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Immigration News Briefs

Provided by Humera Subhani

December 2020

H1B rules significantly affect visa program

The government recently published three rules that will have a significant impact on the H-1B visa program. The first rule is published by the Department of Labor and impacts the way prevailing wages are determined under the H-1B program; the second rule is published by the Department of Homeland Security and will impact how specialty occupation is defined under the federal statute; and the third rule would replace the current random lottery system that is used to determine whose petitions get processed each year under the fiscal cap.

Therefore, instead of a random selection process, which is the current method used, under the new rule the selections will be made according to how much an H-1B worker would be offered in salary. Those offered the highest salaries with their positions—starting with the level four under the DOL's prevailing wage database and then in descending order levels three, two, and one—will be considered for selection under the the registration process.

Lawsuits are currently in place to oppose these new visa restrictions and more information will be provided in an upcoming article.

Highlights on civics test for naturalization

Increases the general bank of civics test questions from 100 to 128, the number of test questions for the exam to 20 (from 10), and accordingly, the number of correct answers needed to pass the civics test to 12 (from 6). The test score required to pass (60 percent correct) will not change.

Confirms that USCIS will continue to administer 10 test questions (with required 6 correct answers) to applicants who qualify for special consideration because they are age 65 or older and have been lawful permanent residents for at least 20 years.

Provides that officers will ask all 20 test items (or 10 to special consideration applicants), even if the applicant achieves a passing score

Federal judge blocks DACA restrictions

On November 16, a U.S. district judge ruled that a DHS July 2020 memorandum that curtails immigration benefits under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program is unenforceable. The federal judge found that Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf, who issued the memo, was not properly appointed to his position, and therefore lacked the authority to restrict DACA.

On June 18, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Trump Administration violated the Administrative Procedures Act (APA) in attempting to end DACA. The Administration responded on July 28, 2020, when Wolf released the memo, which directed the DHS to reject all pending and future requests for DACA, to reject all pending and future applications for advance parole, barring exceptional circumstances, and to shorten the DACA renewal period to one year.

APPLICATION FINAL ACTION DATES—DECEMBER 2020

FAMILY	India	Pakistan/Bangladesh
1st	15Sep14	15Sep14
2A	Current	Current
2B	08Jul15	08Jul15
3rd	15Jun08	15Jun08
4th	08Mar05	22Sep06

EMPLOYMENT	India	Pakistan/Bangladesh
1st	01Apr19	Current
2nd	01Oct09	Current
3rd	15Mar10	Current
Other	15Mar10	Current
4th	Current	Current
5th	Current	Current

DATES FOR FILING VISA APPLICATIONS—DECEMBER 2020

FAMILY	India	Pakistan/Bangladesh
1st	22Jul15	22Jul15
2A	01Aug20	01Aug20
2B	01May16	01May16
3rd	01Jun09	01Jun09
4th	22Nov05	15Sep07

EMPLOYMENT	India	Pakistan/Bangladesh
1st	01Nov20	Current
2nd	15May11	Current
3rd	01Jan14	Current
Other	01Jan14	Current
4th	Current	Current
5th	Current	CurrentB