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!

ICE updates Form I-9 requirement flexibility to grant employers more time to comply with requirements

Posted on by Susan Lane

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced on May 4, 2023 that employers will have 30 days to reach compliance with Form I-9 requirements after the COVID-19 flexibilities sunset on July 31, 2023. DHS encourages employers who have been using those temporary flexibilities to plan ahead to ensure that all required physical inspection of identity and employment eligibility documents is completed by Aug. 30, 2023.

FY 2024 H-1B CAP Initial Registration Period Opens March 1

Posted on by Susan Lane

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that the initial registration period for the fiscal year 2024 H-1B cap will open at noon Eastern on March 1 and run through noon Eastern on March 17, 2023. During this period, prospective petitioners and representatives will be able to complete and submit their registrations using our online H-1B registration system.

USCIS will assign a confirmation number to each registration submitted for the FY 2024 H-1B cap. This number is used solely to track registrations; you cannot use this number to track your case status in Case Status Online.

Prospective H-1B cap-subject petitioners or their representatives are required to use a myUSCIS online account to register each beneficiary electronically for the selection process and pay the associated $10 H-1B registration fee for each registration submitted on behalf of each beneficiary. Prospective petitioners submitting their own registrations (U.S. employers and U.S. agents, collectively known as “registrants”) will use a “registrant” account. Registrants will be able to create new accounts beginning at noon Eastern on Feb. 21.

Representatives may add clients to their accounts at any time, but both representatives and registrants must wait until March 1 to enter beneficiary information and submit the registration with the $10 fee. Prospective petitioners or their representatives will be able to submit registrations for multiple beneficiaries in a single online session. Through the account, they will be able to prepare, edit, and store draft registrations prior to final payment and submission of each registration.

If USCIS receives enough registrations by March 17, they will randomly select registrations and send selection notifications via users’ myUSCIS online accounts. If they do not receive enough registrations, all registrations that were properly submitted in the initial registration period will be selected. USCIS intends to notify account holders by March 31.