July 2023 Newsletter

July 2023 Newsletter

Welcome to our July Newsletter, which covers select US immigration developments this past month. We start with our monthly analysis of where the government is with processing employment and family-based green cards in our post about the July Visa Bulletin. While the government has made very little progress this past month, the big news has been the serious setback for Indian nationals waiting for green cards under the third preference category (EB-3), which is for professionals and skilled workers. The government has moved back (yes, back) by over three years!

On the operational side, we cover the Service's most recent expansion of premium processing service to pending change of status applications for international students and exchange visitors effective June 13. With premium processing, applicants can pay an additional fee of $1,500 to $2,500 (depending on the benefit requested) for faster processing ranging from 15 to 45 calendar days.

On the humanitarian front, the Department of Homeland Security has rescinded the previous administration's decision to end the temporary protected status program for nationals of El Salvador, Haiti, Nepal and Nicaragua, and has also extended the program by 18 months for these nationals.

Finally, in a disappointing decision for employers of H-1B workers, a federal court found that the Service can require H-1B employers to file amendment petitions each time the H-1B worker changes worksites outside of commuting distance. The agency's requirement had been challenged as unduly burdensome on employers, but the Court was not persuaded that the burden on employers outweighed the agency's need to keep track of H-1B workers for enforcement purposes.

July 2023 Visa Bulletin Released

June 12, 2023

The Department of State (DOS) has issued its July 2023 Visa Bulletin, which has moderate movement across the majority of employment and family-based categories other than the EB-3 final action date for India, which will retrogress by nearly three and a half months to January 1, 2009. Read more here.

USCIS Expands Premium Processing for Students, Trainees, Exchange Visitors and their Dependents

June 15, 2023

USCIS announced earlier this week that it will expand the availability of premium processing to pending applications to change status (Form I-539) to F-1, F-2, J-1, J-2, M-1 or M-2 effective June 13. Read more here.

Temporary Protected Status for El Salvador, Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua Preserved

June 20, 2023

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has rescinded the prior Administration’s termination of Temporary Protected Status (“TPS") for nationals of El Salvador, Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua effective June 9, 2023.?DHS also has decided to extend TPS for these four countries for an additional 18 months after considering the ongoing conditions in these countries.??Read more here.

Federal Court Affirms H-1B Amendment Requirement for Change in Worksite

A federal court has ruled that the US Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) can require H-1B employers to file an amendment petition each time the H-1B worker changes their worksite outside of the Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) listed in the previous H-1B petition. The MSA is a geographic area normally covering the commuting distance around a particular city.??Read more here.

We hope you find this information useful. Please do not hesitate contact us if you would like to discuss your immigration questions or concerns.

As a final note, our thoughts and prayers go to the victims of the Adriana boat, which capsized in the Mediterranean, carrying between 400 to 750 migrants from Syria, Egypt and Pakistan. Only 104 survived.