Business Immigration Insights

On January 31, 2024, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) published a final rule to adjust certain immigration and naturalization benefit request fees, effective April 1, 2024. Employers will see significant increases on the fees they pay to submit petitions for workers and to sponsor employees for permanent residence. The agency stated that the fee increases will “…allow USCIS to recover a greater share of its operating costs and support more timely processing of new applications.” This is the first major adjustment in USCIS filing fees since 2016. Notably, the Service is implementing different fees for each type of visa classification sought on Form I‑129 nonimmigrant worker petition, replacing the uniform $460 Form I‑129 filing fee across all classifications. 

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.

Foreign nationals are experiencing delays of more than a month in receiving approved work permits and green cards that are normally issued and mailed within days of approval.  Applicants are also experiencing extended delays in the time it takes USCIS to adjudicate these applications.  These delays have a major impact on foreign nationals and their US employers.

As of May 1, 2020, when employers verify identity and employment authorization for their employees, they must use the October 21, 2019, edition of Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification.

Since March 2019, all applicants who file Form I-539 Application To Extend or Change Nonimmigrant Status have been required to appear for biometrics appointments so that US Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) can compare their biometric data against their identity documents and forward the data to the FBI for security screenings.

Why Is USCIS Taking Fingerprints from Applicants for Temporary Status?  According to USCIS, this new biometric requirement is to aid in identifying threats to public safety and national security, and to protect the integrity of the immigration ...

The provision automatically extending some Employment Authorization Documents (“EADs”) of the much-anticipated “Retention of EB-1, EB-2, and EB-3 Immigrant Workers and Program Improvements Affecting High-Skilled Nonimigrant Workers” regulation goes into effect today.  The regulation provides for the automatic extension of certain EADs for a period not to exceed 180 days, provided that a renewal application is:

1. Properly filed with USCIS before the expiration date shown on the face of the expiring EAD,
2. Based on the same employment category shown on the face of the expiring EAD, and
3. Based on a class of aliens whose employment eligibility to apply for employment authorization continues notwithstanding expiration of the EAD and is based on an employment authorization category that does not require adjudication of an underlying application or petition before the adjudication of the renewal application.

After more than 15 years since the statutes were enacted, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will finally publish its proposed regulations implementing the American Competitiveness in the Twenty‑First Century Act of 2000, known as “AC21,” and the American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act of 1998, known as “ACWIA.”