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Immigration News Briefs

Provided by Humera Subhani

January 2025

Extension for EAD renewal applicants

On December 4, DHS announced a final rule that will permanently increase the automatic extension period of employment authorization and employment authorization documentation from up to 180 days to up to 540 days for eligible noncitizens who file a timely request to renew their work authorization. The final rule will become effective on January 13, 2025, and will apply to eligible applicants (certain categories) with timely filed renewal EAD applications pending or filed on or after May 4, 2022.

In addition to today’s final rule, USCIS has taken a number of steps to reduce EAD processing times overall and streamlined adjudication processing, including:

Reducing by half the median EAD processing times for individuals with pending applications for adjustment of status from fiscal year 2021 to date;
Engaging with communities to educate work eligible individuals and providing on-the-ground intake support for applicants;
Reducing EAD application processing times for asylum applicants and certain parolees to less than or equal to a 30-day median;
Extending the EAD validity period for certain categories of applicants from two years to five years;
Streamlining the processing of refugee EAD applications; and
Expanding online filing of EAD applications to asylum applicants and parolees.

Form I-485 needed for certain applicants

On December 2, USCIS stated that it will now require certain applicants filing Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, to submit Form I-693, Report of Immigration Medical Examination and Vaccination Record, with their Form I-485 or the Form I-485 may otherwise be rejected.

Applicants for adjustment of status generally must complete an immigration medical examination and all required vaccinations and submit a properly completed Form I-693 signed by a civil surgeon to show they are free from health conditions that would render them inadmissible under the health-related grounds.

If an applicant is required to submit Form I-693 it must now be submitted with the I-485.

USCIS has made this change to reduce the number of Requests for Evidence having to be issued.

USCIS reaches Fiscal Year 2025 H-1B cap

On December 2, USCIS stated that it has received enough petitions to reach the congressionally mandated 65,000 H-1B visa regular cap and the 20,000 H-1B visa U.S. advanced degree exemption, known as the master’s cap, for fiscal year (FY) 2025.

USCIS will send non-selection notices to registrants through their online accounts over the next few days. When it finishes sending these non-selection notifications, the status for properly submitted registrations that were not selected for the FY 2025 H-1B numerical allocations will show:

Not Selected: Not selected – not eligible to file an H-1B cap petition based on this registration.

APPLICATION FINAL ACTION DATES FOR JANUARY 2025

FAMILY	India	Pakistan/Bangladesh
1st	22Nov15	22Nov15
2A	01Jan22	01Jan22
2B	22May16	22May16
3rd	01Jul10	**01Jul10**
4th	08Apr06	01Aug07

EMPLOYMENT	India	Pakistan/Bangladesh
1st	01Feb22	Current
2nd	01Oct12	01Apr23
3rd	01Dec12	**01Dec22**
Other	01Dec12	08Dec20
4th	01Jan21	01Jan21
5th	01Jan22	Current1B

DATES FOR FILING VISA APPLICATIONS - JANUARY 2025

FAMILY	India	Pakistan/Bangladesh
1st	01Sep17	01Sep17
2A	15Jul24	15Jul24
2B	01Jan17	01Jan17
3rd	22Jul12	22Jul12
4th	15Aug06	01Mar08

EMPLOYMENT	India	Pakistan/Bangladesh
1st	15Apr22	Current
2nd	01Jan13	01Aug23
3rd	08Jun13	01Mar23
Other	08Jun13	22May21
4th	01Feb21	01Feb21
5th	01Apr22	Current1B