Author: Caroline Lee

H-1B cap season is closer than you think!  If you are an employer planning to register one or more employees in the spring lottery for FY 2026, or if you’re an employee whose employer will be registering you, here’s a tip to ensure you’re prepped and ready once the new year hits. Last year, USCIS instituted a new beneficiary-centric process for registration whereby lottery selections are made by unique beneficiary rather than by registration. The final rule went into effect on March 4, 2024, and applied to the fiscal year (FY) 2025 registration process. Starting with the FY 2025 initial registration period, USCIS is now requiring registrants to provide valid passport information or valid travel document information for each beneficiary. The passport or travel document provided must be the one the beneficiary, if or when abroad, intends to use to enter the United States if issued an H-1B visa. Each beneficiary must only be registered under one passport or travel document. Thus, if your employee has multiple citizenships and holds a passport from more than one country, they will need to select which passport they will use to register, and subsequently use for the H-1B petition if selected in the lottery. Moreover, if your employee does not have a valid passport, now is the time to obtain or renew that passport!  As a reminder, only those with selected registrations are eligible to file H-1B cap-subject petitions.

Questions about the upcoming H-1B cap season?  Schedule a consultation with a CYA attorney today!

On Friday, October 18, several agencies within the Department of Homeland Security signaled forthcoming protections to certain Lebanese nationals currently living in the United States. U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) published a notice of employment authorization for Lebanese individuals covered by the Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) program for Lebanon. Additionally, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) published a notice of employment authorization for certain Lebanese students. Moreover, USCIS will publish additional details regarding a planned Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation for Lebanon in a forthcoming Federal Register notice. The designations are a positive step forward for DED- and TPS-eligible Lebanese nationals, as they will be allowed to work and temporarily remain in the United States.

The Department of State published information in the Federal Register about the online registration process for FY2026 diversity visas (DVs). Up to 55,000 immigrants can enter the United States each year from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. The DV Program requires the principal DV applicant to have a high school education, or its equivalent, or two years of qualifying work experience as defined under provisions of U.S. law.

The online registration period for the DV-2026 program begins on Wednesday, October 2, and concludes on Tuesday, November 5. With the exception of Cuba, which is not eligible for DV-2026, there were no changes in eligibility from the previous fiscal year.

On August 26, 2024, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, in Texas v. Department of Homeland Security, administratively stayed the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), from granting parole-in-place (PIP) under the Biden Administration’s Keeping Families Together program for another 14 days. In the meantime, USCIS can continue to accept and review PIP applications but cannot grant parole.

To comply with the district court’s administrative stay, USCIS will:

• Not grant any pending parole in place requests under Keeping Families Together.
• Continue to accept filings of the Application for Parole in Place for Certain Noncitizen Spouses and Stepchildren of U.S. Citizens.
• Continue to schedule biometric appointments and capture biometrics at Application Support Centers (ASCs).

The program, announced by the Biden Administration on June 18, 2024 and officially implemented on August 19, 2024, is a process for certain noncitizen spouses and noncitizen stepchildren of U.S. citizens to request parole-in-place under existing statutory authority.  If granted parole, and if otherwise eligible, these noncitizens may apply for adjustment of status to that of a lawful permanent resident without having to leave the United States and be processed by a U.S. consulate overseas. The district court’s administrative stay order does not affect any applications that were approved before the administrative stay order was issued at 6:46 p.m. Eastern Time on August 26, 2024.

If you have questions about the Keeping Families Together program, please schedule a consult with a CYA attorney today!

On Wednesday, May 22, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida struck down a key part of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ anti-immigrant law. Section 10 of Senate Bill 1718 made it a crime to drive an immigrant who entered the U.S. without inspection into Florida.

The law has deeply impacted immigrants and communities of color at large. Something as simple as a trip to the grocery store or driving to a doctor’s appointment became potentially dangerous and put large numbers of residents at risk of being arrested, charged, and prosecuted with a felony. The American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Florida, Americans for Immigrant Justice, American Immigration Council, and the Southern Poverty Law Center successfully sought a preliminary injunction of Section 10 on behalf of the Farmworker Association of Florida and various impacted individuals, arguing that Section 10 unconstitutionally inserts the state into immigration enforcement. The court agreed that the law is likely unconstitutional, and temporarily blocked Section 10 from going into effect. It is expected that the Florida Attorney General’s office will appeal the ruling.

Some good news for DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals)! Under a new rule promulgated by the Biden Administration, federal healthcare coverage will be available to DACA recipients for the first time since DACA was implemented more than 10 years ago. The new rule will allow DACA recipients to enroll in a qualified health plan through the Affordable Care Act insurance marketplace or become eligible for coverage through a basic health program. Up until this point, DACA beneficiaries had been barred from accessing federally funded health insurance despite contributing billions in federal taxes. It is estimated that there are about 580,000 DACA recipients living, working, and studying in the U.S. The addition of federal healthcare coverage is a welcome step for the program.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a temporary final rule that will increase the automatic extension period applicable to certain expiring Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) to up to 540 days from the expiration date stated on the EADs. The temporary final rule is effective as of April 8, 2024. DHS is effecting these changes to prevent renewal applicants from experiencing a lapse in their employment authorization and documentation. Without this temporary rule, DHS estimates that approximately 800,000 renewal EAD applicants would be in danger of having their applications remain pending beyond the current 180-day auto-extension period because of USCIS processing delays. Thus, the 540-day extension is a welcome and necessary update. Comments on the temporary final rule are due by June 7, 2024.

The H-1B cap lottery opened on March 6, with USCIS rolling out new technological updates and company-centric “organizational accounts,” allowing employers to link multiple members of their organization to the account for the H-1B registration process. Despite these updates, there have been bumps with the lottery process, including employer and company signatures not showing up on the registration summaries, despite the parties having signed as directed. Additionally, there have been reports of 404 error messages resulting from reverting Form G-28 and USCIS between the employer and the legal representative, as well as payment problems with registration. USCIS appears to have resolved the technical glitches at this time; here’s hoping the remainder of the lottery period will go smoothly!

As a reminder, the H-1B lottery will close on March 22 at 12 pm EST.  Please schedule a consultation with Curray York & Associates if you have questions about H-1Bs!

USCIS released data from FY2023 showing that it completed 10 million immigration cases and reduced its backlog for the first time in over a decade, making progress towards its strategic initiatives. The agency also announced that its data improved customer experiences, addressed humanitarian needs, and strengthened employment-based immigration in the last year. Per USCIS, it reduced backlogs by over 15% in 2023 and effectively eliminated its backlog of naturalization applications; the median processing time for naturalization applications dropped from 10.5 months to 6.1 months by the end of the fiscal year. USCIS also launched new online tools in 2023 which are intended to enhance customers’ experience and increase efficiency.

The agency stated that it will continue to build on its progress in 2024 while monitoring and addressing remaining processing delays. Within this framework, USCIS has announced new filing fees effective April 1, and has stated that the new fees will allow it to recover operating costs, reestablish and maintain timely case processing, and foster efficiency in the adjudication of immigration benefits.

Heads up – U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) filing fee increases may be coming our way shortly.  It’s possible that the USCIS Final Fee Rule could be published as a final rule within the next few weeks. As it has been eight years since the last fee increase, the Biden Administration may prioritize finalizing this rule sooner rather than later. Once the final rule is published in the Federal Register, it will likely take effect at least 60 days later.

For context, on January 4, 2023, USCIS issued a proposed rule on adjusting the fee schedule, which included increasing application fees by a 40% overall weighted average increase. As highlighted by the American Immigration Lawyers Association, as a result of these changes, employers would be required to pay:

• 70% more for H-1B petitions
• 129% more for O-1 petitions
• 201% more for L-1 petitions
• a $600 surcharge for Forms 1-129 and I-140
• Over 2,000% more for the H-1B electronic registration system fee
• 130% more for AOS, AP and EAD applications when filed together

USCIS has already announced an increase in premium processing fees, which will take effect on February 26, 2024.  Stay tuned for more on filing fee increases!