Immigration Law Blog | Burr & Forman LLP

New Public Charge Final Rule for Green Card Applicants Effective December 23, 2022

Jonathan C. Eggert, Melissa Azallion Kenny, Anna L. Scully — Tue, 13 Dec 2022 09:00:01 -0500

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently issued a new “public charge” final rule that will go into effect December 23, 2022. The new rule will apply to all permanent residency (Green Card) applications filed on or after the effective date. The new rule is a marked change from the strict President Trump-era public charge rule that spent several years in litigation and was ultimately withdrawn by the Biden administration.

Pursuant to the Immigration and Nationality Act, any noncitizen who, in the opinion of DHS, is likely at any time to become a “public charge” is ...

Temporary Waiver of “60-Day Rule” Signature Validity for Form I-693 Extended

Jonathan C. Eggert, Melissa Azallion Kenny, Anna L. Scully — Thu, 10 Nov 2022 09:00:02 -0500

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently announced an extension to its waiver of the civil surgeon signature validity requirement for Form I-693. Form I-693 is the Report of Medical Examination and Vaccination Record which must be submitted with an Application for Adjustment of Status to Lawful Permanent Residency. The report is completed by a civil surgeon to confirm a foreign national is not inadmissible (and therefore ineligible to receive a Green Card) based on health and/or vaccination grounds.

The immigration regulations generally require Form I-693 to ...

USCIS Continues Premium Processing Expansion Implementation

Jonathan C. Eggert, Melissa Azallion Kenny, Anna L. Scully — Thu, 06 Oct 2022 09:00:03 -0400

Since its introduction in 2001, the Premium Processing service offered by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) has seen notable changes. Premium Processing was originally introduced as an option for certain immigration benefit applicants and petitioners to request expedited 15-day processing for an additional fee. The fee to request Premium Processing was originally set at $1,000 but has increased several times since the program’s inception, and was most recently elevated to $2,500.

On March 30, 2022, USCIS published a final rule outlining numerous ...

USCIS Increases 180-day EAD Automatic Extension to 540 Days for Certain Applicants

Jonathan C. Eggert, Melissa Azallion Kenny, Anna L. Scully — Wed, 11 May 2022 09:00:04 -0400

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) announced a Temporary Final Rule that will increase the 180-day automatic extension period for some Employment Authorization Documents (“EADs”) to 540 days beyond the EAD’s expiration date. The rule, which was published as a response to massive USCIS delays in processing EAD renewal applications, became effective immediately on May 4, 2022, and will remain in effect until October 27, 2023.

In order to benefit from the new rule, an applicant must have timely filed an EAD renewal application and fall within an eligible ...

DHS Requires Non-U.S. Individuals Entering the United States by Land or Ferry from Canada or Mexico to be Fully Vaccinated Against COVID-19

Jonathan C. Eggert, Melissa Azallion Kenny, Anna L. Scully — Mon, 07 Feb 2022 09:00:05 -0500

On January 22, 2022, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) began requiring all non-U.S. individuals entering the United States by land or ferry across the U.S./Mexico or U.S./Canada borders to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. The new guidance applies to those non-U.S. individuals who are traveling for both essential and non-essential reasons but will not apply to U.S. citizens, Lawful Permanent Residents, or U.S. nationals.

Any non-U.S. individual entering the United States through land point of entries or ferry must provide proof of a CDC-approved COVID-19 ...

H-1B Cap Registration Period Deadlines Announced for FY2023

Jonathan C. Eggert, Melissa Azallion Kenny, Anna L. Scully — Tue, 01 Feb 2022 09:00:06 -0500

Last week, USCIS announced the H-1B visa cap registration deadlines for FY2023. Registration is mandatory for employers wishing to sponsor a candidate for an H-1B visa in the FY2023 H-1B cap cycle. Registration is an annual electronic process through which USCIS receives registrations from employers for the H-1B lottery. USCIS has historically conducted a random H-1B lottery because more visas are requested each year than are available. Registrants are selected at random for an opportunity to fill one of the H-1B cap positions.

The H-1B cap registration period for Fiscal Year 2023 ...

Travel Ban Lifted for Southern Africa

Jonathan C. Eggert, Melissa Azallion Kenny, Anna L. Scully — Thu, 06 Jan 2022 09:00:07 -0500

Effective December 31, 2021, the United States began permitting noncitizen arrivals from Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. A Presidential Proclamation went into effect on November 29, 2021, suspending entry into the United States for individuals who were present in the aforementioned Southern Africa countries within a 14-day window before their planned date of entry. The Presidential Proclamation was a result of the World Health Organization’s report identifying an area of increased presence of COVID-19 variants in ...

USCIS Expands Automatic Employment Authorization Extensions and Nonimmigrant Categories Eligible to Work Incident to Status

Jonathan C. Eggert, Melissa Azallion Kenny, Anna L. Scully — Tue, 04 Jan 2022 09:00:08 -0500

Employment Authorization Document (EAD) processing times have been severely delayed in recent years, rendering certain dependent nonimmigrants temporarily ineligible to work and causing gaps in some U.S. employers’ workforces. An EAD can take over 12 months for adjudication under current processing times. Recently, USICS issued guidance expanding its automatic EAD extension rules to apply to additional foreign nationals. The agency further confirmed L-2 and E-2 dependent spouses are considered eligible to work “incident to status,” meaning they no longer require ...