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A federal judge denied a motion to halt the implementation of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services fee increases Friday. This means the fee increases will take effect as scheduled on Monday, April 1.
Key Points:
Background: Under the fee rule, base immigration filing fees will increase significantly and a new asylum program fee will be charged for each Form I-129 and Form I-140 filing. The rule also changes premium processing time frames and requires applicants and petitioners to use new forms in many cases. More information is available here.
BAL Analysis: Litigation over the fee rule is expected to continue, but the judge’s ruling Friday means that the fee hikes will take effect April 1. Employers will see costs increase substantially, including for fiscal year 2025 H-1B cap petition filings. Companies can use BAL’s USCIS fee calculator to gauge the impact the increases will have on their immigration programs. BAL will provide additional information as it becomes available.
This alert has been provided by the BAL U.S. Practice Group.
Copyright © 2024 Berry Appleman & Leiden LLP. All rights reserved. Reprinting or digital redistribution to the public is permitted only with the express written permission of Berry Appleman & Leiden LLP. For inquiries, please contact copyright@bal.com.
A regulation that will increase U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services filing fees, change premium processing time frames and require petitioners to use new versions of commonly used forms is set to take effect Monday, April 1.
BAL Analysis: The fee regulation will substantially increase costs and change filing procedures for employers. The change to premium processing time frames will prolong adjudications in some cases. While litigants are hoping to halt the fee rule, it is still set to take effect on April 1. BAL will provide additional information as it becomes available.
BAL has shared several resources related to the fee rule, including a USCIS fee calculator and analysis of how the increases will affect small- and medium-sized companies. The BAL Government Strategies team provided detailed information on the fee rule and changes to the H-1B program in a webinar last month. The webinar is available on-demand here.
The Department of Homeland Security has announced the extension and redesignation of Myanmar for Temporary Protected Status for 18 months, from May 26, 2024, to Nov. 25, 2025.
Additional Information: In announcing the extension/redesignation Friday, DHS cited “extraordinary and temporary conditions … that prevent individuals from safely returning” to Myanmar, which is also known as Burma. DHS specifically mentioned “widespread violence” resulting from a 2021 military coup as wells as “challenges in the provision of food, access to health care, and economic stability.” The full announcement is available here.
Copyright © 2024 Berry Appleman & Leiden LLP. All rights reserved. Reprinting or digital redistribution to the public is permitted only with the express written permission of Berry Appleman & Leiden LLP. For inquiries please contact copyright@bal.com.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced Thursday that it would extend the H-1B cap registration period to Monday.
BAL Analysis: The extended registration deadline will provide more time to those affected by technical problems to complete registration. BAL encourages employers to work closely with their BAL team during H-1B registration and throughout cap season.
A lawsuit aims to stop U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services fee hikes.
State Department data shows a continued increase in green card issuance.
And with March Madness tipping off, the BAL Sports & Entertainment team creates a tournament bracket of their own.
Get this news and more in the new episode of BAL’s podcast, the BAL Immigration Report, available on Apple, Spotify and Google Podcasts or on the BAL news site.
Groups representing employers and visa applicants sued the Department of Homeland Security Tuesday, aiming to stop dramatic increases to immigration filing fees from taking effect.
BAL Analysis: While the lawsuit hopes to halt the implementation of the fee increases, employers at this time should still plan for the new fee rates to take effect April 1. BAL will continue following the litigation and will provide updates as information becomes available.
In a recent survey, a majority of employers told BAL they will not adjust how many petitions they will file but are interested in exploring alternatives. BAL has shared several resources related to the fee rule, including a USCIS fee calculator, analysis of how the increases will affect companies and a webinar on the recently published fee and H-1B selection rules.
Employers are reminded that registration for H-1B cap petitions for fiscal year 2025 closes this Friday.
Additional Information: Following the registration period, USCIS will conduct a lottery to determine which registrations will be eligible for H-1B petition filing beginning April 1. Under a recently published regulation, the agency will switch to a beneficiary-centric lottery this year, meaning each beneficiary can be selected only once, regardless of how many registrations were submitted on his or her behalf. BAL urges employers to work closely with their BAL team during H-1B registration and throughout cap season.
The U.S. Department of Labor has posted updated processing times for permanent labor certification (PERM) applications.
PERM Processing: As of Feb. 29, the department was adjudicating applications filed in February 2023 and earlier, conducting audit reviews on applications filed in December 2022 and earlier, and reviewing appeals for reconsideration filed in April 2023 and earlier.
As of Feb. 29, PERM processing was averaging:
• Analyst review — 401 calendar days
• Audit review — 505 calendar days
Additional Information: DOL data on prevailing wage determination requests showed that as of Jan. 31, the National Prevailing Wage Center was processing PWD requests filed in September 2023 and earlier for H-1B OEWS and PERM OEWS cases. It was processing requests filed in June 2023 and earlier for H-1B non-OEWS cases and March 2023 and earlier for PERM non-OEWS cases. Redeterminations were being considered on appeals filed in October earlier and earlier for H-1B cases and September 2023 and earlier PERM cases.
BAL Analysis: BAL’s internal case tracking is mostly consistent with the Labor Department’s published processing times. BAL is seeing approvals for PERM applications filed in February 2023 and earlier and PWDs for requests filed October 2023 and earlier for H-1B OEWS and PERM OEWS cases. For more information, visit the Labor Department’s Foreign Labor Application Gateway processing times page.
Immigrant visa issuance continued to climb in fiscal year 2023, surpassing pre-pandemic totals, according to recently published State Department statistics.
According to the Report of the Visa Office 2023, the State Department issued a total of 562,976 immigrant visas, up more than 14% from last year’s total of 493,448. Visa issuance plummeted during the COVID-19 pandemic but has rebounded in each of the last two fiscal years.
The State Department previously announced that it issued a near record 10.4 million nonimmigrant visas in fiscal year 2023.
Additional Information: BAL Senior Counsel Tiffany Derentz will host Julie Stufft, the State Department’s deputy assistant secretary for visa services, at a BAL Community event tomorrow, March 19. The discussion will offer insights on administrative processing, the domestic visa renewal pilot program and additional information about what’s ahead for the Visa Office this year. The 45-minute discussion will begin at 1 p.m. ET.
For more information on the event, visit BAL Community.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced this week that it will implement a streamlined process to provide Employment Authorization Documents to eligible refugees after they are admitted to the United States.
Additional Information: Under U.S. law, a refugee is legally authorized to work as soon as they arrive in the United States. Obtaining proof of this work authorization in the form of an EAD was previously a cumbersome paper-based process that led to undue delays. This new process is the result of coordination across the U.S. government to support the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program and refugee integration.