010, CIC published proposed regulations in the Canada Gazette, which would increase the personal net worth and investment amounts utilized by the IIP. Under the proposed regulations, the investment required under the IIP would increase from $400,000.00CAD to $800,000.00CAD. In addition, the personal net worth required to qualify under the IIP would increase from $800,000.00CAD to $1.6 Million CAD.

CIC also published Ministerial Instructions in the Canada Gazette, which established a moratorium on new IIP applications from June 26, 2010, until the date that the final regulations became effective. According to the Ministerial Instructions, no applications under the program were to be accepted unless they were post-marked or received by CIC before June 26, 2010. The stated purpose of the moratorium was to mitigate the growing surge in such applications under the lower investment and personal net worth levels.

According to CIC, a net worth of $800,000CAD in 1999 was considered substantial enough to attract applicants with the financial wherewithal and expertise to make a significant positive economic contribution to Canada. However, due to increasing global wealth, CIC believed that a net worth of $800,000 was now within easy reach of a modest property owner in a large city, who may not have other transferable resources as originally envisioned. In addition, CIC stated that most other countries with similar programs now required an investment closer to $1 Million CAD.

The new regulations, which were published on November 10, 2010, reinstate the IIP and implement the higher investment and net worth levels that were initially announced on June 26, 2010. As of December 1, 2010, applicants under the IIP are required to invest $800,000CAD and to establish a personal net worth of $1.6 Million CAD.