Omnibus Appropriations Bill Signed – Reauthorizes Certain Immigration Programs The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022, an omnibus spending bill passed by Congress and signed by President Biden on March 11, reauthorizes certain immigration programs. These include e-Verify, the special immigrant non-minister religious worker program, and the Conrad 30 waiver program through the end of this fiscal …
H-1B Cap Reached for FY 2022 On February 28, 2022, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it received a sufficient number of petitions needed to reach the congressionally mandated 65,000 H-1B visa regular cap and the 20,000 H-1B visa U.S. advanced degree exemption, known as the master’s cap, for fiscal year (FY) 2022, …
Single Combined Payments on Certain H-1B or H-1B1 Form No Longer Accepted U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on February 25, 2022, that for all H-1B and H-1B1 petitions received on or after April 1, 2022, USCIS will no longer accept a single, combined fee payment when Form I-539, Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status; …
U.S. Immigration Updates- Week of February 28, 2022 Read More »
Eligible Applicants Urged to Switch Employment-Based Categories U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is encouraging eligible applicants to consider requesting to transfer the underlying basis of their adjustment of status applications to the first (priority workers) or second (noncitizens in professions with advanced degrees or with exceptional ability) employment-based preference categories. USCIS said this is …
U.S. Immigration Updates-Week of February 21, 2022 Read More »
House Republicans Introduce Their Own Immigration Bill An immigration bill newly introduced by Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives could serve as a springboard for a bipartisan reform effort but finding compromise could prove challenging given the political polarization surrounding the immigration debate. The bill, dubbed the Dignity Act, offers a pathway to citizenship, …
U.S. Immigration Updates- Week of February 14, 2022 Read More »
U.S. House Passes Bill to Attract and Retain Immigrants in STEM Fields; Senate Passage Uncertain On February 4, 2022, the House of Representatives passed the America COMPETES Act of 2022 (H.R. 4521). The bill would exempt international science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) PhD graduates from the green card numerical cap, create a new visa …
U.S. Immigration Updates- Week of February 7, 2022 Read More »
H-1B Cap Initial Registration Period for FY 2023 Opens March 1 The initial registration period for the fiscal year (FY) 2023 H-1B cap will open at noon ET on March 1, 2022, and run through noon ET on March 18, 2022, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced. During this period, prospective petitioners and representatives …
U.S. Immigration Updates- Week of January 31, 2022 Read More »
USCIS Provides Guidance on O-1A Petitions for STEM Fields On Jan. 21, 2022, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) updated the USCIS Policy Manual with additional guidance on how USCIS evaluates eligibility for the O-1A “extraordinary ability” visa category. O-1A visas are reserved for individuals with extraordinary abilities in the sciences, education, business, or athletics. …
U.S. Immigration Updates Week of January 24, 2022 Read More »
Key Deadlines for H-1B CAP Electronic Registration Process Employers seeking to sponsor candidates for initial H-1B sponsorship (commonly known as ‘H-1B CAP’) should begin preparing for the H-1B electronic registration process. Although the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has not announced the exact dates for electronic registration, previous registration periods have opened for three …
U.S. Immigration Updates- Week of January 20, 2022 Read More »
Report Finds USCIS Benefits Slowed During Pandemic The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) released a report on December 28, 2021, finding that continued reliance on manual processing slowed U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ benefits delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic. OIG found that USCIS had limited capability to electronically process more than …
U.S. Immigration Updates-Week of January 10, 2022 Read More »
