When Immigration Matters

Early in February, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Visa Services at the Bureau of Consular Affairs, Julie Stuff told Bloomberg News that  United States Department of State (USDOS) is preparing to introduce a pilot program to restore domestic visa revalidation for H-1B and L-1 non-immigration visa types.  This means that H-1B and L-1 visa holders will not have to travel overseas to get visas placed in their passports at US. Consulates.   Instead they can apply for visa renewal from the United States after receiving their renewal approval notice from United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). More details will be announced later in the year.  

This is a huge relief for many nonimmigrant workers and the business that hire them in the United State as they will no longer have to incur costs and delays in travelling overseas to get the visas placed in their passports.  This program is not new. It would bring back the practice that existed but was discontinued back in 2004.  Although this pilot program is limited to H-1B and L-1 visas for now, it may be expanded to other nonimmigrant visa categories such as E, O, and P, later on. 

The COVID pandemic have caused serious backlogs and delays with visa renewal interview appointments at U.S. Embassies and/or Consulates aboard, especially for offices in India where the majority of these visa holders come from. Some workers have claimed to have waited more than a year to get their visa appointments. Many workers and businesses had to risk workers getting stuck in their home country awaiting visa interviews. To address these bottlenecks, many immigration attorneys, advocacy groups, and businesses have pushed State Department to bring back state-side visa renewal as an option. The State Department stated last year that they would look into domestic renewals but challenges such as establishing a brand-new consular services division in Washington D.C. to process all these renewals have delayed this decision and may be the reason for the limited rollout only for H-1B and L-1 visa types. 

Moving away from family and friends and starting a new life in the U.S. is a challenging and emotional process. This is made more difficult if you must leave behind a family member to gain residency before formally bringing them to live with you in the United States. A lawful permanent resident (Green Card Holder) or U.S. Citizens may file a petition on behalf of their spouse, child under the age of 21 as well as unmarried adult children. U.S. Citizens may also sponsor married children, siblings and parents.

For many H-1B visa applicants, December through February is a race against the clock to make sure all documentation is in order in preparation for the H-1B application window. For 2023, the H-1B electronic application window will open on March 1 and stay open through March 17, 2023. If you are still in the phase of gathering documentation, here are some things to keep in mind for a smooth application process.

On January 12, 2023, United States Citizenship and Immigration (USCIS) announced that it will add the option of Premium Processing to the following categories of applications:

Last March, the U.S. Senate implemented a new EB-5 visa policy after reauthorizing the Regional Center program as part of the Omnibus Spending Bill. The EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 revises several important aspects of the program, which is now reauthorized until September 2027.

On December 15, 2022, Congress passed the James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 (H.R. 7776/NDAA). The NDAA contained two immigration-related provisions that impact E visa eligibility.

At one time, lawful permanent residents worried about their green cards expiring while they waited for U.S. citizenship. United States Citizenship and Immigration Services addressed this concern when it developed Form I-90, which was specifically intended to replace expired green cards. Once received and approved, Form I-90 provided an extension that rendered the applicant’s card valid for another 12 months.

Immigration issues have been dominating the news with increasing frequency, leading to a heightened awareness of the various statuses. While most people understand the difference between a student or tourist visa and an H1B or EB-5, there continues to be some confusion over permanent residency vs. citizenship. While both immigration categories allow you to stay in the U.S. indefinitely, what are the principal differences between them.? In this blog, the team at Pollak, PLLC addresses this question.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is implementing premium processing for certain petitioners who have a pending Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers, under the EB-1 and EB-2 classifications. This expansion of premium processing only applies to certain previously filed Form I-140 petitions under a multinational executive and manager classification or EB-2 classification as a member of professions with advanced degrees or exceptional ability seeking a national interest waiver (NIW). Petitioners who wish to request a premium processing upgrade must file Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing Service.