U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) released additional details about the FY 2024 H-1B electronic registration that ran in March 2023. One item of interest is that the number of registrants (individuals) with only one submission saw a relatively modest increase from 309k to 350k, while the number of registrants with multiple submissions more than doubled from 165k to 409k. In contrast, the first year of the H-1B Cap Registration program (FY2021) saw only 28k individuals with multiple submissions – an increase of 1,454% in just three years.
Continue Reading USCIS Releases FY2024 Cap Registration Statistics and Announces Measures to Combat Fraud
USCIS To Expand Premium Processing Service Over Next Several Years
A new rule, “Implementation of the Emergency Stopgap USCIS Stabilization Act,” published in the Federal Register on March 30, 2022, will open the popular USCIS “premium processing” service to new categories of immigration filings that are currently subject to extraordinarily long backlogs. USCIS will roll out the expansions in stages.
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USCIS Updates Policy Manual for E/L Spouses’ Work Authorization Documents
In the newest sequel to the Shergill v. Mayorkas settlement, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has now updated its Policy Manual to address documents that E and L nonimmigrant spouses may show their employers to prove their work eligibility.
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CBP Now Issuing Work-Authorized I-94s for L and E Spouses
Following the settlement of a US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) lawsuit that finally recognizes that dependent L and E spouses are able to work lawfully incident to their status, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) updated its admission system to designate on the I-94 admission records those spouses who are authorized to work without applying for an EAD.
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COVID-19 UPDATE: USCIS Premium Processing Returns Beginning June 1, 2020
After suspending all “premium processing” for more than two months during the COVID-19 pandemic, USCIS today announced it will again accept premium fees (currently, $1,440 per form) and requests for expedited adjudication (currently, 15 calendar days) for Forms I-129 (Petition for Nonimmigrant Worker) and I‑140 (Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker).
Continue Reading COVID-19 UPDATE: USCIS Premium Processing Returns Beginning June 1, 2020
COVID-19 UPDATE: USCIS To Reopen Certain Local Offices on June 4
On March 25, we reported that US Citizenship and Immigration Services had closed all local domestic offices, including asylum offices, field offices, and application support centers, due to COVID-19 contagion risks. Those closures, while initially short term, have been extended several times and remain in effect as of today.
Continue Reading COVID-19 UPDATE: USCIS To Reopen Certain Local Offices on June 4
The Year Ahead: 10 Things to Watch for in US Immigration
In 2019, the large policy and enforcement shifts signposted in 2017 and 2018 continued to play out with stricter immigration enforcement across the board. While we don’t expect to see seismic shifts in the coming year, there are a few issues to watch for in 2020.
(1) H-1B “Specialty Occupation” Definition Change Likely to Stall in Court
USCIS has indicated it will be announcing an official change to the definition of “specialty occupation.” While we have already seen a detrimental shift in the H-1B adjudication process, this would be an official regulatory change. We expect that any attempt to re-interpret the H-1B statute as narrowly as possible will face a lengthy court battle.
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USCIS Will Not Close All International Offices as Previously Announced; Seven to Remain Open
USCIS Acting Director Ken Cuccinelli announced today, via Twitter, that USCIS will close all but seven of its international field offices, leaving only the offices in Beijing, Guanghzou, Guatemala City, Mexico City, Nairobi, New Delhi and San Salvador to service the many US citizens and permanent residents who reside abroad. USCIS has also made the official announcement on their website. The decision leaves the entire continents of South America and Europe without a USCIS office. Although not ideal, this announcement still marks a welcome change from USCIS’s prior announcement, in March 2019, by then-Director Francis Cissna that all twenty international offices would be closed and their workload shifted to domestic offices.
Continue Reading USCIS Will Not Close All International Offices as Previously Announced; Seven to Remain Open
Premium Processing Service Suspension Expanded
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) has announced that the suspension of premium processing for FY2019 H‑1B cap cases, announced on March 21, 2018, has been extended until possibly February 2019.
USCIS also announced that effective September 11, 2018, premium processing will be suspended for H‑1B cases filed at the Vermont and California
USCIS Issues, Then Postpones, New Policy Expanding Agency’s Issuance of Notices To Appear in Removal Proceedings
On June 28, 2018, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services issued a policy memo telling adjudicators when they are required to issue Notices To Appear after denying or while processing a petition or application for benefits. The NTA is the charging document that, once filed with the Executive Office for Immigration Review (a branch of the U.S. Department of Justice), puts an individual into formal removal proceedings before an immigration judge.
Continue Reading USCIS Issues, Then Postpones, New Policy Expanding Agency’s Issuance of Notices To Appear in Removal Proceedings