Insight, News, and Strategy on Immigration Matters Around the World
On April 18, 2022, USCIS announced that it had received 483,927 registrations for the FY 2023 H-1B Cap. This is the largest number ever received – almost 200,000 more than the total count of 308,613 for FY 2022.
Out of the 487,927 registration applications, USCIS selected 127,600 to fill the 85,000 available spots. Employers whose…
The Department of Homeland Security set out the specifics about the upcoming new premium processing benefits in the Federal Register on March 30, 2022. The details, however, did not include any specific implementation dates, which it said depends on when the revenues exist to cover potential costs.
Just as the Biden Administration is proposing increased funding for USCIS to help reduce the agency’s backlog, USCIS is announcing future new actions to improve processing times.
USCIS:
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A series of significant developments in U.S. immigration law has already marked the beginning of 2022 and more can be expected. Please see our Legal Update for what to anticipate as the year progresses.
USCIS has increased the evidentiary burden for petitions for the O-1 Extraordinary Ability visa to mirror that for the EB-1 Extraordinary Ability visa.
Both the O-1 nonimmigrant and EB-1 immigrant visa classifications remain important and flexible methods of sponsoring outstanding talent in the United States. Unfortunately, USCIS backlogs and processing delays persist, and availability of…
USCIS has announced that H-1B Cap registration will start on March 1, 2022, at noon (Eastern) and will continue through noon (Eastern) on March 18, 2022.
If enough registrations to fill the cap are received by March 18 (which is likely), USCIS will randomly select registrations and send selection notifications through users’ myUSCIS online accounts.…
Nonimmigrant spouses of H-1B and L-1 visa holders with long-pending EAD applications have finally received some relief. Based upon a settlement in Shergill v. Mayokas, USCIS is making major policy changes. Going forward, certain H-4 spouses with pending EAD applications will be entitled to 180-day automatic extensions of their EAD cards and L-2…
As of 12:01 a.m. ET on November 8, 2021, the United States’ country-specific 14-day COVID-19 travel restrictions that have been so troublesome and disruptive for individuals and businesses will be eliminated. Instead, protecting the country from COVID-19 will focus on vaccination status.
President Joe Biden’s “A Proclamation on Advancing the Safe Resumption of Global…
Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Alejandro N. Mayorkas has issued a policy directive to immediately discontinue mass worksite enforcement operations.
These involve large-scale law enforcement operations resulting in the arrest of hundreds of unauthorized workers. They were a significant part of the Trump Administration’s worksite enforcement strategy.
Secretary Mayorkas criticized these large-scale…
The country dodged a government shutdown at the end of September, but we may be faced with the same problem on December 3, 2021, when Congress will again have to fund the government. Because we often come close to a shutdown (and sometimes shutdowns happen), it is important to remember how a shutdown affects the…
