Business Immigration Insights

COVID travel restrictions may be improving, but the most recent update to the Department of State’s Visa Wait Times confirms that there are still very serious, ongoing visa appointment delays resulting from the pandemic.

The Visa Bulletin is released monthly by the Department of State and is used to determine when a sponsored foreign national can submit the final step of the green card process, or if already pending, when the final step can be adjudicated.

USCIS announced that effective May 4, 2022, certain categories of Employment Authorization Document (“EAD”) applicants will be eligible for an additional extension of automatic work authorization, beyond that to which they are already entitled.

The Visa Bulletin is released monthly by the Department of State and is used to determine when a sponsored foreign national can submit the final step of the green card process, or if already pending, when the final step can be adjudicated.

A new rule, “Implementation of the Emergency Stopgap USCIS Stabilization Act,” published in the Federal Register on March 30, 2022, will open the popular USCIS “premium processing” service to new categories of immigration filings that are currently subject to extraordinarily long backlogs.  USCIS will roll out the expansions in stages.

In the newest sequel to the Shergill v. Mayorkas settlement, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has now updated its Policy Manual to address documents that E and L nonimmigrant spouses may show their employers to prove their work eligibility.

The Visa Bulletin is released monthly by the Department of State and is used to determine when a sponsored foreign national can submit the final step of the green card process, or if already pending, when the final step can be adjudicated.

Ukraine

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that Ukraine has been designated for “Temporary Protected Status” (TPS) for 18 months due to the invasion by Russia and ongoing conflict.

To qualify, Ukrainian nationals must have continuously resided in the United States as of March 1, 2022, and must apply to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services within 180 days (until August 28, 2022). TPS applicants may also apply for Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) allowing them to work lawfully in the United States.

The Visa Bulletin is released monthly by the Department of State and is used to determine when a sponsored foreign national can submit the final step of the green card process, or if already pending, when the final step can be adjudicated.

Below is a summary of the March Visa Bulletin, including Final Action Dates and changes from the previous month.

China:  EB-1 remains current; EB-2 freezes at March 1, 2019; and EB-3 remains stalled at March 22, 2018

India:   EB-1 remains current; EB-2 moves forward four months to May 1, 2013; and EB-3 remains frozen at January 15, 2012.

All Other Countries:  ...

Following the settlement of a US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) lawsuit that finally recognizes that dependent L and E spouses are able to work lawfully incident to their status, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) updated its admission system to designate on the I-94 admission records those spouses who are authorized to work without applying for an EAD.  L and E spouses should be admitted with an “S” after their status to indicate that they are spouses authorized to work.  The new I-94s do not explicitly state “work authorized”, but the “S” designation tells employers for I-9 purposes that they are authorized to work for the validity of their I-94s.