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ai-generated-9069956_1280The fallout of the 2024 Presidential election has left high-skilled foreign workers asking what the Trump administration may have in store for them in the new year.

Perhaps the most vulnerable to attack is the H-1B work visa program, which was previously targeted by the Trump administration. A second term for Donald Trump promises to bring a new set of challenges for H-1B workers, including a hike on mandated salaries paid by U.S. employers, and increased scrutiny leading to a predicted surge in Requests for Evidence and H-1B visa denials.

About the H-1B Work Visa

H-1B workers are a subset of professional workers that have long filled a critical need in the U.S. labor market, especially for those working in the sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields.

Every year, U.S. employers from hundreds of industries use the H-1B visa program to bring highly skilled and well-educated foreign professionals to work for them in the United States. To qualify, H-1B workers must have a job offer from a U.S. employer to work in a “specialty occupation,” which requires a baccalaureate degree or the equivalent work experience to work in the field. Applicants must demonstrate that they have the academic and professional qualifications to work for the U.S. employer.

Only 65,000 H-1B visas are available every year, with an additional 20,000 visas made available to professionals with a U.S. master’s degree or higher in their field.

The annual visa limits mean that the H-1B work visa program is a “lottery” based visa, requiring employers to submit an electronic registration every Spring, to have a chance of being selected.

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super-6698001_1280In the complex landscape of U.S. immigration, the O-1A visa stands out as a great option for individuals with extraordinary abilities in fields such as business, sciences, athletics, or education. This visa offers a pathway for highly talented professionals to work in the United States while showcasing their exceptional expertise.

An O-1A visa petition must be supported by documentation showing receipt of a major internationally recognized award, like a Nobel Prize. However, if the applicant has not received such an award, they may still apply if they meet at least three of the following criteria:

  • Evidence of receipt of nationally or internationally recognized prizes or awards for excellence in the field.
  • Evidence of membership in associations in the field that require outstanding achievements of their members, as judged by recognized experts in the field.
  • Evidence of authorship of scholarly articles in the field, in professional journals, or other major media.
  • Evidence of published material in professional or major trade publications or major media about applicant’s work.
  • Evidence of participation on a panel, or individually, as the judge of the work of others in the field.
  • Evidence of employment in a critical or essential capacity for organizations and establishments that have a distinguished reputation.
  • Evidence of commanding a high salary or other compensation for services in relation to others in the field.
  • Evidence of original contributions of major significance in the field (scientific, scholarly, or business-related).
  • Or any comparable evidence to support the beneficiary’s eligibility, if the above criteria are not readily applicable to the occupation.

“Sophia’s” O-1A Journey

In our client’s case, “Sophia” was a Marketing Development professional with over 13 years of experience, creating innovative campaigns for well-known businesses throughout the world.

In support of her O-1A visa, “Sophia,” provided ample evidence to meet more than three of the criteria, including evidence of her leading roles as a marketing professional throughout her career, memberships in prestigious organizations, judging positions in her profession, evidence of high compensation as a marketing professional, recognition in the major media, authorship of scholarly articles, and the exhibition of her work.

While “Sophia’s” immigration journey seemed to go smoothly at first, she ran into some challenges which prompted her to seek representation from our law office. In this blog post, you will learn how “Sophia” was able to bounce back and achieve success after experiencing a few hiccups along the way.

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53598884922_4742d81a60_cLa semana pasada el mundo de inmigración vivió un evento sísmico. El Presidente anunció una acción ejecutiva histórica sobre inmigración que cambiará para siempre las vidas de los cónyuges indocumentados de ciudadanos estadounidenses y agilizará el proceso de visas de trabajo de no inmigrantes para los beneficiarios de DACA y otras personas indocumentadas.

En esta publicación, compartimos con ustedes todo lo que sabemos sobre cómo la orden ejecutiva beneficiará a los graduados universitarios estadounidenses que buscan visas de trabajo.

La acción ejecutiva del presidente Biden se anunció en el duodécimo aniversario del programa de Acción Diferida para los Llegados en la Infancia (DACA), promulgado por primera vez bajo la administración Obama. Además de brindar protección a las personas contra la deportación, la orden brinda alivio a potencialmente miles de beneficiarios de DACA y otros soñadores que han obtenido títulos académicos en los EE. UU. y están buscando oportunidades de empleo en campos relacionados con su curso de estudio.

Al hacerlo, el gobierno permitirá a los soñadores explorar opciones existentes de visas basadas en empleo, como las visas H-1B, TN, L, O, etc.

Detalles Claves

¿Qué hace la Orden Ejecutiva?

  • Visas de Trabajo: Los beneficiarios de DACA y otras personas indocumentadas pronto podrían solicitar exenciones aceleradas de inelegibilidad y recibir visas de trabajo temporales, otorgándoles estatus legal para vivir y trabajar en los Estados Unidos sin temor a la deportación.
  • Elegibilidad: Para ser elegible para visas de trabajo de no inmigrantes, las personas deben haber obtenido un título en una institución estadounidense de educación superior acreditada en los Estados Unidos y tener una oferta de empleo estadounidense en un campo relacionado con su curso de estudio.
  • Camino hacia la residencia: Existe la posibilidad de que estas visas de trabajo temporal creen un camino hacia la residencia permanente a través de opciones de patrocinio basadas en el empleo.

Importancia

Debido al polémico clima político, el Congreso de los Estados Unidos no ha logrado aprobar una reforma migratoria significativa que proporcione un camino legal para que los soñadores permanezcan en los Estados Unidos y contribuyan positivamente a la economía estadounidense, utilizando las habilidades y la educación que obtuvieron aquí en los Estados Unidos.

Por primera vez, el gobierno ordenará al Departamento de Estado (DOS) y al Departamento de Seguridad Nacional (DHS) que emitan una guía aclaratoria que haga posible que los beneficiarios de DACA y otras personas sin estatus legal soliciten exenciones aceleradas de inelegibilidad y visas de trabajo temporales.

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53598884922_4742d81a60_cLast week the world of immigration experienced a seismic event. The President announced a historic executive action on immigration that will forever change the lives of undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens and streamline the nonimmigrant work visa process for DACA recipients and other individuals. In this blog post, we share with you everything we know about how the executive order will benefit U.S. college graduates seeking work visas.

President Biden’s executive action was announced on the 12th anniversary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, first enacted under the Obama administration. In addition to providing individuals protection from deportation, the order provides relief to potentially thousands of DACA recipients and other Dreamers who have earned academic degrees in the U.S. and are seeking employment opportunities in fields related to their course of study.

In doing so, the government will allow Dreamers to explore existing employment-based visa options such as H-1B, TN, L, O visas, etc.

Key Highlights

What the Executive Order does

  • Work Visas: DACA recipients and other undocumented individuals could soon apply for expedited waivers and receive temporary work visas, granting them legal status to live and work in the United States without fear of deportation
  • Eligibility: To be eligible for nonimmigrant work visas, individuals must have earned a degree at an accredited U.S. institution of higher education in the United States, and have an offer of employment from a U.S. employer in a field related to their course of study
  • Path to Residency: There is potential for these temporary work visas to create a path to permanent residency through employment-based sponsorship options.

Why This Matters

Due to the contentious political climate, the U.S. congress has failed to bring about meaningful immigration reform that provides a legal pathway for Dreamers to remain in the United States and positively contribute to the U.S. economy, utilizing the skills and education they gained here in the United States.

For the first time ever, the government will direct the State Department (DOS) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to issue clarifying guidance making it possible for DACA recipients and other individuals without legal status to apply for expedited waivers and temporary work visas.

How will this process work?

While complete details have not yet been released, the government will facilitate expedited review of waivers of visa ineligibility by clarifying that it is within a Consular officer’s discretion to grant a waiver for such individuals, making it easier for them to apply for work visas.

212(d)(3) Waivers and the Ten-Year Unlawful Presence Bar

Under current immigration law, DACA recipients and other undocumented immigrants face additional barriers to obtaining temporary work visas due to their unlawful presence. Under the law, anyone who has accrued unlawful presence for a year or more is subject to a ten-year bar that is triggered upon departing the United States. As a result, the ten-year bar prevents an individual from re-entering the United States for at least ten-years after their departure. This has been a long-standing problem for undocumented immigrants because the bar is triggered even when an individual leaves to obtain a visa at a U.S. Consulate or Embassy abroad.

To overcome the ten-year bar, work visa applicants are forced to obtain a discretionary waiver from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Admissibility Review Office. This waiver is known as the INA 212(d)(3) waiver and is designed to excuse certain grounds of inadmissibility including unlawful presence. An approved waiver removes the bar and allows such individuals to apply for temporary work visas at U.S. Consulates and Embassies. Only once the U.S. work visa is issued, can the individual re-enter the United States in nonimmigrant visa status and work for their employer pursuant to the terms of the employment visa.

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As the new year approaches, we have some unfortunate news to report for certain employment-based applicants who may wish to file their petitions with premium processing service in 2024, including those filing:

  • Form I-129 Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker
  • Form I-140 Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker, as well as
  • Certain applicants filing Form I-765 Application for Employment Authorization and
  • I-539 Application to Extend or Change Nonimmigrant Status with USCIS.

On December 28, 2023, USCIS published a final rule in the Federal Register that will increase the filing fee for Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing Service, to adjust for inflation.

The final rule states that starting February 26, 2024, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will increase the premium processing fees USCIS charges for all eligible forms and categories to reflect the amount of inflation from June 2021 through June 2023 according to the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers.

Please note that not all petitions are eligible to request premium processing service. Applicants may only request premium processing if USCIS has specifically designated your classification as one that is eligible for premium processing service. To determine whether premium processing is available for your benefit request please review the USCIS webpage.

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Certain types of nonimmigrants will be expected to shell out more money for the nonimmigrant visa process.

The State Department has announced that starting June 17, 2023, nonimmigrant visa (NIV) application processing fees for visitor visas for business or tourism (B1/B2s and BCCs), and other non-petition based nonimmigrant visas such as student and exchange visitor visas (F, M, and J visas), will increase from $160 to $185.

Additionally, processing fees for certain petition-based nonimmigrant visas for temporary workers (H, L, O, P, Q, and R categories) will increase from $190 to $205.

Fees for a treaty trader, treaty investor, and treaty applicants in a specialty occupation (nonimmigrant E category) visa will also increase from $205 to $315.

What if I pay my nonimmigrant visa fee prior to June 17, 2023?

In this case you are in luck. Nonimmigrant visa fees paid prior to June 17, 2023, will remain valid through the expiration date on your nonimmigrant visa fee payment receipt.

Why the increase?

The Department of State has said that nonimmigrant visa fees are set based on the actual cost of providing nonimmigrant visa services and are determined after conducting a study of the cost of these services.

The agency uses Activity-Based Costing (ABC) methodology to calculate, annually, the cost of providing consular services, including visa services.

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In this blog post, we give you an update on the status of the proposed rule increasing the filing fees for certain applications and petitions filed with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

As you may remember, on January 4, 2023, USCIS published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in the Federal Register proposing an increase in the filing fees of many types of applications, including but not limited to, the I-485 Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, N-400 Application for Naturalization, I-129F petition for alien fiancé(e), Form I-130 Petition for Alien Relative, Form I-751 Petition to Remove Conditions on Permanent Residence, Form I-129 Petition for Nonimmigrant Worker for H, L, and O classifications, Form I-526 Immigrant Petition for the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program, Form I-765 Application for Employment Authorization, among many others.

The proposed rule also sought to do the following:

  • Incorporate biometrics costs into the main benefit fee and remove the separate biometric services fee
  • Require separate filing fees for Form I-485 and associated Form I-131 and Form I-765 filings
  • Establish separate fees for Form I-129, Petition for Nonimmigrant Worker, by nonimmigrant classification.
  • Revise the premium processing timeframe interpretation from 15 calendar days to 15 business days
  • Create lower fees for certain immigration forms filed online.

Under the Administrative Procedure Act, before the government can implement a proposed rule they must abide by a mandatory notice-and-comment rule-making process. This includes offering a public comment period of at least 60 days from the date of the NPRM’s publication in the Federal Register.

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In this post, we bring you great news regarding COVID-19-related flexibilities for responses to Requests for Evidence, NOIDs, and such related notices issued by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

What do I need to know about this new update?

USCIS RFE/NOID Flexibility Continued for Responses to Agency Requests

USCIS announced that it will continue its flexibility policy giving applicants and petitioners more time to respond to Requests for Evidence during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On January 24, 2023, USCIS made the announcement that it will grant one FINAL extension to applicants who have received a request for evidence, notice of intent to deny, or such a related document, an additional 60 calendar days after the response deadline indicated on the notice or request, to submit a response to a request or notice, provided the request or notice was issued by USCIS between March 1, 2020, through March 23, 2023. This is great news because it will allow applicants and petitioners more time to gather documents that are hard to obtain during the COVID-10 pandemic.

What documents qualify for this flexibility in responding?

Applicants who receive any of the below mentioned documents dated between March 1, 2020 and March 23, 2023 can take advantage of the additional 60 days to respond to the request or notice:

  • Requests for Evidence;
  • Continuations to Request Evidence (N-14);
  • Notices of Intent to Deny;
  • Notices of Intent to Revoke;
  • Notices of Intent to Rescind;
  • Notices of Intent to Terminate regional investment centers;
  • Notices of Intent to Withdraw Temporary Protected Status; and
  • Motions to Reopen an N-400 pursuant to 8 CFR 335.5, Receipt of Derogatory Information After Grant.

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Welcpuzzle-g75f3e575f_1920ome back to Visalawyerblog! We hope you had a wonderful holiday break and wish you a prosperous new year ahead.

We kick off the new year with some important updates in the world of immigration.

Today, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) officially announced a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that will be posted in the Federal Register tomorrow Wednesday, January 4, 2023 that will increase filing fees for certain types of immigration benefits. An unpublished version is already available in the Federal Register.

A 60-day public comment period will follow the publication of the NPRM on January 4, 2023 and will close on March 5, 2023.

Fees will not change until the final rule goes into effect, and only after the public has had the opportunity to comment and USCIS finalizes the fee schedule in response to such public comments. USCIS will host a public engagement session on the proposed fee rule on January 11, 2023.

According to USCIS, the proposed fee increases are necessary to ensure that the agency will have enough resources to provide adequate services to applicants and petitioners moving forward. The agency has said that after having conducted a review of current fees, it has determined that it cannot cover the full cost of providing adjudication and naturalization services without a fee increase.

The agency cited the COVID-19 pandemic as one of the factors leading the agency to increase its fees. As you may recall, the pandemic caused a dramatic reduction in the filing of new applications, leaving USCIS with a substantial decrease in revenues of 40 percent. This unfortunate drop in applications led USCIS to reduce its workforce accordingly.

With current resources, the agency has said it is incapable of adjudicating applications in a timely manner, when considering that agency caseloads are now returning to pre-pandemic levels.

Among the new proposals included in the NPRM are measures that:

  • Incorporate biometrics costs into the main benefit fee and remove the separate biometric services fee
  • Require separate filing fees for Form I-485 and associated Form I-131 and Form I-765 filings
  • Establish separate fees for Form I-129, Petition for Nonimmigrant Worker, by nonimmigrant classification.
  • Revise the premium processing timeframe interpretation from 15 calendar days to 15 business days
  • Create lower fees for certain immigration forms filed online.

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Welcome back to Visalawyerblog! We hope you had a wonderful Christmas break with your families.

In this blog post, we share a new update from the State Department regarding the continuation of its interview waiver policy for certain nonimmigrant visa types.

In a new announcement, the Secretary of State has revealed that it is extending its interview waiver policy for certain nonimmigrant visa types until December 31, 2023, allowing Consular officers to continue to waive the in-person interview requirement for certain classes of immigrants.

What is the extension all about?

As you might recall back in December of last year, the State Department first announced its interview waiver policy for temporary workers applying for H-1, H-3, H-4, L, O, P, and Q visas in their country of nationality or residence, following USCIS approval of their petitions.

The State Department has now confirmed it will continue its interview waiver policy until at least the end of 2023.

Who qualifies?

Interview Waiver Policy for H, L, O, P, Q visas

Pursuant to the interview waiver policy, Consular officers have the discretion to waive the visa interview requirement for:

  • individual petition-based H-1, H-3, H-4, L, O, P, and Q applicants who were previously issued any type of visa, and that have not had any visa refusal or ineligibility issues in the past OR
  • first-time individual petition-based H-1, H-3, H-4, L, O, P, and Q who are citizens or nationals of a country that participates in the Visa Waiver Program (VWP), provided that they have no ineligibility issues and have previously traveled to the United States using an authorization obtained via the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA)

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