Immigration News

The expansion of U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services’ (USCIS) premium processing program has moved into a new phase!  At long last, premium processing will now include all multinational manager and executive I-140 petitions as well as National Interest Waiver (NIW) I-140 petitions.  Beginning January 30, 2023, USCIS will accept Form I-907 premium processing requests for all new and pending I-140 petitions for multinational executive and manager petitions and NIW petitions. These premium-processed I-140 petitions are to be adjudicated within 45 days.  In March 2023, USCIS plans to further expand premium processing to pending Form I-765s filed by F-1 students for Optional Technical Training (OPT) and STEM OPT.  This will be further expanded in April 2023 to initial OPT and STEM OPT applications. Exact details are expected to be announced in February 2023.

Premium processing allows petitions to be adjudicated much faster than the stated USCIS processing times, for an additional USCIS filing fee.  More and more employers and beneficiaries are electing to use premium process as USCIS processing delays have continued to increase in the post-Covid world.  Have questions about whether your petition is eligible for premium processing?  Reach out to the attorneys at CYA today!

Starting this week U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has updated its policy to automatically extend the validity of permanent resident cards (also called green cards) for individuals who have applied to become U.S. citizens.

This change in policy is a welcome change as it alleviates the need for naturalization applicants to file an extra application, the I-90, to renew their green card while they’re in the process of naturalizing. This automatic extension will apply to all applicants who file Form N-400 on or after Dec. 12, 2022. As a result of longer than normal processing times, many applicants for naturalization were finding themselves needing to renew their green cards while they waited for USCIS to adjudicate their naturalization cases. With a filing fee of $540, this need to file the I-90 was a costly and frustrating extra expense for many lawful permanent residents who were in the process of becoming US citizens.

Lawful permanent residents who submit their naturalization application on or after December 12, 2022 will receive this extension automatically. USCIS plans to update the language on the N-400 receipt notice to make clear that the naturalization applicant’s green card is automatically extended for up to 24 months. This N-400 receipt notice can then be shown along with the expired green card as evidence of continued employment authorization for I-9 purposes.

In order to provide Ukrainian and Afghan parolees with the same benefits that are given to refugees under the immigration laws, USCIS has decided that Ukrainian and Afghan parolees are eligible for employment authorization immediately upon entering the United States. Parole is the legal term for allowing someone to temporarily enter the United States even though he/she may not have a visa or be otherwise eligible for admission.

This policy is effective as of November 21, 2022, and enables certain Ukrainian and Afghan parolees (and their qualifying family members) to begin working immediately, and without applying for employment authorization from USCIS.  Eligible individuals will be able to show an unexpired I-94 to their employers to document their employment eligibility. This new policy provides a welcome and much needed benefit to many Ukrainian and Afghan nationals who have recently fled their home countries. For more information regarding eligibility for this new policy, please contact us for a consultation.

A growing number of U.S. airports have stopped stamping foreign passports with an entry stamp when a foreign national enters the United States. Instead, each time someone enters the United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) creates an online electronic record of the individual’s entry. This online electronic record is called an I-94, and international travelers should check their I-94 record after every entry into the United States to ensure that all of their data and admission information is correct.

This weekend CBP launched a new app called “CBP One” that serves as a single portal to CBP services and makes checking your I-94, registering for a provisional I-94, and booking customs appointments available all in one app. Check it out here, and help ensure that your international travels into the U.S. go as smoothly and quickly as possible.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is extending certain COVID-19-related flexibilities through Jan. 24, 2023. Under these flexibilities, USCIS considers a response received within 60 calendar days after the due date before taking any action. The USCIS notices and requests eligible for this extension include:

• Requests for Evidence;
• Continuations to Request Evidence (N-14);
• Notices of Intent to Deny;
• Notices of Intent to Revoke;
• Notices of Intent to Rescind;
• Notices of Intent to Terminate regional centers;
• Notices of Intent to Withdraw Temporary Protected Status; and
• Motions to Reopen an N-400 Pursuant to 8 CFR 335.5, Receipt of Derogatory Information After Grant.

In addition, USCIS will consider a Form I-290B, Notice of Appeal or Motion, or a Form N-336, Request for a Hearing on a Decision in Naturalization Proceedings (Under Section 336 of the INA), if:

• The form was filed up to 90 calendar days from the issuance of a decision we made; and
• We made that decision between Nov. 1, 2021, and Jan. 24, 2023, inclusive.

As a reminder, the reproduced signature flexibility announced in March 2020 became permanent policy on July 25, 2022.

Please visit uscis.gov/coronavirus for USCIS updates.

In order to become a permanent resident of the United States, applicants must undergo a medical exam to ensure that they will not trigger any of the health-related grounds of inadmissibility. For example, having a contagious disease such as measles, mumps or tuberculosis could render someone unable to become a permanent resident. Normally, USCIS considers a completed Form I-693 medical exam to remain valid for 2 years after the U.S. civil surgeon signs the form, so long as the civil surgeon’s signature is no more than 60 days old when USCIS receives the application for permanent residence.

Because of COVID-related delays, USCIS has excused this 60-day signature requirement. This is a temporary exception that was set to expire today. However, USCIS announced yesterday that the exception to the 60-day signature requirement will be extended until March 31, 2023. This is a welcome extension that will help ease filings timelines and processing delays caused by COVID. For more information about the requirements to become a lawful permanent resident of the United States, reach out to our attorneys for a consultation.

Immigration processing times are not known for being quick – the opposite is sadly true as processing times for many case types have ticked up substantially over the past few years.  However, good news is at hand for at least a few more categories of employment-based permanent residence, as USCIS continues its phased approach to expanding the cases that are eligible for premium processing.  Premium processing allows for the payment of an extra fee to the agency; in return USCIS will adjudicate the petition within a greatly reduced time frame, the length of which depends on the case type.  However, the types of cases that are eligible for premium processing have been narrowly defined in the past.  With this third phase of premium process expansion, USCIS is permitting certain petitioners who have a pending Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers, under the EB-1 and EB-2 classifications, to interfile premium processing on the pending cases.

As of September 15, USCIS will accept premium processing requests for:

• Multinational executive and manager petitions received on or before January 1, 2022 (EB-1); and
• National Interest Waiver petitions received on or before February 1, 2022 (EB-2).

USCIS has stated that it will reject premium processing requests for these Form I-140 classifications if the receipt date is after the above-mentioned dates.

Is your case eligible for premium processing?  If you have questions, reach out to the attorneys at Curray York & Associates for a consultation.