General information

In happy news for H-1B hopeful beneficiaries and petitioners, USCIS announced today that it will be conducting a second round of the H-1B lottery. Woo! Individuals who timely submitted their H-1B registration for FY 2024 will be automatically considered for the second lottery. We don’t know exactly when the second lottery will be conducted, but expect it to happen soon. This is very welcome news for the many H-1B registrants who were not selected in this years’ initial H-1B cap lottery. Stay tuned for further updates on this evolving process.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is launching several new online tools designed to facilitate efficiency and provide better access to the agency for people with pending immigration matters.  The USCIS customer service digital tools include the following:

• Text Ahead Feature – Applicants will have the ability to opt-in to the text back feature from USCIS on an escalated service request after calling the 1-800 Contact Center number or through the online Ask Emma function (available on the USCIS website).
• Online Appointment Request Form – USCIS is launching a new online appointment request feature that is designed to provide more flexibility and certainty for applicants needing specific types of appointments, including ADIT Stamps, Emergency Advance Parole (EAP), or Immigration Judge Grants.
• Online Change of Address Function – To access this feature, applicants or attorneys must use their myUSCIS account. The new online Change of Address function will update all systems within USCIS, for each receipt number provided in real time.
• Online Biometrics Rescheduling – Per USCIS, the online function to request a new biometrics appointment date can be used only two times. The system will ask customers to select a reason for the reschedule request, the current appointment date and time, the customer’s date of birth, and ASC location. This tool cannot be used for rescheduling missed biometrics appointments, however.

If you have questions about how to access or use the new USCIS digital tools, contact a CYA attorney today!

On June 23, 2023, the Supreme Court issued a decision in United States v. Texas, 599 U. S. __ (2023) (reversing United States v. Texas, 606 F. Supp. 3d 437 (2023)). The case was brought before the U.S. Supreme Court by the States of Texas and Louisiana challenging the Biden Administration’s policy of establishing federal civil immigration enforcement priorities. The Supreme Court held that the States lacked Article III standing to challenge the Biden administration’s immigration enforcement priorities and effectively reversed the Texas district court holding. The Biden policy prioritizes the arrest and removal of dangerous non-citizens and suspected terrorists.

Today U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced the expansion of premium processing for change of status applications where individuals are looking to change to F, M, or J nonimmigrant status.

Premium processing will be implemented in the following phases:

• Beginning June 13, USCIS will accept premium processing requests, filed via paper form or online, for applicants seeking a change of status to F-1, F-2, M-1, M-2, J-1, or J-2 status, who have a pending Form I-539, Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status.
• Beginning June 26, USCIS will accept premium processing requests, filed either via paper form or online, for applicants seeking a change of status to F-1, F-2, M-1, M-2, J-1, or J-2 status, when filed together with Form I-539.

A few notes about this change:

1. Premium processing is only available for change of status requests at this time.
2. Applicants must submit their biometrics before premium processing can begin. Even if USCIS accepts an applicant’s Form I-907 and accompanying fees, the time limit for premium processing will not start running until the applicant and all co-applicants included on the Form I-539 submit their biometrics.

Please reach out to a CYA attorney with any questions about this new expansion to premium processing.

The U.S. Department of State posted the July 2023 visa bulletin, and there are some significant shifts to be seen. Unfortunately, in the most notable movement, EB-3 for India retrogressed from June 15, 2012, in June to January 1, 2009, and EB-3 for the rest of the world, Mexico, and the Philippines also retrogressed. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Serves has stated that for July 2023, applicants in all family-sponsored preference categories must use the Dates for Filing chart and applicants in all employment-based preference categories must use the Final Action Dates chart.

If you have questions about the visa bulletin or EB-3 retrogression, please contact the attorneys at CYA today!  

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If you or your employee did not get selected in the initial draw from this year’s H-1B lottery, unfortunately, you’re not alone. Since USCIS changed the H-1B process in 2020 to a bifurcated system that permits registration and lottery prior to filing a substantive H-1B petition, the number of applicants has gone up dramatically. Prior to 2020, an employer would need to file a full H-1B petition by the April deadline, and hope to receive a cap number. Now, for a very low registration fee, employers first enter their employees in the lottery, and if selected, the employer may then file a full H-1B petition for the beneficiary.

While the new registration system has many advantages, including not requiring employers to invest the full expense of an H-1B petition without knowing if their employee will be selected in the lottery, it has also had the effect of drastically increasing the pool of applicants, simultaneously decreasing the likelihood of selection for each person. This year’s lottery was especially bleak: during the registration period for the FY 2024 H-1B cap, USCIS saw a significant increase in the number of registrations submitted compared to prior years. There was an increase in the number of registrations submitted, the number of registrations submitted on behalf of beneficiaries with multiple registrations, and the number of registrations submitted on behalf of unique beneficiaries with only one registration. An astonishing 780,884 registrations were received in the lottery period, but ultimately, only 85,000 H-1B visas may be allotted each year. As a result, these numbers spelled disappointment for the vast majority of registrants.

This year’s lottery, more than ever, underscores the need for H-1B reform legislation that ensures that the supply of H-1B visas is responsive to the needs of U.S. employers and the economy.  If you did not receive an H-1B selection and would like to discuss your other visa options, reach out to the attorneys at CYA today.

The Title 42 Covid Ban invoked by the Trump Administration is set to end on May 11, 2023. The controversial policy allowed officials at the southern border to quickly deny asylum seekers due to the ongoing COVID pandemic emergency. Now that the Biden Administration has decided to lift the ban, thousands of applicants are expected at the border in hopes of receiving protection under asylum regulations. In an effort to ease the burden at the southern border, the Biden Administration will be opening Processing Centers in Guatemala and Columbia. The intention is to have applicants present their asylum claims at these centers without having to make the dangerous journey through Latin America and Mexico to get to the US. However, new policies will also permit CBP officers to deny asylum claims at the border if they did not apply for asylum in the countries they passed through or set an appointment with CBP. With the cooperation of the Mexican government, CBP will quickly expel ineligible asylum seekers from several countries, back to Mexico. The Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, called on Congress to provide resources as they prepare for the anticipated surge of asylum applicants and unauthorized entries next month.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has clarified that effective March 31, 2023, immigration benefit requestors may select their gender on USCIS forms (or change a prior gender selection) without needing to provide supporting documentation for the selected gender. Documents issued by USCIS as a result of the benefit adjudication will reflect the benefit requestor’s gender selection.

In issuing this updated guidance, USCIS notes that “[r]emoving evidentiary requirements regarding gender markers better ensures that all secure identity documents and biographic data are accurate . . . it also removes the burden imposed by requiring that requestors have to publicly discuss or provide documentation regarding the gender listed on their identity documents in order to obtain a benefit or service.”

Currently, the only gender markers available are “Male” (M) or “Female” (F). The Department of Homeland Security is working on options to include an additional gender marker (“X”) for another or unspecified gender identity. USCIS will update its forms and the Policy Manual accordingly.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is moving forward with its “stampless entry program.” Last year, CBP initiated a streamlined arrival process at all 238 arriving airports, 34 seaports, all southern pedestrian ports, and most northern secondary land ports. The objective of this streamlined process is simple – to fully digitize the process of entering the United States. As part of this digitized process, CBP piloted a project to eliminate ink stamps in passports at entry. This fall CBP confirmed that this program will become permanent and expanded to all ports of entry. While CBP officers may stamp passports on request, many will not as a discretionary matter. Similarly, all I-94s are electronically issued – no paper I-94s will be issued.

This digitized change in process will have a practical impact on nonimmigrants and noncitizens. Specifically, now the only record of a noncitizen’s admission into the United States is an electronic I-94 record that is not reviewed by the applicant for admission until after admission and only if the applicant takes it upon him or herself to check their records. Errors in admission status and duration are common, and any negative consequences of an overstay due to CBP error are borne fully by the noncitizen applicant. Because of this, CYA strongly encourages all noncitizens entering the US to promptly check and download their I-94 after each re-entry into the U.S. Any errors should be taken seriously and promptly corrected. Maintaining thorough and complete records of entries and exits is often critical for recapturing nonimmigrant status, proving maintenance of status, and eligibility for naturalization.