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U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services announced it will reopen non-military deferred action cases that were pending on August 7.  Letters will be sent this week re-opening all cases that were pending on August 7.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) today announced a notice of proposed rulemaking that would require petitioners seeking to file H-1B cap-subject petitions to pay a $10 fee for each electronic registration they submit to USCIS.

Quotes and Excerpts from Rajiv on the article: 

"The newly introduced proposal, in the context of applicability to the Indian diaspora in the US, will cover citizenship applications, applications for adjustment of status filed by those in the USA seeking to obtain green cards (such as H-1B workers, or those on intra-company transfers holding an L-1 visa). It will also apply to green card holders seeking re-entry permits (who wish to stay away from the US for two years)," explains Arlington-based Rajiv Khanna, Managing Attorney at Immigration.com

WASHINGTON—U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced a proposed regulation to improve the process for granting or denying an initial application for employment authorization documents (EADs) by reforming the current 30-day timeline pertaining to pending asylum applicants.

WASHINGTON—U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Acting Director Ken Cuccinelli issued the following statement on the Supreme Court’s decision to permit the enforcement of the Trump Administration’s asylum rule requiring asylum seekers to seek protection in at least one third country they traveled through en route to the United States.

WASHINGTON—USCIS announced that it will celebrate Constitution Day and Citizenship Day by welcoming nearly 34,300 new U.S. citizens during 316 naturalization ceremonies across the nation between Sept. 13 and 23.

Quotes and Excerpts from Rajiv on the article:

According to Rajiv S Khanna, Managing Attorney at law firm Immigration.com, the delay is not the core issue. “When you are bringing in a new regulation or deregulation, there has to be some reasonable basis in fact and circumstance. How do you justify taking away an entire cadre of highly qualified, highly motivated people from the workforce when unemployment levels are below 4%?” he said.

Quotes and Excerpts from Rajiv on the article:

“Technology is our only edge in the commercial world and if we lose that, we fall behind. In order to maintain and enhance this, we need a system to attract and keep STEM graduates,” Rajiv S Khanna, Managing Attorney at law firm Immigration.com, said. 

For more on this news please see the attachment. 

USCIS will consider certain fiscal year (FY) 2020 CW-1 petitions seeking an extension of status for temporary workers present in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) to be filed on time, even if USCIS receives them after the worker’s current period of CW-1 petition validity expires.

Quotes and Excerpts from Rajiv on the article:

Rajiv Khanna, Arlington-based immigration advocate says: “Many of the cases where a change to student status is requested do get approved. But there are also cases where it is rejected owing to the boilerplate reason that the student has the entire family in the US, therefore they have no ties to their home country.” “The life of a youngster and the family unity should not have to depend upon the 'benevolence' of an immigration officer,” he adds

WASHINGTON—Today U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that it will provide military naturalization services at four overseas military bases, due to the agency’s shifting international footprint and office closures overseas.

In response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that it adopted measures to assist applicants and petitioners who are responding to certain Requests for Evidence (RFE) and Notices of Intent to Deny (NOID). This alert clarifies that this flexibility also applies to certain Notices of Intent to Revoke (NOIR) and Notices of Intent to Terminate (NOIT) regional investment centers, as well as certain filing date requirements for Form I-290B, Notice of Appeal or Motion.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services today announced that it will reuse previously submitted biometrics in order to process valid Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, extension requests due to the temporary closure of Application Support Centers (ASC) to the public in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. This announcement is consistent with existing USCIS authorities regarding the agency’s ability to reuse previously submitted biometrics.

USCIS has received enough electronic registrations during the initial period to reach the FY 2021 H-1B numerical allocations (H-1B cap). USCIS randomly selected from among the registrations properly submitted. USCIS intends to notify petitioners with selected registrations no later than March 31, 2020, that they are eligible to file an H-1B cap-subject petition for the beneficiary named in the applicable selected registration.

Registrants’ online accounts will now show one of the following statuses for each registration (that is, for each beneficiary registered):

In response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that it is adopting a measure to assist applicants and petitioners who are responding to requests for evidence (RFEs) and notices of intent to deny (NOIDs) dated between March 1 and May 1, 2020.   

Alert: While premium processing is suspended, petitioners may submit a request to expedite their petition if it meets the criteria on the Expedite Criteria webpage. It is the petitioner’s responsibility to demonstrate that they meet at least one of the expedite criteria. All expedite requests will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis and requests granted at the discretion of USCIS office leadership.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services today announced that, due to the ongoing COVID-19 National Emergency announced by President Trump on March 13, 2020, USCIS will accept all benefit forms and documents with reproduced original signatures, including the Form I-129, Petition for Nonimmigrant Worker, for submissions dated March 21, 2020, and beyond.