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.
9/29/2022 The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Office of Foreign Labor Certification
issued FAQs related to Hurricane Ian, addressing topics such as communications with employers and authorized attorneys affected by the hurricane, deadline and timeframe flexibility, and more.
9/29/2022 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
issued an extension, from September 30, 2022, to March 31, 2023, of the temporary waiver of the “60-day rule” requiring that the civil surgeon’s signature on an otherwise valid Form I-693 be dated no more than 60 days before the applicant files the application for the underlying immigration benefit.
9/28/2022 USCIS
announced that, effective September 26, 2022, it has automatically extended the validity of permanent resident cards (green cards) to 24 months (from 12 months) for lawful permanent residents who file Form I-90, Application to Replace Permanent Resident Card. USCIS is printing amended receipt notices for pending Form I-90s.
9/28/2022 U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
announced that to the fullest extent possible, ICE and CBP will not conduct immigration enforcement activities at sites that provide emergency response and relief to areas impacted by Hurricane Ian. This includes evacuation routes, sites used for sheltering or the distribution of emergency supplies, food or water, or registration sites for disaster-related assistance or the reunification of families and loved ones.
9/27/2022 DHS announced the
redesignation of Burma for TPS, providing for the extension of TPS for 18 months, from 11/26/22 through 5/25/24.
9/15/2022 USCIS
announced the next phase of expanding premium processing to include additional petitions and applications. This phase only applies to certain previously filed Form I-140 petitions under an EB 1-3 multinational executive and manager classification or EB 2-1 classification as a member of professions with advanced degrees or exceptional ability seeking a national interest waiver (NIW). Beginning September 15, 2022, USCIS will accept Form I-907 requests for EB 1-3 multinational executive and manager petitions received on or before January 1, 2022; and EB 2-1 NIW petitions received on or before February 1, 2022.
9/14/2022 USCIS
announced that it has received enough petitions to reach the congressionally mandated cap on H-2B visas for temporary nonagricultural workers for the first half of FY2023. September 12, 2022, was the final receipt date for new cap-subject H-2B worker petitions requesting an employment start date before April 1, 2023. USCIS will reject new cap-subject H-2B petitions received after September 12, 2022, that request an employment start date before April 1, 2023.
9/9/2022 The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR)
announced that the Arlington Immigration Court will end normal operations at noon on October 6, 2022, to prepare for the court’s relocation to Annandale, VA. All hearings scheduled at the Arlington Immigration Court after October 5 will be rescheduled to the Annandale Immigration Court. On October 17, 2022, hearings will commence at the Annandale Immigration Court, the Annandale filing window and phone lines will open, and the Arlington Immigration Court will close.
9/8/2022 U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) gave
notice extending the designation of Venezuela for TPS for 18 months, from 9/10/22 through 3/10/24. The 60-day re-registration period for existing TPS beneficiaries runs from 9/8/22 through 11/7/22.
9/2/2022 USCIS
determined that for adjustment of status applications for the month of October 2022, all family-sponsored preference categories and all employment-based preference categories must use the “Dates for Filing” chart in the October 2022 visa bulletin.
9/2/2022 DHS
announced that, to the fullest extent possible, ICE and CBP will not conduct immigration enforcement activities at sites that are providing emergency response and relief for those affected by the devastating wildfires in Dulzura, CA, and throughout the state or by the water crisis in Mississippi.
9/2/2022 EOIR
announced it will open a new immigration court in Sterling, VA on October 3, 2022, and will include 19 immigration judges. EOIR is in the process of sending official notification of a change of hearing location to all parties whose cases are reassigned to the new court.
9/1/2022 DOS
published the visa bulletin for October 2022. It shows the priority date retrogression of the 5th Unreserved Final Action Date (FAD) for China-mainland born from December 22, 2015, to March 22, 2015. This month’s visa bulletin also includes a 5th Unreserved FAD for India of November 8, 2019. The FAD has remained current for all other countries in the EB-5 Unreserved categories, and for all countries in the EB-5 “Set-Aside” categories.