Archive for category: News

H-2B Cap for Second Half of FY 2024

USCIS has received enough petitions to meet the congressionally mandated H-2B cap for the second half of FY 2024. March 7, 2024, was the final receipt date for new cap-subject H-2B worker petitions requesting an employment start date on or after April 1, 2024, and before Oct. 1, 2024. We will reject new cap-subject H-2B petitions received after March 7, 2024, that request an employment start date on or after April 1, 2024, and before Oct. 1, 2024.

We continue to accept H-2B petitions that are exempt from the congressionally mandated cap. This includes petitions for:

• Current H-2B workers in the United States who wish to extend their stay and, if applicable, change the terms of their employment or change their employers;
• Fish roe processors, fish roe technicians and/or supervisors of fish roe processing; and
• Workers performing labor or services in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and/or Guam (until Dec. 31, 2029).

Filing Dates for Second Half of FY 2024 Supplemental Visas

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Labor (DOL) jointly published a temporary final rule on Nov. 17, 2023, increasing the numerical limit (or cap) on H-2B nonimmigrant visas by up to 64,716 additional visas for all of FY 2024. These supplemental visas are available only to U.S. businesses that are suffering irreparable harm or will suffer impending irreparable harm without the ability to employ all the H-2B workers requested in their petition, as attested by the employer on the DOL Form ETA 9142-B-CAA-8 (PDF). These supplemental H-2B visas are for U.S. employers seeking to petition for additional workers at certain periods of the fiscal year.

Below are the filing start dates for each of the remaining supplemental visa allocations under the temporary final rule:

• For employers seeking workers who are nationals of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Haiti, Colombia, Ecuador, and Costa Rica, regardless of whether such nationals are returning workers: USCIS will begin accepting petitions for employers requesting an employment start date from April 1, 2024, to Sept. 30, 2024, on March 22, 2024. USCIS began accepting petitions from employers with employment start dates from Oct. 1, 2023, to March 31, 2024, in November 2023. A cap count for this country-specific allocation is available on the Temporary Increase in H-2B Nonimmigrant Visas for FY 2024 page.
• For employers seeking returning workers for the early second half of FY 2024 (April 1 to May 14): USCIS will begin accepting petitions for the additional 19,000 visas made available to returning workers regardless of country of nationality on March 22, 2024.
• For employers seeking returning workers for the late second half of FY 2024 (May 15 to Sept. 30): USCIS will begin accepting petitions for the additional 5,000 visas made available to returning workers regardless of country of nationality on April 22, 2024.

USCIS will stop accepting petitions under this temporary final rule received after Sept. 16, 2024, or after the applicable cap has been reached, whichever occurs first.

USCIS has already announced that we have received enough petitions to reach the cap for the additional 20,716 H-2B visas made available for returning workers for the first half of FY 2024 with employment start dates on or before March 31, 2024.

Additional information on the FY 2024 supplemental visas is available on the Temporary Increase in H-2B Nonimmigrant Visas for FY 2024 page.

 

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is issuing policy guidance regarding the F and M student nonimmigrant classifications, including the agency’s role in adjudicating applications for employment authorization, change of status, extension of stay, and reinstatement of status for these students and their dependents in the United States.

This guidance consolidates existing policy. USCIS expects that this will provide welcome clarity to international students and U.S. educational institutions on a wealth of topics, including eligibility requirements, school transfers, practical training, and on- and off-campus employment.

For example, the guidance clarifies that F and M students must have a foreign residence that they do not intend to abandon, but that such students may be the beneficiary of a permanent labor certification application or immigrant visa petition and may still be able to demonstrate their intention to depart after a temporary period of stay.

In addition, the guidance specifies how F students seeking an extension of optional practical training (OPT) based on their degree in a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) field may be employed by startup companies, as long as the employer adheres to the training plan requirements, remains in good standing with E-Verify, and provides compensation commensurate to that provided to similarly situated U.S. workers, among other requirements.

The nonimmigrant academic student (F-1) classification allows a noncitizen to enter the United States as a full-time student at a college, university, seminary, conservatory, academic high school, elementary school, or other academic institution, or in a language training program. The nonimmigrant vocational student (M-1) classification includes students in established vocational or other recognized nonacademic programs, other than language training programs.

For more information about the USCIS guidance, see the Policy Alert (PDF, 312.06 KB) and Volume 2, Part F of the Policy Manual. For more information about the role of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in administering these nonimmigrant student programs, see the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVIS).

Certain renewal applicants who have filed Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, qualify for an automatic extension of their expiring employment authorization and/or employment authorization documents (EADs) while their renewal application is pending. Starting today, those who are eligible will receive 180-day extensions in accordance with existing regulations, including those who have applied for or have received Temporary Protected Status or asylum.

In May 2022, however, USCIS announced a temporary final rule (TFR) that increased the automatic extension period for EADs available to certain EAD renewal applicants from up to 180 days to up to 540 days. Today’s change is not retroactive; all previous up to 540-day automatic extensions will remain in place.

USCIS is in the process of determining whether there is a need for a new regulatory action similar to the May 2022 TFR, notwithstanding past and ongoing operational improvements and efforts to accelerate EAD processing more broadly.

As announced in the 2022 TFR, automatic extensions of employment authorization and EAD validity will be the original up to 180-day period for those eligible applicants who timely file a Form I-765 renewal applications on or after Oct. 27, 2023.

For individuals who received an increased automatic extension period under the TFR, the increased automatic extension will end when they receive a final decision on their renewal application or when the up to 540-day period expires (counted from the expiration date of the employment authorization and/or their EAD), whichever comes earlier.

Meanwhile, USCIS recently published a Policy Manual update increasing the maximum EAD validity period to five years for initial and renewal applications approved on or after Sept. 27, 2023, for the following categories:

• Certain noncitizens who are employment authorized incident to status or circumstance, including those admitted as refugees, paroled as refugees, granted asylum, and recipients of withholding of removal; and
• Certain noncitizens who must apply for employment authorization, including applicants for asylum and withholding of removal, adjustment of status, and suspension of deportation or cancellation of removal.

USCIS is making every effort to help avoid gaps in employment and/or employment authorization documentation for noncitizens with pending EAD renewal applications, and to help reduce EAD processing times, including by dedicating additional personnel and implementing processing improvements to decrease the median processing time for certain EAD applications to 30 days.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has issued policy guidance (PDF, 311.12 KB) in the USCIS Policy Manual clarifying that a sole proprietorship may not file a petition on behalf of its owner because the sole proprietorship does not exist as a distinct legal entity separate and apart from the owner.

This Policy Manual update affirms the existing guidance. The update distinguishes a sole proprietor from a self-incorporated petitioner (such as a corporation or a limited liability company with a single owner), where the corporation or the single member limited liability company is a separate and distinct legal entity from its owner, which may petition for that owner.

This update also clarifies guidance regarding blanket petitions. International organizations file blanket L-1 petitions on behalf of all individual entities named in the petition. USCIS is updating policy guidance to clarify that the failure to timely file an extension of the blanket petition does not trigger the 3-year waiting period before another blanket petition may be filed.

This guidance, contained in Volume 2 of the Policy Manual, is effective immediately. The guidance contained in the Policy Manual is controlling and supersedes any related prior guidance on the topic.

The L-1 nonimmigrant visa classification enables a U.S. employer that is part of a qualifying organization to temporarily transfer employees from one of its related foreign offices to locations in the United States. Existing USCIS policy and practice provide that a sole proprietorship may not file an L-1 petition on behalf of its owner.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is issuing new instructions for asylum applications submitted by individuals whose removal proceedings were dismissed or terminated by the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR).

Effective Oct. 16, 2023, if EOIR dismissed or terminated your removal proceedings and you choose to pursue a claim for asylum, you must submit a current version of Form I-589, Application for Asylum and for Withholding of Removal, to the USCIS lockbox that has jurisdiction over your place of residence. If you had a pending asylum application when EOIR dismissed or terminated your removal proceedings, you should include in your submission any additional or updated information regarding your claim for asylum. They also recommend that you submit proof demonstrating that:

• EOIR dismissed or terminated your removal proceedings, such as a copy of the EOIR Order of Dismissal or Termination; and
• You had a Form I-589 pending with EOIR when your removal proceedings were dismissed or terminated.

If the evidence establishes that you filed Form I-589 before the date when EOIR dismissed or terminated your removal proceedings, they will issue a receipt notice with your original Form I-589 filing date. This is the date they will use for purposes of the one-year filing deadline, employment authorization eligibility based on a pending asylum application, asylum interview scheduling priority, and age determinations for child dependent applicants. If you did not file Form I-589 before the date when EOIR dismissed or terminated your removal proceedings, they will issue a receipt notice with your current Form I-589 filing date.

If you originally filed an asylum application with USCIS (known as an affirmative asylum application), and they referred, forwarded, or transferred your asylum application to immigration court where it remained pending until the removal proceedings were dismissed or terminated, we intend to issue a new discretionary Notice to Appear to send your application back to EOIR if you file a new asylum application.

To avoid processing delays, carefully review the “Where to File†and “Special Instructions†sections of the Form I-589 webpage before submitting your application. Use they Filing Instructions Tool to find out whether you are eligible to file Form I-589 with USCIS either by paper or online. Visit the Form I-765 webpage for information about Employment Authorization Documents for applicants with a pending application for asylum or withholding of deportation or removal under 8 CFR 274a.12(c)(8).