USCIS no longer requires that the medical exam (Form I-693) submitted with applications for permanent residence (Form I-485) be less than 60 days old at the time of filing.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has ended the requirement for negative COVID-19 test results from air passengers traveling from the People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong, and Macau, including those transiting through South Korea, Toronto, and Vancouver locations.
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USCIS has announced that it completed selection of the registrations submitted in this year’s H-1B visa lottery. If your registration was selected, you should have received an email notification from USCIS to the email address associated with your myUSCIS account.
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The Department of State (DOS) has issued its April 2023 Visa Bulletin. Other than the EB-3 category for Chinese nationals, which advances by three months, most employment and family-based categories either have no movement or retrogress in April. Most notably, the Final Action Date for the worldwide EB-2 category retrogresses by four months and there is a cut-off date for the F-2A category for spouses and minor children of lawful permanent residents.
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USCIS tweeted (yes, tweeted) this morning that they have extended the H-1B lottery registration period to Monday, March 20 at 2PM PST / 5PM EST because their online payment option stopped working yesterday. USCIS confirmed that the crash was due to high user traffic.
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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has extended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for nationals of Somalia due to ongoing armed conflict, public health crises, and food security challenges in Somalia.
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On Monday, March 6, USCIS announced that it will expand the availability of premium processing to pending applications by international students for Optional Practical Training (OPT) and OPT extensions based on a STEM degree.
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The Department of State (DOS) has issued its March 2023 Visa Bulletin, which has zero movement across all employment and family-based categories. While the EB-2 category worldwide has seen backlogs over the past several months, the EB-3 category has remained open for nationals of most countries. Due to increased EB-3 applicants, DOS has announced that they may establish a worldwide final action date for the EB-3 category over the next few months.
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It's that time of the year again! The registration period for this year's H-1B visa lottery runs from Wednesday, March 1 at 9 AM PST / 12 PM EST to Friday, March 17 at 9 AM PST / 12 PM EST. We highly recommend registering early on during this period so there is time to accommodate any system glitches or crashes before the registration period closes on March 17. If you would like us to assist you with the H-1B registration process, please contact us by Friday, February 24, at the latest so we can help you get set up and confirm eligibility for H-1B classification.
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President Biden has approved a two-year extension of Deferred Enforced Departure (“DED”) for certain residents of Hong Kong currently in the United States, and an expansion of DED to Hong Kong residents who arrived in the United States after the initial grant of DED was announced on August 5, 2021.
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