The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced a permanent increase in the automatic extension period for certain Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) up to 540 days. The final rule will take effect on January 13, 2025.
Background on the History of Automatic EAD Extensions
The automatic extension of EADs was
Continue Reading DHS Announces Permanent Increase of Automatic EAD ExtensionsAdditional contributing author: Matthew Parker*
USCIS’s E-Verify Disposal Announcement
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently announced that employers using E-Verify have until January 5, 2025, to download and retain records for cases last updated on or before December 31, 2014. After this date, USCIS will permanently dispose of
Continue Reading Last Call for E-Verify Records: Compliance Steps Before the January 5, 2025 Disposal
On August 2, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld a rule allowing the spouses of H-1B visa holders to work in the United States. In doing so, the Court rejected a longstanding challenge which originated in 2015 from Save Jobs USA (“Save Jobs”)
Continue Reading Victory for H-1B Visa Spouses: U.S. Court Upholds Work Authorization
After the Parole in Place Program (“Keeping Families Together”) went into effect on August 19, 2024, sixteen State Attorneys General filed a complaint against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) et. al. The complaint alleges that the program is unlawful and will cause irreparable harm to the states that
Continue Reading Judge Temporarily Pauses Parole in Place Program for Undocumented Spouses and Stepchildren
Additional contributing author: Isabella Cohen
Seyfarth Synopsis: On Aug. 19, 2024, DHS posted for public inspection a Federal Register notice implementing the “Keeping Families Together” process for certain noncitizen spouses and stepchildren of U.S. citizens. “Keeping Families Together” enables noncitizen spouses and stepchildren of U.S. citizens to apply for lawful
Continue Reading New DHS Parole Policy for Long-Term Undocumented Spouses, Stepchildren
On the morning of February 14, 2024, several clients reached out after encountering issues with the photo matching tool in E-Verify. They reported discrepancies where the photos transmitted by E-Verify did not align with the photos on the employees’ documents. It became increasingly clear that E-Verify was not rendering
Continue Reading Valentines Day Glitch: E-Verify Photo-Match MayhemBy: Jake Campbell and Weijia (Victoria) Ma
Seyfarth Synopsis: The below summarizes recent legal updates that impact U.S. immigration:
1. FY2024 H-1B Cap Registration
On March 27, 2023, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that initial registration was complete and that all prospective petitioners with selected registrations selected in
Continue Reading April 2023 U.S. Immigration AlertBy Steven R. Brouillard and Victoria Ma
Seyfarth Synopsis: On January 12, 2023, USCIS announced the final phase of premium processing expansion for EB-1 Multinational Executive and Manager and EB-2 National Interest Waiver (NIW) Form I-140 Petitions, as well as steps to expand premium processing for certain I-765 and I-539
Continue Reading USCIS Implements Final Phase of Premium Processing For Multinational Executive/Manager and National Interest Waiver Immigrant Visa PetitionsOn January 4, 2023, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a proposed rule to increase fees for most immigration benefit requests. If implemented, employers will pay significantly more for most nonimmigrant and immigrant filings. The fee increases projects to boost revenues by over $4.5 billion providing USCIS
Continue Reading New Year, New Fees: Proposed USCIS Fee IncreasesBy: Dawn Lurie, Matthew Parker* and Amber Stokes*
As U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) continues to deal with their backlogs, they have announced that, effective September 26, 2022, USCIS is automatically extending the validity of expired Forms I-551, Permanent Resident Card ( or “PRC”), commonly known as a
Continue Reading Treats from USCIS to LPRs: Green Card Validity Extension