Department of State announced that it has temporarily expanded the ability of consular officers to waive the in-person interview requirement for individuals applying for a nonimmigrant visa in the same classification to those whose nonimmigrant visas expired within 24 months. Previously, only those applicants whose nonimmigrant visa expired within 12 months were eligible for an interview waiver. This policy is in effect until March 31, 2021.
A federal judge ruled Friday (12/4/2020) that the Trump administration must fully restore the so-called Dreamers program that protects undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children, opening the door to new applicants for the first time since 2017.
USCIS will again accept first-time requests for consideration of deferred action under DACA based on the terms of the DACA policy in effect prior to September 5, 2017. USCIS will also accept DACA renewal requests; applications for advance parole documents; extend one-year grants of deferred action under DACA to two years; and extend one-year EADs under DACA to two years.
The interim final rule by the Department of Labor increasing H-1B and labor certification wages which went into effect on October 8, 2020 AND the Interim Final Rule significantly changing the standards for H-1B “specialty occupation” which was to take effect on December 7, 2020 have been set aside by the U.S District Court, Northern District of California, in the matter of Chamber of Commerce v. DHS. This could not be more welcome news!
DOL will now have to revert its wage database back to reflect the wages prior to the implementation of the wage hike rule. At this time, it is not known if DOL/DHS will appeal the court’s decision. The judgment applies universally and not just to the parties to the litigation.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced on November 13, 2020 plans to implement a revised version of the naturalization civics test. The agency first announced plans to revise the civics test in July 2019.
The civics test is administered to applicants who apply for U.S. citizenship and is one of the statutory requirements for naturalizing. Applicants who apply for naturalization on or after Dec. 1, 2020, will take the updated version of the test. Those who apply before Dec. 1, 2020, will take the current version of the test.
“USCIS has diligently worked on revising the naturalization test since 2018, relying on input from experts in the field of adult education to ensure that this process is fair and transparent,” said USCIS Deputy Director for Policy Joseph Edlow. “Naturalization allows immigrants to become fully vested members of American society, with the same rights and responsibilities as citizens by birth, and offering a fair test, which prepares naturalization applicants for these responsibilities, is of upmost importance to our agency.”
The revised test includes more questions that test the applicant’s understanding of U.S. history and civics, in line with the statutory requirements, and covers a variety of topics that provide the applicant with more opportunities to learn about the United States as part of the test preparation process. The revised test will not change the passing score, which will remain at 60%. Candidates must answer 12 questions correctly, out of 20 in order to pass.
USCIS will maintain the current guidelines for statutorily established special considerations for applicants who are 65 years old or older and have at least 20 years of lawful permanent resident status. These applicants will be asked 10 questions and must answer a minimum of six questions correctly in order to pass.
The test items and study guides can be found on the Citizenship Resource Center on the USCIS website. USCIS has also updated the USCIS Policy Manual (PDF, 323.82 KB) accordingly; see Volume 12, Part E, English and Civics Testing and Exceptions, Chapter 2, English and Civics Testing.
LAWSUITS FILED OVER THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR’S INTERIM FINAL RULE (EFFECTIVE 10/8/2020) WHICH CHANGED PREVAILING WAGE RATES
ITServe Alliance, Inc., et al. v. Scalia, et al., filed 10/16/2020
Purdue, et. al., v. Scalia, et. al., filed 10/19/20
USCIS is increasing premium processing fees beginning Monday, October 19, 2020, as included in the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2021 and Other Extensions Act, which was signed into law on September 30, 2020.
For now, it appears that the new premium processing fees will only be available for the following types of cases:
$2,500 if you are filing Form I-129 requesting E-1, E-2, H-1B, H-3, L (including blanket L-1), O, P, Q, or TN nonimmigrant classification.
$1,400 if you are filing Form I-129 requesting H-2B or R nonimmigrant classification.
$2,500 if you are filing Form I-140 requesting EB-1, EB-2, or EB-3 immigrant visa classification.
__________
Additional premium processing information:
The Continuing Appropriations Act, 2021 requires rulemaking to set fees for expanded premium processing services, but it must be consistent with the following:
8/25/2020: USCIS has CANCELLED its planned furlough of more than 13,000 agency employees on Sunday, per an email sent to its employees.
USCIS just announced that due to their delay in producing Employment Authorization Documents (Form I-766, EAD), employees may use Form I-797, Notice of Action, with a Notice date on or after December 1, 2019 through and including August 20, 2020 informing an applicant of approval of an Application for Employment Authorization (Form I-765) as a Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, List C #7 document to establish employment authorization.
Even though the Notice of Action states it is not evidence of employment authorization, employees may use it for this purpose until December 1, 2020.
Employees may present their Form I-797 Notice of Action showing approval of their I-765 application as a list C document for Form I-9 compliance until December 1, 2020.
THE I-797 NOTICE OF ACTION DESCRIBED ABOVE DOES NOT PROVE EVIDENCE OF IDENTITY OR SERVE AS A LIST A DOCUMENT ESTABLISHING BOTH IDENTITY AND EMPLOYMENT AUTHORIZATION OR A LIST B DOCUMENT ESTABLISHING IDENTITY FOR FORM I-9 PURPOSES.
For Form I-9 completion, employees who present a Form I-797 Notice of Action described above for new employment must also present their employer with an acceptable List B document that establishes identity. The Lists of Acceptable Documents is on Form I-9. Current employees who require reverification can present this Form I-797 Notice of Action as proof of employment authorization under List C.
By December 1, 2020, employers must reverify employees who presented this Form I-797 Notice of Action as a List C document. These employees will need to present their employers with new evidence of employment authorization from either List A or List C.
USCIS did not receive enough H-1B petitions in the first round of the lottery to reach the cap, so it is conducting a 2nd lottery selection this week. Employers will have a 90 day period within which to file the H-1B petitions that are selected this week. Check your USCIS online account to see if your registration account has changed from “submitted” to “selected.”
USCIS is postponing until August 30, 2020 its plans to furlough more than 13,000 employees, hoping that the additional time will result in Congress approving its emergency funding request.
Cantey Hanger Plaza
600 W. 6th St., Suite 300
Fort Worth, Texas 76102
817-877-2805 http://canteyhanger.com/
