NEW USCIS FILING FEES EFFECTIVE APRIL 1, 2024

Posted on by Susan Lane

Key updates you should be aware of:

  • Separate filing fees for work authorization and travel documents when filed with a green card application. So, no more bundling of the I-765 and I-131 applications with the I-485 application where you only pay the I-485 filing fee. Beginning April 1, 2024, separate filing fees are required for each application.
  • A $50 discount for filing an application online if online filing is available.
  •  Expansion of a reduced fee for naturalization applications for individuals who can demonstrate their household income is less than or equal to 400% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines.
  •  Employers filing either a Form I-129 or I-140 will now have to pay a new Asylum Program Fee.
  • When a case is filed with premium processing, USCIS will now have 15 business days instead of 15 calendar days to act on the case.
  • USCIS increased the premium processing filing fee as of February 26, 2024.

Stateside Visa Renewal Program for H-1B principals begins January 29, 2024 and ends April 1, 2024

Posted on by Susan Lane

Requirements include, but are not limited to, the following:

  1. Renewing a prior H-1B visa issued by Mission Canada with an issuance date from 1/1/2020 – 4/1/2023 OR are renewing an H-1B visa issued by Mission India with an issuance date from 2/1/2021 – 9/30/2021
  2. Not subject to a nonimmigrant visa reciprocity fee (which can be found here: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Visa-Reciprocity-and-Civil-Documents-by-Country.html)
  3. Eligible for a waiver of the in-person interview requirement
  4. Have submitted fingerprints with a prior visa application (If you ever had a nonimmigrant visa interview (and you were 14-79 years old at the time) and your visa was issued in or after January, 2008, you should have been ten printed.)
  5. Prior visa does not include a “clearance received” annotation
  6. Were most recently admitted to the U.S. in H-1B status

The State Department will begin accepting online applications on January 29, 2024 via https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/employment/domestic-renewal.html. They will limit application slots each week to 2000 for those renewing a visa issued by Mission Canada, and 2000 for those renewing a visa issued by Mission India. Once the 2000 weekly limit is reached for each Mission, the online portal will be locked until the next portion of slots are released the next week.

If you have questions about your eligibility and/or wish to submit an application, please contact my office for a consultation.

The H1-B Visa Cap Has Been Met for FY2024

Posted on by Susan Lane

USCIS announced on 12/13/2023 that it received a sufficient number of petitions needed to reach the congressionally mandated 65,000 H-1B visa regular cap and the 20,000 H-1B visa U.S. advanced degree exemption, known as the master’s cap, for fiscal year (FY) 2024.

USCIS will send non-selection notices to registrants through their online accounts over the next few days. Upon completion of the non-selection notifications, the status for properly submitted registrations that were not selected for the FY 2024 H-1B numerical allocations will show: Not Selected: Not selected – not eligible to file an H-1B cap petition based on this registration.

We are now beginning to work on H-1B cap cases for FY2025. If you have a cap case or questions about a potential H-1B cap case, please contact my office.

FORM I-9 UPDATE

Posted on by Susan Lane

A new Form I-9 will be released on August 1, 2023. Employers can continue using the existing version of Form I-9 (edition: 10/21/2019) through October 1, 2023 but thereafter, Form I-9 with a version date of 8/1/2023 must be used to comply with employment eligibility verification requirements.

An optional alternative to the in-person physical document examination will be available to employers on August 1, 2023 as well. It will only be available to qualified employers enrolled in E-Verify. For more information, see https://www.uscis.gov/newsroom/alerts/uscis-to-publish-revised-form-i-9. This is very welcome news!