On January 29, 2024, the Department of State’s stateside visa pilot renewal program began accepting DS-160s for qualifying individuals seeking to renew their existing H-1B visas while they are in the United States. As discussed in our previous blog post about this new program, the program allows individuals in the United States who are renewing an H-1B visa issued by US consular sections in Canada between 1/1/2020 and 4/1/2023 or one issued by US consular sections in India from 1/2/2021 and 9/30/2021 to do so online through the Department’s CEAC website rather than having to travel outside the US to obtain the visa.
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Nonimmigrant Visas
Department of State Makes Changes to Visa Interview Waiver Eligibility
On December 21, the Department of State announced changes to the power consular officers have to waive personal visa interviews for nonimmigrant visa (NIV) applicants.
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Domestic Visa Processing – Now With Details
The Department of State has officially released the details of the long-anticipated domestic visa processing pilot program. The pilot program will be open starting on January 29, 2024, and will accept up to 20,000 applications, with applications accepted on a rolling basis. The system is set up to release approximately 4,000 application slots each week for the first 6 weeks of the program starting Monday, January 29, 2024. Once the weekly limit is reached, the system will be locked until the next set of slots are released following next week. The system will be open until April 1, 2024, or until all application slots are used, whichever comes first. …
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Domestic Visa Processing for Some Starting in Early 2024
After a 20+ year hiatus in domestic visa processing, the Department of State is launching a pilot program to resume limited state-side processing of visa renewals in early 2024. …
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USCIS Releases FY2024 Cap Registration Statistics and Announces Measures to Combat Fraud
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.
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Visa Stamp Delays: US Consulates Publish Increased Wait Times to Schedule Appointments
COVID travel restrictions may be improving, but the most recent update to the Department of State’s Visa Wait Times confirms that there are still very serious, ongoing visa appointment delays resulting from the pandemic. …
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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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US Opens Flights to Fully Vaccinated Travelers – What Does It Mean for You and Your Family?
As we previously reported, President Biden is rescinding the international travel restrictions that have drastically hindered US business and tourist travel for almost 2 years. Beginning at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Time on Monday, November 8, 2021, travelers will no longer need a valid National Interest Exception if they have been in China, Iran, the Schengen Area, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Brazil, South Africa, or India within the past 14 days. Instead, they – and all air travelers to the US, with some very limited exceptions – will have to prove they are “fully vaccinated” before boarding a US-bound flight.
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The end of NIEs is Nigh – Biden’s Covid Team Announces Travel Restrictions to be Lifted in November
News sources are reporting that, on September 20, Jeff Zients, White House Covid Response Coordinator, announced easing of restrictions on direct entry into the US by fully vaccinated international travelers. Few details are available as of this writing.
Continue Reading The end of NIEs is Nigh – Biden’s Covid Team Announces Travel Restrictions to be Lifted in November