USCIS announced last week that the Form I-693 Report of Immigration Medical Examination and Vaccination Record will no longer expire and can be used indefinitely so long as it was properly competed and signed by a U.S. civil surgeon on or after November 1, 2023. Woo! Getting the medical exam completed can be expensive and time-consuming. Previously, long processing timelines resulted in applicants for lawful permanent residence needing to re-do their medical exams before their green card could be issued. Now, thanks to updates to public health electronic notification and recommendations from t ..read more

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a temporary final rule that will increase the automatic extension period applicable to certain expiring Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) to up to 540 days from the expiration date stated on the EADs. The temporary final rule is effective as of April 8, 2024. DHS is effecting these changes to prevent renewal applicants from experiencing a lapse in their employment authorization and documentation. Without this temporary rule, DHS estimates that approximately 800,000 renewal EAD applicants would be in danger of having their applications ..read more

It has been a whirlwind of a first quarter for USCIS and immigration attorneys across the country. In addition to USCIS announcing the conclusion of the H-1B Cap Lottery selection process yesterday, it was also the first day that USCIS’s new fee rule went into effect. Additionally, it was the first day that new versions of some of the most common immigration forms such as the I-129 and I-140 took effect. For some of these forms there is no grace period to accept prior editions of the forms, while for others prior editions will be accepted through June 3, 2024. The filing location for many immi ..read more

This afternoon, USCIS announced that it had finished the process of notifying the winners of the H-1B Visa Lottery. All those “selected” to proceed, must file their H-1B petitions by June 30, 2024. Later in the summer, if USCIS determines that there are still H-1B visas available for this fiscal year, USCIS will initiate another round of “selections ..read more

USCIS’ new fees, forms and filing locations will be effective starting on Monday, April 1, 2024. On March 29, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado denied the Plaintiffs’ request to stop the new fees from going into effect, stating that the Plaintiffs’ failed to meet their burden of proof. (Moody, et. al. v. Mayorkas, et al. (Case No. 1:24-cv-00762, 3/19/24 ..read more

The H-1B Cap Registration period closed on Monday, March 25, 2024, at 12 noon ET. USCIS has announced that it has run the lottery and notifications are being sent to myUSCIS accounts and will continue to be sent for the next few days. USCIS will make an official announcement once all the selection notices have been sent. Those that have been selected in the initial round of selections will have until June 30, 2024, to file their H-1B petitions. USCIS will then evaluate whether another round of selections will be made depending on how many of the 85,000 (65,000 for the Bachelor’s Cap and 20,000 ..read more

On March 19, 2024, the American Immigrant Investor Alliance, IT Service Alliance, and an EB-5 investor filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado challenging the legality of the new USCIS final fee rule, scheduled to take effect on April 1, 2024.  (Moody, et al. v. Mayorkas, et al., 3/19/24).  The District Court of Colorado may issue an order this week that stops the new fee rule from going into effect on April 1, 2024.  If so, USCIS would likely continue to accept the current filing fees and forms until the Court decides on the legality of the new f ..read more

Due to technical issues and glitches with the online H-1B Cap Registration system, USCIS has extended the deadline for H-1B Cap Registration to Monday, March 25, 2024, at 12 noon ET. Once the registration period ends, USCIS will run the lottery and notify the winners that they have been selected to proceed with filing an H-1B petition by June 30, 2024. Good luck to all registrants ..read more

If you thought USCIS was catching up with the 21st century, think again! USCIS recently issued updated guidance regarding the signature requirement for the USCIS fillable version of the Form I-9. Even though the Form I-9 is an electronic fillable form, USCIS has clarified that employers/employees must still print and manually sign the form rather than typing or electronically signing signatures. Thus, employers and employees using the fillable version of the Form I-9 may electronically type answers directly into the form, except for the signature blocks. Any I-9s that have been completed with ..read more

The Senate is hurrying to pass a set of six government funding bills before the shutdown deadline looms at the end of Friday March 8th. While there’s confidence that a shutdown won’t occur, securing unanimous agreement among all 100 senators on a voting schedule is still crucial. Once the Senate greenlights the funding bills, they’ll head to President Joe Biden for his signature, after having been approved by the House on Wednesday. Lawmakers are grappling with two impending shutdown deadlines, one on Friday March 8th and another on March 22nd. If government agencies close for budgetary reason ..read more