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.

8/1/2022    DHS issued notice that the TPS designation for Syria is extended for 18 months, from October 1, 2022 through March 31, 2024.   

8/1/2022    DHS announced that it is suspending certain regulatory requirements for Syrian nationals who are in F-1 student status to permit them to apply for work authorization upon a showing of severe economic hardship as a direct result of the civil war in Syria since March 2011.  

7/28/2022    USCIS announced it is experience delays in issuing receipts for asylum application submissions (Form I-589).  

7/25/2022    USCIS announced it is extending flexibilities of deadlines through October 24, 2022 for individuals to respond to certain USCIS requests and notices.  Under these flexibilities, USCIS considers a response received within 60 calendar days after the due date set forth in the issued request or notice before taking any action, if the request or notice was issued between March 1, 2020, and Oct. 23, 2022.  

7/20/2022    The US Department of State announced that, because the Latvian Parliament passed amendments adding certain additional prohibitions to intercountry adoptions, as of July 1, 2022, U.S. prospective adoptive parents are no longer able to pursue intercountry adoption of children from Latvia to the United States.

7/20/2022    USCIS announced it is issuing policy guidance in the USCIS Policy Manual on the transition of the responsibility to adjudicate certain Afghan special immigrant visa (SIV) petitions to the U.S. Department of State and to incorporate other changes to the Afghan and Iraqi SIV classifications resulting from the Emergency Security Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2021.  

7/18/2022    Reason reported on their news media website about a TRAC report from Syracuse University that found by the end of September 2022 more than 6,000 lawsuits will have been filed against the federal government to compel action from U.S. immigration authorities during the 2022 fiscal year. This is a 50 percent increase in lawsuits compared to the previous fiscal year, a result caused by the U.S. government’s ongoing backlog issues with immigration filings.

7/15/2022    DHS announced on its E-Verify webpage that starting July 15, 2022 employees whose E-Verify cases are referred to the Social Security Administration (SSA) will have the normal 8 federal working days to contact their local SSA office to begin resolving a mismatch.  This ends the extended timeframe E-Verify allowed during the COVID-19 Pandemic for an employee to take action to resolve a SSA Tentative Nonconfirmation (mismatch).

7/15/2022    USCIS announced it is starting the second phase of premium processing expansion for certain petitioners with pending Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers, in EB-1 and EB-2 classifications.  

7/12/2022    The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published a list of randomly assigned numbers for H-2B applications submitted between July 3-5, 2022.  

7/11/2022    The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has extended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation for Venezuela for 18 months.

7/11/2022    U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has published FAQs regarding the Visa Waiver Program and ESTA.  

7/11/2022    USCIS published Adjustment of Status filing dates for August 2022.

7/8/2022    The U.S. Department of State (DOS) published the visa bulletin for August 2022.

7/5/2022    USCIS added a section to the M-274 for “other temporary workers” related to E and L nonimmigrant workers.

7/1/2022    U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) retracted its designation of Matter of Z-R-Z-C- as an adopted decision and revised its interpretation of the impact of authorized travel by TPS beneficiaries.