Afghan nationals who were evacuated from Afghanistan under Operation Allies Welcome (“OAW”) in August 2021 and granted humanitarian parole in the United States will be able to extend their status in June 2023.  Under OAW, Afghan nationals who had worked for the United States Embassy or for the United States government in Afghanistan were evacuated to the United States and granted humanitarian parole for two years on a case-by-case basis.  The extension of humanitarian parole (“re-parole”) will allow them to continue living and working in the United States on a temporary basis.  The Department of Homeland Security has not yet announced the specific process for obtaining “re-parole.”

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The Department of State (DOS) has issued its June 2023 Visa Bulletin, which has no movement across all employment and family-based categories. Continuing with the retrogressions, cutoff dates, and lack of movement we’ve seen over the past few months, the Department of State has indicated that the EB-3 final action date for India may retrogress as soon as next month due to high demand. These trends may continue until October 1, 2023, when the new fiscal year starts and more green cards become available.

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The option for employers to remotely verify documents for the Form I-9, which had been permitted during the COVID-19 pandemic, will end on July 23, 2023.  U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) has authorized a five-week grace period for compliance, meaning that all employers will have until August 30, 2023 to comply with the reinstated physical inspection requirements for employees hired on or after March 20, 2020, and who have only had their work authorization documents verified virtually.

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USCIS has released the number of registrations it received in this year’s H-1B visa lottery:  780,884. This is nearly 300,000 more than last year’s numbers: 483,927, resulting in a 15% chance of selection. 

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The Department of Homeland Security has issued instructions on how residents of Hong Kong benefiting from the Administration’s expanded Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) program can apply for or extend work authorization.  First-time applicants can apply for an Employment Authorization Document (EAD) on Form I-765 with the code (a)(11). For Hong Kong residents covered by the initial grant of DED who have an EAD valid until February 2, 2023,  the EAD’s validity will be automatically extended through February 5, 2025.

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The White House has announced that it will no longer require the COVID-19 vaccine for international air travelers effective May 11, 2023. The COVID-19 vaccine requirements for international travelers entering the United States via land ports of entry and ferry terminals also will end on May 11, 2023. 

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The Department of State (DOS) has issued its May 2023 Visa Bulletin. Other than the EB-3 category for Chinese nationals, which advances by five months, most employment categories either have no movement or retrogress in May.  Most notably, the Final Action Date for the worldwide EB-2 category moves back by five months and the worldwide EB-3 category will no longer open with a June 1, 2022, cut off date.

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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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