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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced a new “alien registration” process as part of implementation of an executive order issued by President Trump in January. The interim final rule (IFR) was published in the Federal Register on March 12 and is open to public comment for 30 days (through April 11).
Key Points:
Additional Information: President Trump’s executive order directs the Department of Homeland Security to enforce compliance with alien registration requirements under Section 262 of the INA (8 U.S.C. 1302). Most noncitizens in the United States have already registered. However, a significant number in the United States have had no direct way in which to register and meet their obligation under INA 262.
This alert has been provided by the BAL U.S. Practice Group.
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The State Department announced that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provided updated guidance to panel physicians removing the requirement that immigrant visa applicants receive the COVID-19 vaccination, effective March 11.
Additional Information: Panel physicians are doctors appointed by the State Department to perform exams and certain verifications at U.S. embassies and consulates. Applicants impacted by the new guidance can reach out to the U.S. embassy or consulate at which they executed their application for an immigrant visa.
The U.S. State Department released the April Visa Bulletin. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced filings for employment-based visa preference categories must use the Final Action Dates chart, which shows advancement across all EB-2 and EB-3 visa categories.
Final Action Dates:
EB-1 visa
EB-2 visa
EB-3 visa
Final Action Dates Chart for Employment-Based Visa Applications
Category
On Monday, the U.S. Senate confirmed Lori Chavez-DeRemer as the new U.S. Secretary of Labor.
Additional Information: The U.S. Secretary of Labor is a Presidential Cabinet role that oversees the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and its 25 agencies in advancing its mission “to foster, promote and develop the welfare of the wage earners, job seekers and retirees of the United States; improve working conditions; advance opportunities for profitable employment; and assure work-related benefits and rights.”
DOL budgets, policies and performance reports can be found here.
The Labor Department has posted updated processing times for permanent labor certification (PERM) applications and prevailing wage determination (PWD) requests.
PERM Processing Times: As of March 1, the department was still adjudicating PERM applications filed in November 2023 and earlier and reviewing appeals for reconsideration filed in January 2025 and earlier.
PWD Processing Times: As of March 1, the National Prevailing Wage Center has processed most of the PWD requests filed in August and September 2024 and earlier for H-1B visa Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) and non-OEWS cases, and for PERM OEWS cases and non-OEWS cases.
Redeterminations were being considered on appeals filed in November 2024 and earlier for both H-1B visa cases and PERM cases.
Center Director Reviews were being conducted for both H-1B visa cases and PERM cases filed in August 2024 and earlier.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services provided notices in the Federal Register that public comments are open or have been extended for certain new proposals and revisions to information collection processes pertaining to immigration forms and medical records.
Additional Information: To submit a comment on any of the above proposals, click on the green “Submit a Public Comment” tab located in the top right section of each of the respective Federal Register notice pages linked above.
Today, President Trump’s executive order (EO) designating English the official U.S. language was officially published in the Federal Register, stating agencies can still provide existing multilingual services.
Additional Information: Regarding agency discretion on services provided, Section 3(b) of the EO states “nothing in this order, however, requires or directs any change in the services provided by any agency. Agency heads should make decisions as they deem necessary to fulfill their respective agencies’ mission and efficiently provide Government services to the American people. Agency heads are not required to amend, remove, or otherwise stop production of documents, products, or other services prepared or offered in languages other than English.”
The Department of Labor (DOL) reported that as of Feb. 27, 2025, a total of 5,899 cases were issued Final Decision for fiscal year (FY) 2025 (first half of the visa cap) with a Requested Date of Need from Oct. 1, 2024, through March 31, 2025. Certified positions for this period were allocated for 110,297 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 November– January case and worker numbers from those reported as of Feb. 13.
**As of COB Feb. 27, there were no Final Decisions issued or Positions Certified, although six cases were submitted and there were positions requested for 83 workers.
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.
For FY 2025 second half of the visa cap, DOL processing of Group A increased to 1,855 total cases issued a Final Decision and Positions Certified for 26,279 workers. Group B increased to 773 total cases issued a Final Decision and Positions Certified for 11,046 workers.
DOL is still processing Groups C–G for applications received for Requested Date of Need from April 1, 2025.
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.
In February, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that the initial registration period for the fiscal year (FY) 2026 H-1B cap will open at noon Eastern on March 7 and run through noon Eastern on March 24, 2025.
Additional Information: Tutorials and FAQ on creating organizational accounts can be found here.
The State Department announced that it has issued all EB-4 immigrant visas for fiscal year (FY) 2025.
Additional Information: EB-4 visas allow a wide variety of special immigrants, including religious workers, special immigrant juveniles, certain U.S. government employees, certain international organization retirees and certain international broadcasting employees, among others, to legally reside and work in the United States.