Many USCIS filing fees are being adjusted upward beginning on April 1, 2024. That date, of course, is particularly significant. It is the earliest date that Cap H-1Bs can be filed.

The H-1B filing fee, for example, will rise from $460 to $780. The ACWIA Fee (to fund the training of U.S. workers) and the

Premium processing will become more expensive starting on February 26, 2024. According to USCIS, it is raising the fees to adjust for inflation.

The newly generated income, estimated to be approximately $185 million, will be used to respond to adjudication demands and reduce processing times throughout the agency.

USCIS has been rolling out premium

Congress has approved an additional 64,716 H-2B visas for fiscal year 2024, supplementing the 66,000 available annually. As in prior years, restrictions will apply. A temporary final rule has been published in the Federal Register setting out the procedures involved.

H-2B visas for temporary, seasonal nonagricultural workers are used primarily for jobs in tourism and

The Department of Labor (DOL) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) have announced they will be collaborating and sharing information to improve their enforcement efforts.

Based upon a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), the agencies are “forming this partnership to encourage greater coordination between them through information sharing, joint investigations, training and outreach.” This

By September 30, 2023, Congress will again have to fund the government. Despite ongoing efforts by the administration and Congress, indications are that a shutdown may occur at the beginning of the fiscal year, on October 1. Should a shutdown occur, it will affect a number of immigration- and visa-related agencies and processes.

USCIS

Because

As the United States carries out projects funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) Act, the manufacturing industry must prepare to face staffing challenges in meeting future demand. Immigration can help address the demand. Please see our full article here.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has provided guidance on the additional 64,716 H-2B temporary nonagricultural worker visas available for fiscal year 2023.

H-2B visas allow employers to bring workers to the United States to perform temporary nonagricultural seasonal work. The statute limits the total number of H-2B visas per year to 66,000. In recent

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will no longer issue a paper Form I-94, Arrival/Departure Record, to individuals arriving to the United States at a land border. Now, the information that was on the I-94 is on the CBP’s I-94 website and available on the CBP One Mobile application.

It has taken some time

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in conjunction with the Department of Labor (DOL) will be starting the fiscal year by making an additional 64,716 H-2B temporary nonagricultural worker visas available. This is on top of the 66,000 normally available.

This move represents a change in strategy. Instead of waiting, the agencies announced the

As they did for last summer, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Labor (DOL) will make available an additional 35,000 H-2B temporary nonagricultural worker visas for the second half of FY 2022. This more than doubles the usual 33,000 allocation or cap for the summer.

Of the new 35,000 visas,