Categories News & Updates USCIS

USCIS Proposed Fee Increases

USCIS proposed a fee increase for certain immigration services, including applications for naturalization and certain types of visas. The proposed fee increase would affect a wide range of individuals, including those seeking to become naturalized citizens, as well as those applying for nonimmigrant visas such as H-1B, L-1, and E-2 visas. The proposed fee increase would also apply to individuals seeking employment authorization documents and those seeking to renew their green cards.

The text of the proposed rule is now available and is noted at the bottom of this article. There is a variable fee for Form I-129 depending on the type of status sought, such as H-1B, L-1, TN, etc. The I-129 fee increase ranges between 70% – 201%. The current I-129 fee is $460.

According to the USCIS, the proposed fee increase is necessary to “ensure the agency has the resources it needs to maintain processing times, reduce backlogs, and improve its services.” The agency claims that it has not raised fees for many of its services in over a decade and that the proposed increase is necessary to keep pace with the rising costs of providing immigration services.

However, the proposed fee increase has faced widespread opposition from immigrant advocacy groups and some members of Congress. Critics argue that the fee increase would place an undue burden on immigrants and could discourage people from seeking legal immigration status. They also argue that the fee increase is unnecessary, as the USCIS already generates sufficient revenue through fees to cover its costs.

At this time, it is unclear when or if the proposed fee increase will take effect. The USCIS is required to allow for a period of public comment before implementing any changes to its fees. It is possible that the agency will make changes to the proposed fee increase based on the feedback it receives during this period.

In conclusion, the proposed fee increase from the USCIS has generated significant controversy and opposition. While the agency argues that the increase is necessary to maintain its operations, critics argue that it would place an undue burden on immigrants and is unnecessary given the agency’s current fee structure. Procedural rules require that the proposal go through a formal notice-and-comment period that will likely last 60 days, during which time any member of the public may submit feedback.

Here is a link to the proposed rule: https://lnkd.in/eQSvXPGY

Categories News & Updates USCIS

Expansion of Premium Processing for Certain Immigrant Petitions

Today, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced an expansion of premium processing to petitioners with certain I-140 Immigrant Petitions for Alien Workers pending in the EB1 and EB2 preference categories.

 

Starting on June 1, 2022, USCIS will accept I-907 requests for premium processing service of EB1C Multinational Executive and Manager I-140 petitions received on or before January 1, 2021.

 

Starting on July 1, 2022, USCIS will accept requests for premium processing service of EB2 National Interest Waiver petitions received on or before June 1, 2021. USCIS will accept I-907 requests for premium processing service of EB1C Multinational Executive and Manager petitions received on or before March 1, 2021.

 

USCIS will not accept new I-140 EB1C and EB2 NIW I-140 petitions filed in premium processing at this time.

 

In today’s announcement, USCIS also noted that it released a new Form I-907 yesterday, dated 05/31/2022, and will accept both the old 09/30/2020 version and the new 05/31/2022 version until June 30, 2022. Starting July 1, 2022, USCIS will require the new version and will reject requests made on the old version.

 

Please contact your Graham Adair attorney with any case specific questions, or contact us at info@grahamadair.com; +1 408 715 7067.

Categories News & Updates USCIS

USCIS Expands Premium Processing Services

In an effort to increase efficiency and reduce burdens to the overall legal immigration system, USCIS has announced three new actions intended to reduce backlogs, expand Premium Processing Services and provide timely access to Employment Authorization Documents (EADs).

 

Reducing Backlogs: To reduce backlogs, USCIS has established new internal cycle time goals. These goals are internal metrics and affect how long it takes the agency to process cases. As cycle times improve, processing times will follow, and applicants and petitioners will receive decisions on their cases more quickly. USCIS plans to achieve these new goals by the end of FY 2023. The new cycle time goals can be accessed here- https://www.uscis.gov/forms/filing-guidance.

 

Expansion of Premium Processing Service: USCIS intends to begin gradually implementing premium processing availability to include Form I-539, Form I-765 and additional classifications under Form I-140 in fiscal year 2022. First, USCIS plans to begin this phased implementation process by expanding premium processing eligibility to Form I-140 filers requesting EB-1 immigrant classification as a multinational executive or manager, EB-2 classification as a member of the professions with advanced degrees, and those with exceptional ability seeking a national interest waiver. A specific timeline has not yet been announced. We will provide updates on timing as they become available.

 

Access to EADs: USCIS had recently extended validity periods of certain EADs by providing an automatic 180-day extension. Now it aims to build on this progress to ensure certain individuals will not lose their work authorization status while their applications are pending. More updates on the EAD adjudication process will be released by USCIS in the coming days. We will monitor progress and provide updates.

 

Please contact your Graham Adair attorney with any case specific questions, or contact us at info@grahamadair.com; +1 408 715 7067.

Categories USCIS

USCIS Premium Processing Fee Increase and Expansion to New Case Types

Premium processing services will be expanded under a recent federal government funding bill that was just passed by Congress. Under the bill, the cost of premium processing will increase, and will also be available to many types of cases where premium processing was not available.

The law takes effect immediately, however, it will likely take USCIS several weeks to implement the changes and begin accepting cases that are newly eligible for premium processing. It is also not clear at this time what the exact fees will be. At this point in time, the only numbers that have been provided are the upper limit caps.

This is a breakdown of what we know:

  • H-1B, L-1, O-1, TN, and other non-immigrant petitions filed on I-129: $2500. Timing for adjudication remains at 15 calendar days.
  • I-140 petitions for most case types: $2500. Timing for adjudication remains at 15 calendar days.
  • NEW: I-539 applications for dependents: upper limit of $1750. Timing for adjudication will be 30 days.
  • NEW: I-140 for Multinational Managers and National Interest Waiver: upper limit of $2500. Timing for adjudication will be 45 days.
  • NEW: EAD card applications: upper limit of $1500. Timing for adjudication will be 30 days.

USCIS will make announcements about accepting additional case types and the schedule for rolling out premium processing fee increases. We are watching for these announcements and will provide details as they become available.

Categories USCIS

New USCIS Fees Put on Hold

A federal judge in California issued an injunction on Tuesday preventing the USCIS from putting in place a new fee schedule.  The new fee schedule was set to go into effect on October 2, 2020, but as of now that will not happen.  On the issue of whether there was proper authority within the Department of Homeland Security to implement the new fee structure, the judge determined that there was sufficient uncertainty and temporarily blocked it from going into effect.

This means that for the time being, the current fee schedule will stay in effect.  The government will no doubt challenge this preliminary injunction in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, but it is unclear how long that process will take.  It is important to note that this is a very fluid situation and the new fee schedule could go into effect with almost no notice.

We will continue to monitor this situation closely and publish new information as it becomes available.