News

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) emphasized the benefits of interfiling or transferring existing pending Adjustment of Status (AOS) applications to take advantage of available visas in the Second Preference Category. See if you can benefit from interfiling your EB-3 to EB-2 submission to take advantage of available visas.

On January 21, 2022, US Citizenship and Immigration Services released a policy alert clarifying how USCIS evaluates the evidence for determining eligibility for O-1A nonimmigrants of extraordinary ability with a focus in Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics (STEM).

This USCIS policy alert provides additional guidance regarding the evaluation submitted in support of O-1 petitions and supersedes any related prior guidance on the topic. This article reviews the differences between the O-1A and the O-1B as well as recommendations for all O-1 visas.

Ongoing demand for talent, particularly for technology professionals, outpaces available qualified individuals in the U.S. Companies with established H-1B plans are facing increased competition for the coveted H-1B visa as demand continues to increase. In this on-demand webinar, International Legal and Business Services Group (ILBSG) presented the steps needed to increase your odds of a successful outcome. for your H-1B program.

A group of H-2A visa holders was granted an extension due to ongoing supply chain issues. The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) appeals board affirmed the extension, however, stated it is not a blanket justification. The appeals board overturned a certifying officer’s previous denial.

The H-2A visa holders were retained to complete a construction project. However, due to supply chain issues, were not able to finish the project on the estimated timeline. As such, the DOL extended their visas an additional eight months. The Board of Alien Certification Appeals (BALCA) emphasized that supply chain disruptions aren’t a direct reason to approve extensions, however, the case clearly outlined the impact on the specific project.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced civil penalties have been increased to adjust for inflation. Fair Labor Standards Act violations are affected, including wage and overtime violations. Penalties rose based on the consumer price index for urban consumers, per the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990. The increase, based on the percentage difference between October 2021 and October 2020, is 1.06222%, per the DOL. The most recent penalty amount is increased by the given percentage and then rounded to the nearest dollar.

Wage violations related to H-2B visas will see a penalty of $13,885. For H-1B visas, the penalty will be $59,028. Civil penalties for U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement violations will be $50,000.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has been again criticized for lack of proper management of the U-visa program by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of USCIS’ parent agency, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The OIG states USCIS appropriately recognized their issues with the U-visa program years ago but have not addressed them.

U-visas are offered for noncitizen crime victims who assist law enforcement. The issues cited by the OIG include a ballooning backlog and not catching fraudulent submissions. The OIG pointed out at least ten submissions that were approved, however, had suspicious certifications and fraudulent data. In addition, USCIS failed to review cases where suspected fraud was found, thereby unable to pursue possible prosecution.

Immigrants who are not legally in the U.S. can be held in detention centers for an indefinite period of time, awaiting their case review. In two cases before the Supreme Court, a proposal suggests that individuals held longer than six months should be eligible for a bond hearing when a judge can determine if the individual should continue to be detained or not.

However, the Biden Administration does not support the proposed access to hearings for immigrants in the country without a legal basis. The Department of Justice (DOJ) states the statute used as the grounds of the cases does not give unauthorized immigrants access to a hearing. In addition, the administration states lower courts don’t have the ability to approve class-wide relief.

If a new legal standard applies to a case previously determined, immigration judges can contradict earlier decisions. A panel of judges from the Fifth Circuit court affirmed the judge’s ability in the review of a deportation case. As case laws change between filings, previous findings can be overturned.

A report for fiscal year 2021 from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) showed a near tripling of backlog for all case types when compared to FY 2019. In addition, the Q4 2021 report is the start of FY2022 for USCIS. At the end of FY 2019, USCIS shows a backlog of 2.5 million cases. At the end of FY 2020, the backlog doubled to 6.1 million pending cases. For FY2021, the backlog grew to 8 million cases, more than tripling the FY2019 count.

The backlog is the result, in part, of the COVID-19 pandemic which closed many processing centers. In addition, staffing issues, policy limitations, and USCIS’ inability to process many visa application types electronically limited the ability to work the backlog down. Although the backlog growth rate for FY2021 was not as high as FY2020, it continued to grow.

In FY2021, USCIS received approximately 8.84 million immigration applications. An estimated 69% of those were approved. Over 800,000 applications were denied. In total, USCIS reviewed and submitted a decision on roughly 80% of all applications for FY 2021.

The remaining country-based travel restriction placed on eight countries located in Southern Africa will be lifted on December 31, 2021. The ban was originally set on November 29, 2021, to give the U.S. time to better understand and prepare for the Omicron variant of Covid. The mutated Covid variant was found in the Southern Africa nations. As the variant continues to spread across the United States, the travel ban is no longer needed.
President Biden made the announcement citing evidence that current vaccines are effective at combatting severe disease from the omicron variant. In addition, omicron is present and spreading quickly across the United States. Travelers from these nations to the U.S. must comply with current travel requirements.