News

According to the State Department’s December Visa Bulletin, Final Action cutoff dates for issuance of an immigrant visa or approval of an adjustment of status application will be as follows:  EB-1: China will remain at November 8, 2022, and India will…

The State Department will begin accepting online registrations for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 Diversity Visa (DV) lottery starting Wednesday, October 2, 2024 at noon EDT. Foreign nationals who wish to enter the lottery have until Tuesday, November 5, 2024 at…

A continuing resolution passed by Congress late Wednesday will fund the federal government through December 20, 2024, while negotiations on the FY 2025 budget continue. The stopgap bill funds the federal government at current levels through December 20. Current funding…

As FY 2025 federal budget discussions continue, U.S. government funding could expire after midnight on September 30, 2024 if Congress fails to pass legislation to avoid a government shutdown. In the event of a shutdown, some immigration processes would be…

The State Department has announced that the annual limit for the EB-2 immigrant visa category has been met for FY 2024. As a result, the category is immediately unavailable and will remain so through September 30, the end of the fiscal year.…

The Eastern District Court of Texas has extended its administrative stay of parole in place (PIP) approvals under the Biden Administration’s new Keeping Families Together program through September 23, 2024, from September 9. While the administrative stay is in place, PIP applicants can continue…

The State Department has announced that the annual limit for the EB-1 immigrant visa category has been met for FY 2024. As a result, the category is immediately unavailable and will remain so through September 30, the end of the fiscal year.…

The Eastern District Court of Texas has issued a 14-day administrative stay of parole in place (PIP) approvals under the Biden Administration’s new “Keeping Families Together” program, following a lawsuit filed last week by 16 U.S. states challenging the program. While the administrative…

On August 19, 2024, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services began accepting applications for the new parole in place (PIP) program for certain undocumented spouses and stepchildren of U.S. citizens. Successful applicants for parole in place may be able to apply…

Beginning today, the Department of Homeland Security will accept applications for the new parole in place (PIP) program for certain undocumented spouses and stepchildren of U.S. citizens. Applicants must submit USCIS Form I-131F and supporting documentation online. Paper applications are…

The EB-3 and EB-5 Unreserved immigrant visa categories are immediately unavailable and will remain so through the remainder of fiscal year 2024, which ends September 30, 2024. USCIS should nevertheless continue to accept EB-3 and EB-5 Unreserved adjustment of status…

As of August 1, 2024, the Department of Labor (DOL) was conducting analyst review for PERM applications filed in July 2023 or earlier, and processing audited cases with priority dates of December 2022 or earlier. DOL is working on standard…

The Final Action date for EB-3 Professionals and Skilled Workers will retrogress by one year, to December 1, 2020, for all countries, except for EB-3 China and India, which are unchanged. The Final Action date for EB-3 Other Workers will…

USCIS selected an additional 13,607 unique beneficiaries in the second round of the FY 2025 H-1B cap lottery. As a result of the second drawing, the overall selection rate of unique beneficiaries increased to approximately 29%, from approximately 26% after…

USCIS announced today that it has completed a second lottery of properly submitted FY 2025 H-1B cap petitions to meet the regular cap of 65,000. Employers and their counsel should review their H-1B registration accounts to determine whether they have received any…

Today USCIS announced that it plans to run a second lottery of properly submitted FY 2025 H-1B cap registrations to select additional unique beneficiaries. The additional lottery is taking place because USCIS did not receive enough H-1B cap petitions during…

The White House has designated Lebanese nationals for Deferred Enforced Departure (DED). The DED order blocks removal of certain Lebanese nationals from the United States for 18 months, and instructs the Department of Homeland Security to provide employment authorization to…

Consistent with the Venezuela National Assembly decree of June 25, 2024, the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) webpages have been updated to reflect DHS recognition of a new ten-year auto-extension of…

The Department of Homeland Security has added an additional field to the list of academic degrees eligible for the F-1 STEM optional practical training (OPT) program. The STEM OPT program, which allows F-1 students with a qualifying STEM degree to hold…

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has extended and redesignated Somalia for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 18 months, from September 18, 2024 through March 17, 2026.  The registration period for eligible individuals to submit initial TPS applications under the…

The White House and the Department of Homeland Security have announced that starting August 19, eligible applicants will be able to submit applications under the recently announced parole in place (PIP) program for certain undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens. Further…

Next month, USCIS will accept employment-based adjustment of status applications from foreign nationals with a priority date that is earlier than the Final Action Dates listed in the State Department’s August 2024 Visa Bulletin. Employment-Based Priority Date Cutoffs for August…

The Final Action dates and Dates for Filing for India EB-2 and EB-3 will advance by one month in August. The Final Action date for EB-2 India will advance to July 15, 2012 and the Date for Filing to July…