The Department of State (DOS) has issued its January 2024 Visa Bulletin. As we wrap up 2023 and start 2024, the DOS brought us a pleasant surprise for the new year.  After several months of very little progress in priority dates, we finally will see forward movement in many employment-based immigrant visa categories and final action dates for the family-based immigrant visa categories. And, there will be no retrogressions in any of the categories in January, which is always welcome news.

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The Department of Justice (DOJ) has reached a settlement with Apple, Inc. regarding the company’s hiring practices during the test of the labor market for employment-based green card sponsorship that allegedly disadvantaged US citizens and lawful permanent residents.  Apple has agreed to pay $6.75 million in civil penalties and create an $18.25 million back pay fund for eligible victims of their discriminatory hiring practices. 

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The Department of State (DOS) has issued its December 2023 Visa Bulletin. This month, there is very little forward movement in all the family and employment-based immigrant visa categories. While this is disappointing, there were no retrogressions in any of the categories for this month.

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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced it will extend and expand temporary protected status (TPS) for nationals of Cameroon due to the ongoing armed conflict, and environmental and sociopolitical crisis in Cameroon. Cameroonians who are already benefiting from TPS (referred to as “TPS beneficiaries”) can extend their status for an additional 18 months, from December 8, 2023 until June 7, 2025. 

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The Department of State (DOS) has issued its November 2023 Visa Bulletin. Much like last month, the November 2023 Visa Bulletin is disappointing as there is little forward movement in both the family and employment-based immigrant visa categories.   Fortunately, there are no retrogressions in any of the categories.

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The online registration period for the annual green card lottery will open tomorrow, Wednesday, October 4, at 12 noon, Eastern Daylight Time (EDT), and end on Tuesday, November 7 at 12 noon, Eastern Standard Time (EST). We recommend registering as soon as possible because the DOS website slows down or freezes due to very heavy traffic towards the end of the registration period. 

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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced it will extend and expand temporary protected status (TPS) for nationals of Venezuela due to the ongoing sociopolitical and economic crisis in Venezuela. Venezuelans who are already benefiting from TPS can extend their status for an additional 18 months until September 10, 2025.

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In an effort to improve processing times of employment authorization applications (Form I-765), USCIS has announced that it will increase the validity periods for certain categories of Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) to five years. 

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DHS has announced that it will extend and expand temporary protected status (TPS) for nationals of Afghanistan due to the ongoing conflict and grave humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. Afghanis who are already benefiting from TPS can extend their status for an additional 18 months from November 21, 2023, until May 20, 2025. 

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Below are two charts I prepared to show you how much progress has happened over the last five years for the employment and family based categories. For employment-based categories, I have focused on the first three of the five categories.  I use the dates from the October Visa Bulletin for the last five years because October is when the fiscal year starts for the US government and the annual allocation of green cards is replenished. The October Visa Bulletin is very important because it usually sets the tone for the year ahead.  

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