Immigration law is at the forefront of public dialogue these days. Womble Bond Dickinson’s Immigration Solutions team helps employers navigate high-stakes, constantly shifting immigration challenges to avoid potential problems and secure the talent they need to make their companies thrive. The following newsletter, drafted by Womble Bond Dickinson Immigration Solutions attorneys, covers some of the recent and most important developments in immigration law.

3/29/2024    The U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado denied a request for a Temporary Restraining Order (“TRO”) seeking to prevent implementation of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service’s (“USCIS”) new fee rule, which significantly increases filing fees of a broad range of applications and petitions.  As a result, the revised USCIS fee schedule will take effect on April 1, 2024 along with any new editions of forms as indicated by USCIS.

03/25/2024    U.S. Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) issued notice of the extension of the Temporary Protected Status (“TPS”) designation of Burma (Myanmar) for 18 months, beginning 3/26/24 and ending 11/25/25, as well as the redesignation of Burma (Myanmar) for TPS.

03/20/2024    Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (“TRAC”) provides a report detailing the approximately 200,000 deportation cases that have been thrown out by immigration judges since the start of the Biden Administration due to DHS failing to file the required Notice to Appear (“NTA”) with the court by the time of the scheduled hearing.

03/18/2024     DHS announced that it will test the use of Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) in three pilot projects. The Department will test AI to help investigations focused on detecting fentanyl and combatting child sexual exploitation, along with tests that will be carried out under Federal Emergency Management Agency (“FEMA”) and USCIS. FEMA will use AI to help communities plan for and develop mitigation plans to build resilience and minimize risks, while USCIS will use AI to improve immigration officer training.

03/14/2024    The Associated Press reported that the U.S. government has started requiring migrants without passports to submit to facial recognition technology to take domestic flights.

03/13/2024    U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) announced the initial deployment of 1,600 body-worn cameras to Homeland Security Investigations (“HIS”) and Enforcement and Removal Operations (“ERO”). During this phase, ICE will distribute body-worn cameras and provide specific training to HSI and ERO personnel in the Baltimore, Philadelphia, Washington, Buffalo, and Detroit areas of responsibility.  

03/12/2024    USCIS announced a streamlined process to provide Employment Authorization Documents (“EAD”) to eligible refugees that shortened the wait time for an EAD to approximately 30 days instead of several months. All individuals admitted into the United States as refugees on or after December 10, 2023, will receive EADs pursuant to this new process.

03/11/2024     USCIS published Adjustment of Status filing charts for March 2024.  All family-sponsored preference categories must use the “Dates for Filing” chart of U.S. Department of State’s (“DOS”) visa bulletin for April 2024, and all employment-based preference categories must use the “Final Action Dates” chart.  

03/08/2024    USCIS announced that it received enough H-2B petitions to reach the H-2B cap for the second half of Fiscal Year (“FY”) 2024.  Also included in the announcement were the filing dates for supplemental H-2B visas for the remainder of FY2024 made available under the FY2024 H-2B supplemental visa temporary final rule.

03/04/2024    DOS published the April 2024 Visa Bulletin.