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By Katrina Mendoza For the last few years, the adjudication of I-751 Petitions to Remove Conditions on Permanent Residence by USCIS has been significantly backlogged. The global pandemic has only exacerbated these delays, leaving hundreds of thousands of conditional permanent residents with their statutes pending for years. Currently, around eighty percent of I-751 petitions are being completed within thirty-one months, a drastic increase from processing times pre-pandemic. In an effort to reduce this backlog and push for a more efficient immigration system overall, USCIS recently updated the interview waiver criteria for family-based immigrants seeking to remove the conditions on their permanent resident status. These new criteria will hopefully allow for more waivers to be granted and for I-751 petitions to be decided more quickly.
Who does this impact? Foreign nationals are granted conditional permanent residency if their green card application is based on a marriage to a U.S. citizen or permanent resident if they have been married for less than two years at the time the green card is approved. While a green card is usually valid for ten years, a conditional green card is valid for only two years. A conditional permanent resident must file an I-751 petition to request the removal of the conditions on their residency within 90 days of their permanent resident card expiring. The conditional permanent resident is typically required to appear for an interview before the final adjudication of the petition. While a USCIS officer has the discretion to waive an I-751 interview, prior USCIS policy limited the circumstances where on officer could waive the interview. For example, the USCIS policy would not allow interview waivers for any conditional permanent residents that obtained status through consular processing, rather than adjusting status from within the United States. USCIS’s updated policy restores the authority of USCIS officers to use their independent judgement to waive an interview when adjudicating I-751 petitions, regardless of whether the petitioner obtained their status through consular processing or by adjusting status inside the United States.
What is the interview waiver criteria? The new policy guidance states that USCIS officers may consider waiving an interview if:
Hopefully, these policy changes are the beginnings of more changes of policy and staffing allocations within USCIS that will reduce case backlogs and improve processes. For conditional permanent residents who are preparing to start this daunting process or who have been waiting in limbo, this new I-751 interview waiver policy means that there is at least one less barrier ahead. Questions?
Our team at World One Law Group consists of attorneys who specialize in family-based immigration matters and regularly assist clients with their I-751 Petitions to Remove Conditions on Residence. If you have questions about your immigration situation and would like to schedule a consultation, please email info@world1law.com or call our office at 425-250-8110. We would be happy to meet with you. For more information and updates on U.S. immigration news, please visit our website at www.world1law.com.
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 By Feiya Go Job hunting is hard enough. Ever go through 18 interviews at a trendy tech company only to be told you weren’t a good fit? How about seeing the application portal that makes you manually enter each experience again, even though you just uploaded your resume? All this warrants a deep breath and a good glass of wine. But job hunting as an immigrant, that is a whole other level of difficulty. Every immigrant job seeker dreads the question, “Do you have US work authorization?” You may find yourself giving an immigration seminar to the recruiter or hiring manager. You have to convince someone that hiring you won’t be that much more trouble than hiring anyone else. Inevitability, even if you aced your interview and are offered the job, the immigration process requires detailed biographic information, uploading documents, and submitting forms to the USCIS. After long processing times, you finally get that all-important approval. But soon your work authorization expires, you get that email from HR needing updated proof of your work authorization, and the cycle starts all over again. Today, we bring you two great pieces of news about work authorization to make life just a little easier for immigrant employees. L2 Visa Holders Automatically Granted Work Authorization
The first improvement relates to work authorization for L2 visa holders. The L2 visa is a status for spouses of L1 visa employers who are transferred by multinational companies. On November 10, 2021, US Department of Homeland Security settled a lawsuit that allowed all L2 visa holders to be granted employment authorization without the need for a separate employment authorization document (EAD). Before this announcement, an L2 visa holder would be approved for the status but then have to file an I-765 application for permission to work. Only after that application was approved would they be issued an Employment Authorization Document (“EAD) and be allowed to work legally in the United States. Sound easy? Not lately. The wait times for EAD approval stretched to between 8 to 14 months in the last few years. With this lawsuit settlement, L2 visa holders now have work authorization “incident to status.” This means that L2 visa holders are able to work legally in the United States from day one of their arrival or the approval of their change of status. This policy change will also remove thousands of L2 EAD applications from the USCIS pipeline. This is a win-win situation in our books. Temporarily Increase for EAD Automatic Extensions up to 540 Days for 18 Categories The second improvement relates to automatic EAD extensions for 18 categories. The USCIS has different rules for whether an automatic extension is given when the applicant files a renewal before the previous EAD card expires. These rules are based on the underlying reason someone qualifies for an EAD, such as a pending I-485 Adjustment of Status, pending asylum application, H4 spouses with approved I-140 petitions, and other categories. Previously, certain categories were given an automatic 180-day extension. Currently, as of May 4, 2022, USCIS temporarily increased the extension period for an additional 360 days above the 180, resulting in a total of 540 days for certain types of EADs. You can see a list of EAD categories eligible for this automatic extension at https://www.uscis.gov/eadautoextend. This temporary increase is available to eligible renewal applicants with pending applications if you filed your Form I-765 renewal application either:
If you file your Form I-765 renewal application after October 26, 2023, the normal 180-day automatic extension period will apply. This new automatic extension will help reduce the chances of a break in employment for those on EADs. It will also enable the USCIS to focus on producing initial EAD approvals. Our office has already seen the positive effect of this policy for our clients. We are happy to announce these two updates and look forward to sharing more good immigration news with our readers. Questions? For more information and updates on U.S. immigration news, please visit our website at www.world1law.com. If you have questions about your immigration situation and would like to schedule a consultation, please email info@world1law.com or call our office at 425-250-8110. Our team would be happy to meet with you!  By Andrea Lee
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the expansion of premium processing service to more case types. Premium processing is an expedited adjudication service for specific types of forms filed with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). It is currently available to those filing a Form I-129, Petition for Nonimmigrant Worker, or a Form I-140 for certain employment-based immigrant visa petitioners. The final rule expands the regulation to apply to three more categories, detailed below. Form I-539, Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status This form is commonly used for spouses of individuals who hold nonimmigrant employment visas in the United States. Premium processing is already available for employees seeking temporary work visas, which allows for quick adjudication of their petitions. However, their spouse’s applications currently get delayed with long backlogs, without the option for premium processing. Hopefully, this new rule will help keep families on the same processing timeline, now that the employee, their spouse, and their children are eligible for premium processing. Form I-765, Application for Work Authorization U.S. employers are required to verify the identity and authorization to work for all employees. For many non-immigrants, this is often done by showing an employment authorization document (EAD), issued after Form I-765 is approved. Without an approved EAD, many individuals must take extended unpaid leave from work or become unemployed altogether. This new premium processing rule gives applicants the opportunity to pay the premium processing fee to receive approved work authorization within 15 calendar days of submission. Cases that are now taking almost a year may be approved in just two weeks. The expansion of premium processing regulations is great news for employers and employees alike. Form I-140, Petition for Alien Worker The Form I-140 Petition for Alien Worker is used by employers to request permanent residency for an employee, often after the certification of a PERM labor certification application. Premium processing was already available to certain categories under the I-140 petition. This new rule adds premium processing options for additional classifications in the employment-based immigrant visas, such as national interest waivers or multinational executives or managers. Implementation The new expansion will be implemented in a phased approach, starting in fiscal year 2023 (which starts on October 1, 2022). USCIS plans to begin the implementation process with Form I-140, for those requesting EB-1 classification as a multinational executive or manager and EB-2 classification as a member of professions with advanced degrees or exceptional ability seeking a national interest waiver. Questions? For more information and updates on U.S. immigration news, please visit our website at www.world1law.com. If you have questions about your immigration situation and would like to schedule a consultation, please email info@world1law.com or call our office at 425-250-8110. Our team would be happy to meet with you! In this episode of the Lawyerist Podcast, podcast host Stephanie talks with the managing attorney for World One Law Group, Karol Brown, about the importance of tracking KPIs in your law firm and what metrics you should track. In Karol’s firm, they realized they were not measuring enough, so they decided to take another look and change that. She gives examples of the metrics she is now tracking for the different aspects of her business and their importance. ☎ 425.250.8110 | ✉ Contact Us   The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) has notified people regarding H1B registration lottery results for the 2022-2023 fiscal year. Registered agents started receiving notifications on H1B 2023 lottery results on March 25, 2022. On March 29, 2022, USCIS sent out a notice that the selection process is complete and all eligible applicants were notified.
The USCIS believes that they sent enough electronic registrations during the initial registration period to reach the 2023 H-1B registration cap. Companies must now submit H1B petition for selected individuals. If not enough H1B petitions are received, the USCIS will do a second round and notify registered applicants of their selection at a later time. When Was the H1B Registration Period for the 2022-2023 Fiscal Year ? The registration period for the 2022-2023 H1B Cap Lottery was between March 1, 2022 and noon Eastern time on March 18, 2022. Companies and organizations could register people in the H1B cap lottery during this period. Did the USCIS Announce the H1B Lottery Results? Yes, on March 29, 2022, the USCIS officially announced that the H1B registration selection process has been completed. You can check on updates at https://www.uscis.gov/newsroom/alerts/fy-2023-h-1b-cap-season-updates. The agency notified all companies about whether a registration was selected. How Does the USCIS Provide the H1B Lottery Results? The employer or the attorney can log into the USCIS H1B registration online system. If an individual is chosen in the lottery, the person’s status changes from “Submitted” to “Selected.” The company can click a link next to their name to download their H1B registration confirmation notice. This notice must be submitted with their H1B petition. The company is now eligible to file an H-1B cap-subject petition for any of the individuals selected. Can An Individual Check their H1B 2023 Lottery Status? No, there is currently no way for an individual H1B applicant to check whether they were selected in the H1B cap lottery. Individuals must contact the employer who submitted their registration. The employer or the attorney that submitted your H1B registration will have access to the lottery selection status on the USCIS website. How Can I Check the H1B Lottery Results? To check the H1B lottery results, you must login using the USCIS H1B registration lottery system at http://my.uscis.gov. Then select “View Notice” to view the H1B registration lottery selection results. You should print the H1B selection confirmation notice for each selected individual, or save it as a PDF. The H1B registration selection notice will include the following:
Can I Transfer My H1B Registration Lottery to Another Employer? No, your H1B registration cannot be transferred to another employer. If your employer files an H1B petition for you and you are selected, you may be able to file another H1B petition for a change of employer. What Happens if I Am Selected in H1B Registration, but My Employer Does Not File an H1B Petition? An employer has up to 90 days to file an H1B petition for a person selected in the H1B cap lottery. If the employer does not file a petition within that period, the selection expires. What Happens to People Who Are Not Selected in the H1B Cap Lottery? The results for the H1B cap lottery registration are completed at different times. If an individual did not show “Selected” by March 31, 2022, then it is unlikely that this person will be selected in this round. The USCIS may have another selection round if not enough people submit H1B petition. Anyone registered in the previous rounds but not selected will be included in the pool. Will the USCIS Will Have Another Round for the 2022-2023 H1B Cap Lottery? Last year, the USCIS had three different H1B cap lottery rounds. This was highly unusual. There is a strong likelihood that there will be at least one more round of the H1B selection lottery. However, there is no guarantee. A second round would occur at least 90 days after the first round. What Do I Do If I Am Selected in the 2022-2023 H1B Cap Lottery? Selection in the H1B cap lottery is just the beginning! If you are selected, and need an attorney, the attorneys and staff at World One Law Group would be happy to assist you in preparing your H1B petition forms, answering your questions, and advising you on your immigration strategy throughout your stay in the United States. What Can I Do if I Am Not Selected in the H1B Cap Lottery? You should continue to maintain valid status in the United States if you are not selected in the lottery. This could mean continuing to work on your OPT, filing for a change of status to a visitor, or going back to study as a student. The USCIS may have another selection round in a few months if not enough H1B petitions are filed to complete the 65,000 regular cap cases plus 20,000 master’s cap cases allowed by Congress. You should talk to an immigration attorney to see what other options you may have to be employed in the United States. |
AuthorKarol Brown is the managing attorney at World One Law Group in Bellevue, Washington. World One specializes in employment and business immigration, family-based immigration, naturalization, as well as asylum, DACA, VAWA, and U-Visa cases. Archives
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