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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced it is updating its policy manual to recognize only two biological sexes, male and female.
Key Points:
Additional Information: While benefits won’t be denied solely for incorrect sex indication, delays may occur if the sex indicated differs from the birth certificate. The formal policy alert can be read here.
This alert has been provided by the BAL U.S. Practice Group.
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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced it has received enough registrations to meet the fiscal year (FY) 2026 H-1B cap, including the advanced degree exemption.
Additional Information: USCIS randomly selected enough beneficiaries to reach the H-1B cap. An H-1B cap-subject petition must be properly filed at the correct filing location or online at my.uscis.gov and within the filing period indicated on the relevant selection notice. Petitioners filing for selected beneficiaries based on their valid registration must still submit evidence or otherwise establish eligibility for petition approval, as registration and selection only pertains to eligibility to file the H-1B cap-subject petition.
More details on the H-1B electronic registration process can be found here.
The Handbook for Employers M-274 (also known as the Form I-9 employer handbook) has been updated to reflect the final rule changing the automatic extension end date to April 1 of the applicable fiscal year for F-1 visa students requesting H-1B visa status.
Additional Information: The final rule modernizing the H-1B visa program was published by the Department of Homeland Security on Dec. 18, 2024. Additional Form I-9 guidance for F-1 students can be found here.
The Department of Homeland Security provided notice that the recent designation of Romania into the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) is under review and that implementation of the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) for Romanian citizens will remain paused until the review is completed.
Additional Information: The VWP, managed by DHS and the State Department, allows citizens of designated countries to visit the U.S. for business or tourism for up to 90 days without a visa. In exchange, these countries must permit U.S. citizens to travel to their countries under similar conditions. The program enhances security through rigorous vetting and cooperation in counterterrorism, law enforcement and immigration enforcement. The current review of Romania’s VWP designation aims to ensure compliance with these security requirements, temporarily halting ESTA for Romanian citizens until the review is complete.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced it received enough petitions to meet the H-2B visa cap for the second half of fiscal year (FY) 2025 and that eligible petitions for supplemental visas must be received by Sept. 15, 2025.
Additional Information: On Dec. 2, 2024, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Labor jointly published a temporary final rule increasing the numerical limit (or cap) on H-2B nonimmigrant visas by up to 64,716 additional visas for all of FY 2025. Supplemental visas are available only to U.S. businesses that are suffering irreparable harm or will suffer impending irreparable harm without the ability to employ all the H-2B workers requested in their petition. Of the 64,716 additional visas, 44,716 are available only for certain returning workers. The remaining 20,000 visas are set aside for nationals of Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti and Honduras who are exempt from the returning worker requirement.
Refer to the Temporary Increase in H-2B Nonimmigrant Visas for FY 2025 page for more details, including who can petition for supplemental visas and other filing information.
The Department of Homeland Security announced the termination of the 2022 and 2023 categorical parole programs for Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela (referred to as “CHNV parole programs”). DHS is expected to publish a Federal Register notice March 25 to terminate these programs effective April 24.
Additional Information: The termination of the CHNV parole programs is anticipated to impact approximately 530,000 Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan and Venezuelan nationals. The Trump administration’s actions to suspend categorical parole programs are currently under litigation, and this termination will likely face similar legal challenges.
In terms of enforcement, the register states that “DHS generally intends to remove promptly aliens who entered the United States under the CHNV parole programs who do not depart the United States before their parole termination date and do not have any lawful basis to remain in the United States. DHS retains its discretion to commence enforcement action against any alien at any time, including during the 30-day waiting period created by this notice.”
The Department of Labor (DOL) reported that as of March 18, a total of 5,910 cases were issued Final Decisions. Certified positions for this period were allocated for 110,641 workers.
The chart below indicates the number of Final Decisions issued and Positions Certified for filing windows from July 2024 to February 2025:
Final Decision
*Indicates a change in the numbers previously reported by DOL for the month of the indicated filing window.
**As of COB March 18, there were no Final Decisions issued or Positions Certified, although there was a slight increase in both cases submitted and positions requested (five cases were submitted and the number of workers for positions requested was 81).
As of Jan. 7, 2025, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services received enough petitions to reach the additional 20,716 H-2B visas made available for returning workers for the first half of FY 2025 with start dates on or before March 31, 2025.
Update on applications received for requested date of need from April 1, 2025 (FY 2025 second half of the visa cap):
As of March 18, a total of 4,181 cases were issued Final Decisions. Certified positions for this period were allocated for 59,747 workers.
DOL completed processing of the following groups who filed between Jan. 1-3:
DOL is still processing Groups E, F and G who filed between Jan. 1-3.
***Indicates a change in the numbers previously reported by DOL for this group.
Background on Assignment Groups: The initial H-2B Assignment Group (i.e., Group A) will always include the number of H-2B applications containing a sufficient amount of worker positions to reach the applicable numerical visa cap, even if the numerical limits of the Immigration and Nationality Act are subsequently changed. Additional Assignment Groups are assigned in ascending sequential order for all remaining H-2B applications that were filed during the initial three-day filing window that requested the earliest start date of work permitted. Each H-2B Assignment Group after Group A (e.g., Group B, Group C, etc.) will total no more than 20,000 worker positions, or roughly 1,000 applications per group. More background on H-2B Temporary Labor Certification Program and the origin of Assignment Groups can be found here.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services listed updates that show only the Jan. 20 edition of certain forms will be accepted starting March 24 and designated dates thereafter.
Prior editions for all forms listed can be used until the respective date indicated above.
Additional Information: A complete list of form updates can be found here.
The Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration, Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC), gave notice that record deletion from the Foreign Labor Application Gateway (FLAG) system starts at midnight on March 20.
Additional Information: The legacy Permanent Online System that provided public access to permanent labor certification applications and final determinations was fully decommissioned on Dec. 1, 2024. The FLAG System was implemented in 2023 to replace the legacy Permanent Online System, improve customer service and modernize the administration of foreign labor certification programs.
The NARA Records Schedule provides mandatory disposition instructions for managing agency records. Records classified as “permanent” due to historical value are transferred to the National Archives of the United States at the end of their retention period. Under the NARA Records Schedule/Record Control Schedule, all other records are classified as “temporary” and destroyed.
The April Visa Bulletin shows a major retrogression of more than two years in the EB-5 unreserved visa category preference for both China and India.
Additional Information: In the other employment-based visa preference categories, India showed some advancement in the EB-1, EB-2 and EB-3 visa categories. China advanced in the EB-2 and EB-3 visa categories.