If you are a U.S. citizen who is physically present overseas with your Afghan, Ethiopian, or Ukrainian immediate family members and have not yet filed an immigrant visa petition with USCIS, you may request to locally file a Form I-130 petition at the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate that processes immigrant visas.
This applies only to U.S. citizens affected by the large-scale disruptive events in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, and Ukraine. Such citizens must be physically present in the country where they wish to file petitions.
They can request to locally file on behalf of their spouses, unmarried children under the age of 21, and parents who fled Afghanistan after August 2, 2021; Ethiopia after November 1, 2020; or Ukraine after February 1, 2022.
If you have already filed a Form I-130 petition with USCIS for your immediate relative and it has not yet been approved, you may inquire with USCIS regarding an expedite request.
Posted by: Christopher M. Pogue, Esq AT 08:30 am
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Processing times for renewals have shot up at the underfunded Citizenship and Immigration Services. Every 15 days, Naina Arora checks a U.S. federal government website to see when she’ll be allowed to work again.
Arora, the wife of an H-1B visa holder, has been on unpaid leave from her job in the operations department of a major health-insurance provider in Pasadena, Calif. since October, when her work permit expired. She had applied for a renewal in advance, assuming it would take something like the three months it had taken her to get her first one in 2019.
Instead, the average processing time listed on the website for cases like hers continues to increase—from 5½ months, to 7½, to 12½. After countless calls to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) case hotline, she finally reached an employee. As she recalls, the response she got was: “I’m so sorry, it’s just bad luck, and we cannot do anything about it. Just wait and pray.”
Work-Permit Renewals
Change in number of backlogged applications
Source: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
Unprecedented delays in approving work-permit renewals are routinely leaving immigrants such as Arora in limbo. The government doesn’t keep statistics on how many people have had their permits expire while waiting for a renewal, but officials estimate that, at its worst in January and February, hundreds per day were losing permission to work.
Work permits, which generally last for 2 years, are automatically extended for 180 days once holders have applied for a renewal. That safeguard, put in place in 2017—at a time when it took an average of five months to process work permits—was supposed to avoid exactly this sort of problem. But it’s often now insufficient.
The lucky ones, like Arora, are placed on unpaid leave, losing their income and also their driver’s license. The less fortunate ones are fired and must resort to working off the books to make ends meet. “I was working an under-the-table job, because I didn’t have any valid documentation,” says one home health aide, who requested anonymity. “So this waiting period has caused us to become illegal employees.”
The people most affected by the work-permit cliff are immigrants waiting for decisions on their applications for asylum or green cards—for which there are also long delays. “We inherited a ship with a bunch of holes punched through the hull,” says a USCIS official who requested anonymity to speak candidly. “Now we’ve patched up those holes, and we’re doggedly bailing out water so that we can truly right the ship for the long haul.”
USCIS found itself on the verge of fiscal collapse in summer 2020; its budget is largely funded by application fees, but applications had plummeted because of the Covid-19 pandemic and Trump-era restrictions on immigration. The agency avoided widespread furloughs, but instituted a hiring freeze that wasn’t lifted until well into 2021.
At the same time, the shutting down of in-person offices for months in 2020 prolonged already-growing processing times. Then, in summer 2020, the Trump administration created a regulation that turned the two-page work-permit application (which the agency claimed took about 12 minutes to complete) into a seven-page one.
The renewal backlog almost doubled in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2021. The government processed only half the work-permit renewals it received from green-card applicants and asylum-seekers.
Secretary Mayorkas Designates Ukraine for Temporary Protected Status for 18 Months
Release Date: March 3, 2022
WASHINGTON — The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the designation of Ukraine for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 18 months.
“Russia’s premeditated and unprovoked attack on Ukraine has resulted in an ongoing war, senseless violence, and Ukrainians forced to seek refuge in other countries,” said Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas. “In these extraordinary times, we will continue to offer our support and protection to Ukrainian nationals in the United States.”
A country may be designated for TPS when conditions in the country fall into one or more of the three statutory bases for designation: ongoing armed conflict, environmental disasters, or extraordinary and temporary conditions. This designation is based on both ongoing armed conflict and extraordinary and temporary conditions in Ukraine that prevent Ukrainian nationals, and those of no nationality who last habitually resided in Ukraine, from returning to Ukraine safely. These conditions result from the full-scale Russian military invasion into Ukraine, which marks the largest conventional military action in Europe since World War II. This invasion has caused a humanitarian crisis with significant numbers of individuals fleeing and damage to civilian infrastructure that has left many without electricity or water or access to food, basic supplies, shelter, and emergency medical services.
Individuals eligible for TPS under this designation must have continuously resided in the United States since March 1, 2022. Individuals who attempt to travel to the United States after March 1, 2022 will not be eligible for TPS. Ukraine’s 18-month designation will go into effect on the publication date of the forthcoming Federal Register notice. The Federal Register notice will provide instructions for applying for TPS and an Employment Authorization Document (EAD). TPS applicants must meet all eligibility requirements and undergo security and background checks.
Posted by: Christopher M. Pogue, Esq AT 06:25 pm
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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services today announced that the initial registration period for the fiscal year 2023 H-1B cap will open at noon Eastern on March 1 and run through noon Eastern on March 18, 2022. During this period, prospective petitioners and representatives will be able to complete and submit their registrations using our online H-1B registration system.
Prospective H-1B cap-subject petitioners or their representatives are required to use a myUSCIS online account to register each beneficiary electronically for the selection process and pay the associated $10 H-1B registration fee for each registration submitted on behalf of each beneficiary. Prospective petitioners submitting their own registrations (U.S. employers and U.S. agents, collectively known as “registrants”) will use a “registrant” account. Registrants will be able to create new accounts beginning at noon Eastern on Feb. 21.
Representatives may add clients to their accounts at any time, but both representatives and registrants must wait until March 1 to enter beneficiary information and submit the registration with the $10 fee. Prospective petitioners or their representatives will be able to submit registrations for multiple beneficiaries in a single online session. Through the account, they will be able to prepare, edit, and store draft registrations prior to final payment and submission of each registration.
If USCIS receives enough registrations by March 18, USCIS will randomly select registrations and send selection notifications via users’ myUSCIS online accounts. USCIS intends to notify account holders by March 31.
An H-1B cap-subject petition, including a petition for a beneficiary who is eligible for the advanced degree exemption, may only be filed by a petitioner whose registration for the beneficiary named in the H-1B petition was selected in the H-1B registration process.
Posted by: Christopher M. Pogue, Esq AT 12:00 pm
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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services today announced updated guidance on adjudicating requests for “National Interest Waivers” regarding job offer and labor certification requirements for certain advanced degree professionals and individuals of exceptional ability. This includes discussing the unique considerations for persons with advanced degrees in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields and entrepreneurs.
An employer seeking to hire a noncitizen must generally obtain a permanent labor certification from the Department of Labor that proves there are no qualified U.S. workers for the position they are seeking and that their employment will not adversely affect similarly employed U.S. workers. The noncitizen may, however, seek a waiver of a job offer, and of the labor certification, if it is in the interest of the United States.
Individuals seeking a national interest waiver must show evidence of an advanced degree or exceptional ability and must also meet three factors that USCIS uses to determine, in its discretion, whether it is in the national interest that USCIS waive the requirement of a job offer, and thus the labor certification. The three factors USCIS considers for a national interest waiver are whether:
The person’s proposed endeavor has both substantial merit and national importance;
The person is well positioned to advance the proposed endeavor; and
It would be beneficial to the United States to waive the job offer and thus the permanent labor certification requirements.
The security situation in Ethiopia continues to deteriorate. The U.S. Embassy urges U.S citizens in Ethiopia to depart now using commercially available options. Although the Embassy continues to process emergency passports and repatriation loans, and to provide other emergency services, the Embassy is unlikely to be able to assist U.S. citizens in Ethiopia with departure if commercial options become unavailable. Please see information on What the Department of State Can and Can’t Do in a Crisis.
U.S. citizens wishing to depart Ethiopia, currently have multiple options via commercial flights from Bole International Airport. If you have difficulty securing a flight or need assistance to return to the United States, please contact AddisACS@state.gov for guidance. The Embassy can also provide a repatriation loan for U.S. citizens who cannot afford at this time to purchase a commercial ticket to the United States. If you are a U.S. citizen and delaying your departure because your non-U.S. citizen spouse or minor children do not have immigrant visas or U.S. passports, please contact us immediately. Similarly, if you are a non-U.S. citizen parent of a U.S. citizen minor but do not have a valid U.S. visa or other document valid for entry to the United States, please contact us.
State Department – Consular Affairs: 888-407-4747 or 202-501-4444
The Department of State has no higher priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens overseas. U.S. citizens still in country should enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive security updates and to ensure you can be located in an emergency.
Please see contact information for airlines operating from Bole International Airport below:
In 2019, the monthly average of immigrant visa cases pending at the National Visa Center (NVC) waiting for an interview was 60,866. Two years later, those numbers have skyrocketed, with the NVC reporting 506,221 immigrant visa applications awaiting interviews in June 2021– an approximately 732 percent increase.
As the NVC confirmed in the February 2021 meeting with the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), the NVC continues to schedule cases only for posts that can conduct interviews.
DOS has thankfully expanded interview waiver eligibility for NIVs and consular posts are beginning to phase in more routine visa services as shown by the jump in both IV and NIV issuance in March and April 2021.
While things appear to be trending in the right direction, the restrictions brought on by the pandemic have created an enormous IV backlog that continues to rise.
Posted by: Christopher M. Pogue, Esq AT 09:45 am
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In response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is extending the flexibilities it announced on March 30, 2020, to assist applicants, petitioners and requestors who are responding to certain:
Requests for Evidence;
Continuations to Request Evidence (N-14);
Notices of Intent to Deny;
Notices of Intent to Revoke;
Notices of Intent to Rescind;
Notices of Intent to Terminate regional centers; and
Motions to Reopen an N-400 Pursuant to 8 CFR 335.5, Receipt of Derogatory Information After Grant.
In addition, USCIS will consider a Form I-290B, Notice of Appeal or Motion, or Form N-336, Request for a Hearing on a Decision in Naturalization Proceedings (Under Section 336 of the INA), if:
The form was filed up to 60 calendar days from the issuance of a decision we made; and
We made that decision anytime from March 1, 2020, through Jan. 15, 2022
Notice/Request/Decision Issuance Date:
This flexibility applies to the above documents if the issuance date listed on the request, notice or decision is between March 1, 2020, and Jan. 15, 2022, inclusive.
Response Due Date:
USCIS will consider a response to the above requests and notices received within 60 calendar days after the response due date set in the request or notice before taking any action. Additionally, we will consider a Form N-336 or Form I-290B received up to 60 calendar days from the date of the decision before we take any action.
Posted by: Christopher M. Pogue, Esq AT 01:05 pm
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The Biden administration will lift travel restrictions starting in November on foreigners who are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, reopening the country to thousands of people, including those who have been separated from family in the United States during the pandemic.
The foreign travelers will need to show proof of vaccination before boarding and a negative test for the coronavirus within three days before coming to the United States, Jeff Zients, the White House pandemic coordinator, said Monday.
“International travel is critical to connecting families and friends, to fueling small and large businesses, to promoting the open exchange ideas and culture,” Mr. Zients said. “That’s why, with science and public health as our guide, we have developed a new international air travel system that both enhances the safety of Americans here at home and enhances the safety of international air travel.”
The administration has restricted travel for foreigners looking to fly to the United States from a group of European countries, Iran and China for more than a year.
Unvaccinated Americans overseas aiming to travel home will have to clear stricter testing requirements. They will need to test negative for the coronavirus one day before traveling to the United States and show proof that they have bought a test to take after arriving in the United States, Mr. Zients said. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will also soon issue an order directing airlines to collect phone numbers and email addresses of travelers for a new contact-tracing system. Authorities will then follow up with the travelers after arrival to ask whether they are experiencing symptoms of the virus.
The changes announced on Monday only apply to air travel and do not affect restrictions along the land border, Mr. Zients said.
Posted by: Christopher M. Pogue, Esq AT 10:54 am
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