When Immigration Matters

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.

For months, U.S. visa services were temporarily suspended worldwide due to the pandemic. As restrictions ease, many U.S. embassies and consulates have resumed processing immigrant and nonimmigrant visa applications, but if you’re an Indian citizen seeking to travel to the United States, you may be facing longer delays than normal.

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.

In August of 2022, new rules were put into place for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. These changes seek to codify many of the current guidelines that were in place for the program in the past, but will also make some major reforms that could potentially have a big impact on the DREAMers who make use of the program.

H1B visas are nonimmigrant visas that give noncitizens the ability to work in a specific job for up to three years. Employees and employers must understand that a leave of absence could negatively impact an H1B visa. Whenever the worker or employer initially petitions for the visa, specific terms and conditions must be met to maintain your status. For instance, if you apply for a full-time position, you must continue to work full-time. This is commonly referred to as “maintenance of status.” Leaves of absence can disrupt this. 

The goal of the EB-5 visa program is to stimulate the United States economy by incentivizing capital investments from foreign investors. To do so, the program offers a path to permanent residence for investors and their families if they place a substantive amount of investment in U.S.-based enterprises and creates at least ten permanent full-time positions for U.S. workers. New policy updates have changed how foreign investors should apply to the program, which we will cover in detail today.

On May 4, 2022, United States Citizenship and Immigration (USCIS) announced a temporary final rule that increases the automatic employment extension on Employment Authorization Documents (EAD) from 180 days up to 540 days in certain visa categories. The primary objective for the additional 360-day  extension is to prevent gaps in work authorization due to the USCIS’ significant processing delays for work permit renewal applications. 

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.