Immigration Law Insights

Latest from Immigration Law Insights

Since its introduction in 2001, the Premium Processing service offered by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) has seen notable changes. Premium Processing was originally introduced as an option for certain immigration benefit applicants and petitioners to request expedited 15-day processing for an additional fee. The fee to request Premium Processing was originally set

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) announced a Temporary Final Rule that will increase the 180-day automatic extension period for some Employment Authorization Documents (“EADs”) to 540 days beyond the EAD’s expiration date. The rule, which was published as a response to massive USCIS delays in processing EAD renewal applications, became effective immediately on May

On January 22, 2022, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) began requiring all non-U.S. individuals entering the United States by land or ferry across the U.S./Mexico or U.S./Canada borders to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. The new guidance applies to those non-U.S. individuals who are traveling for both essential and non-essential reasons but will not

Last week, USCIS announced the H-1B visa cap registration deadlines for FY2023. Registration is mandatory for employers wishing to sponsor a candidate for an H-1B visa in the FY2023 H-1B cap cycle. Registration is an annual electronic process through which USCIS receives registrations from employers for the H-1B lottery. USCIS has historically conducted a random

Effective December 31, 2021, the United States began permitting noncitizen arrivals from Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. A Presidential Proclamation went into effect on November 29, 2021, suspending entry into the United States for individuals who were present in the aforementioned Southern Africa countries within a 14-day window before their

Employment Authorization Document (EAD) processing times have been severely delayed in recent years, rendering certain dependent nonimmigrants temporarily ineligible to work and causing gaps in some U.S. employers’ workforces. An EAD can take over 12 months for adjudication under current processing times. Recently, USICS issued guidance expanding its automatic EAD extension rules to apply to

On October 25, 2021, President Biden announced plans to revoke the current country-by-country travel restrictions to the United States which have been in place since January 2020. The order outlines new air travel policies for foreign travelers seeking to enter the United States as nonimmigrants, which relies primarily on COVID-19 vaccination status and effectively revokes

Beginning October 1, 2021, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) will require COVID-19 vaccinations for all applicants applying for lawful permanent residence (i.e. green card) with some exceptions. Specifically, all green card applicants who receive their medical examination from a designated civil surgeon/panel physician (“Physician”) on or after October 1, 2021 must complete the COVID-19

On October 7, 2020, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) announced an Interim Final Rule titled, “Strengthening Wage Protections for the Temporary and Permanent Employment of Certain Aliens in the United States” would go into effect on October 8, 2020. The rule would have amended the regulatory scheme used to calculate prevailing wages for foreign workers