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Release Date 

12/08/2021

USCIS announced today 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. 

Release Date 

12/09/2021

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is temporarily waiving the requirement that the civil surgeon sign Form I-693, Report of Medical Examination and Vaccination Record, no more than 60 days before an applicant files an application for the underlying immigration benefit (including Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status), until Sept. 30, 2022.  

Release Date

12/10/2021

USCIS is rescinding a November 2020 policy memorandum requiring interviews of all petitioners filing Form I-730, Refugee/Asylee Relative Petition. Effective immediately, USCIS will return to its prior long-standing practice of making case-by-case determinations on whether to interview Form I-730 petitioners. 

Release Date 

12/13/2021

USCIS is reminding the public that they offer immigration services that may help people affected by unforeseen circumstances such as natural disasters. Examples of unforeseen circumstances include, but are not limited to, the severe weather in Kentucky and surrounding states.

The following measures may be available on a case-by-case basis upon request:

Published by: The Economic Times: December 15, 2021

Quotes and Excerpts from Rajiv in the article:

Published by: The Economic Times - Date: December 20, 2021

Synopsis

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of job openings has increased to a record 11.0 million. The 27 million small businesses, responsible for almost 50% of the GDP, are the most severely affected. They cannot find workers. A Bill like this would destroy them.

 

For more on this article please see the attachment below.

Release Date 

12/21/2021

The Department of Homeland Security has published a final rule that withdraws the Modification of Registration Requirement for Petitioners Seeking to File Cap-Subject H-1B Petitions final rule, also known as the H-1B Selection Final Rule, issued Jan. 8, 2021. That rule was vacated by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Published by: The Economic Times: December 29, 2021

Quotes and Excerpts from Rajiv in the article:

“Chronic and unconscionable delays have become an integral part of the USCIS and other immigration processes…,” said Rajiv S Khanna, managing attorney at Immigration.com. “While we can understand some delays that have been built into the process by statute, such as country-based immigration, processing delays of a year or more in benefits that should require only minutes to adjudicate are uncivilized.”

As stated by "Indian Express" :

A proposal that will hit Indian IT companies the most, US software giant Microsoft Corporation has suggested a whopping fee of USD 10,000 (over Rs 5 lakh) for a new category of H-1B visas and USD 15,000 (more than Rs 7.5 lakh) for permanent residency or Green card.

This could raise a huge USD5 billion over a decade, it said.

Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano has extended Haiti’s Temporary Protected Status (TPS). Next week, the Department of Homeland Security will publish a notice in the Federal Register announcing this decision.

The Federal Register notice will provide additional guidance on:

The Department, in anticipation of the enactment of H.J.Res 117, which prohibits the Department from expending funds to implement the 2011 H-2B Wage Rule for the duration of that Continuing Resolution, will publish in the Federal Register a Final Rule extending the effective date of the 2011 Wage Rule to March 27, 2013.The Final Rule is posted on the Federal Register's web site September 28, 2012 and it is accessible here.