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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.

Published by: The Times of India  - Date: January 02, 2021

Quotes and Excerpts from Rajiv on the article:

Rajiv S Khanna, managing attorney at Immigration.com, said an extension of the travel ban would be challenged in courts and defeated on the same grounds on which the government suffered a preliminary injunction.

For more details please see the attachment below.

Release Date 12/23/2020

Haitian Family Reunification Parole and Filipino World War II Veterans Parole Programs to be Terminated

USCIS announced that it will automatically extend parole, and employment authorization, if applicable, for parolees who timely applied for Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) long-term resident status.  

Published by: The Economic Times - Date: January 05, 2021  

Synopsis

The current extension states that “while the November overall unemployment rate in the United States of 6.7 percent reflects a marked decline from its April high, there were still 9,834,000 fewer seasonally adjusted nonfarm jobs in November than in February of 2020.” This reasoning is factually and logically untenable.

Published by: The Economic Times - Date: January 07, 2021 

Synopsis

For this year (FY 2021-22), the USCIS has attempted to change the lottery selection process to favor the highest paid employees first. That change is embodied in a proposed regulation, which can be published as a final rule any time.

For more on this article please see the attachment below.

Published by: The Times of India  - Date: January 08, 2021

Quotes and Excerpts from Rajiv on the article:

Release Date 01/07/2021

Rule Expected to Protect the Economic Interests of American Workers

Published by: The Economic Times - Date: January 11, 2021

Synopsis

The wage levels are derived from the US Department of Labor data, which qualifies employees based upon a combination of the education and experience required for their job: Level 1 (entry level); Level 2 (qualified); Level 3 (experienced); Level 4 (fully competent). This rule will cause serious impediments for the US businesses if it is allowed to stand.

For more details please see the attachment below.