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Immigration News Briefs

Provided by Humera Subhani

July 2022

Premium processing for certain I-140 petitions

On May 24, USCIS stated it is implementing premium processing for certain petitioners who have a pending Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers, under the EB-1 and EB-2 classifications. This expansion of premium processing only applies to certain previously filed Form I-140 petitions under an E13 multinational executive and manager classification or E21 classification as a member of professions with advanced degrees or exceptional ability seeking a national interest waiver (NIW). Petitioners who wish to request a premium processing upgrade must file Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing Service.

The expansion will occur in phases:

Beginning June 1, 2022, USCIS will accept Form I-907 requests for E13 multinational executive and manager petitions received on or before Jan. 1, 2021.
Beginning July 1, 2022, USCIS will accept Form I-907 requests for E21 NIW petitions received on or before June 1, 2021, and E13 multinational executive and manager petitions received on or before March 1, 2021.
As the expansion of premium processing is being implemented in a phased approach, USCIS will continue working towards premium processing availability of additional Form I-140 petitions,Form I-539 and Form I-765 in fiscal year 2022. USCIS will also adhere to the congressional requirement that the expansion of premium processing must not cause an increase in processing times for regular immigration benefit requests.

USCIS has 45 days to complete premium processing for these newly included Form I-140 classifications. It will reject premium processing requests for these classifications that are filed before their start date of June 1, 2022, or July 1, 2022. USCIS will not accept new (initial) Forms I-140 with a premium processing request at this time.

USCIS issuing corrected form I-765 receipt notices

Between May 4 and June 2, 2022, USCIS issued certain I-765 receipt notices with incorrect information. In particular, the incorrect notices included language relating to a 180-day automatic extension for certain categories of renewal applicants, instead of the correct 540-day automatic extension provided by the temporary final rule effective May 4, 2022 (Temporary Increase of the Automatic Extension Period of Employment Authorization and Documentation for Certain Renewal Applicant (87 FR 26614)). USCIS has printed corrected notices, with language confirming the 540-day automatic extension, for affected applications. Affected applicants should expect to receive an updated receipt by the third week of June.

Supreme Court dismisses "public charge" rule

CNN reported that the Supreme Court dismissed an appeal brought by a group of Republican-led states seeking to intervene in a case challenging the Trump-era “public charge” immigration policy, a version of which the Biden Administration has abandoned. The Trump-era policy—an expansion of the so-called "public charge" rule—made it more difficult for immigrants to obtain legal status if they use certain public benefits, such as Medicaid, food stamps, and housing vouchers. AILA and the American Immigration Council submitted comments in response to the proposed rule. The Department of Homeland Security expects to publish a new final rule in July or August.

APPLICATION FINAL ACTION DATES FOR JULY 2022

FAMILY	India	Pakistan/Bangladesh
1st	01Dec14	01Dec14
2A	Current	Current
2B	22Sep15	22Sep15
3rd	22Nov08	22Nov08
4th	15Sep05	22Mar07

EMPLOYMENT	India	Pakistan/Bangladesh
1st	Current	Current
2nd	01Dec14	Current
3rd	15Jan12	Current
Other	15Jan12	08May19
4th	Current	Current
5th	Current	Current1B

DATES FOR FILING VISA APPLICATIONS - JULY 2022

FAMILY	India	Pakistan/Bangladesh
1st	01July16	01July16
2A	Current	Current
2B	01Oct16	01Oct16
3rd	01Oct09	**01Oct09**
4th	22Feb06	08Nov07

EMPLOYMENT	India	Pakistan/Bangladesh
1st	Current	Current
2nd	01Jan15	Current
3rd	22Jan12	Current
Other	22Jan12	Current
4th	Current	Current
5th	Current	Current1B