Effective June 12, 2022, the Centers for Disease Control (“CDC”) no longer requires international travelers to show a negative COVID-19 test result or proof of recovering from COVID-19 prior to boarding a flight to the United States.
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The Department of State (DOS) has issued its July 2022 Visa Bulletin. The most important takeaways for July are that the priority date for EB-2 India moves forward by three months and EB-2 China moves forward by one month, while EB-3 India and EB-3 China will stay the same as last month.
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USCIS recently announced that it will accept premium processing requests for certain types of pending Form I-140s.
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Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the U.S. government has been implementing several humanitarian programs to support Ukrainians displaced by the conflict. Most recently, President Biden announced Uniting for Ukraine, a new immigration program that allows individuals in the United States to sponsor Ukrainian citizens who have been displaced by the Russian invasion to come to the United States on humanitarian parole.
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The Department of State (DOS) has issued its June 2022 Visa Bulletin. The most important takeaways for June are that the priority date for EB-2 India moves forward by one year while EB-2 China, EB-3 India, and EB-3 China will stay the same as May. Priority dates for all family-based petitions remain largely the same, except for nationals of Mexico, who will move forward in the F-1, F-2B, and F-4 categories.
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In an effort to deal with extensive delays in processing applications for work authorization (Form I-765), the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) has increased the automatic extension of work authorization for certain renewal applications from 180 days to 540 days effective May 4, 2022. DHS also has expanded the types of applications that qualify for the automatic 540-day extension.
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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) has extended the ability of employers to remotely verify the identity and employment authorization documents of new hires who will work off-site due to COVID-19 related precautions. The option to remotely verify documents for Form I-9 purposes has been extended through October 31, 2022.
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USCIS has announced that they will no longer issue combination employment authorization and travel cards to applicants for permanent residence. Instead, USCIS will issue two separate documents: 1) a regular employment authorization document (“EAD”); and 2) an Advance Parole document.
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Due to ongoing armed conflict in Cameroon, the Department of Homeland Security announced this week that nationals of Cameroon currently in the United States may apply for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) so that they can stay in the United States for the next 18 months.
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