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Immigration News Briefs

Provided by Humera Subhani

December 2023

Automatic 180-day extension for some applicants

On October 27, USCIS announced that certain renewal applicants who have filed Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, qualify for an automatic extension of their expiring employment authorization and/ or employment authorization documents (EADs) while their renewal application is pending. Starting October 27, those who are eligible will receive 180-day extensions in accordance with existing regulations, including those who have applied for or have received Temporary Protected Status or asylum.

In May 2022, however, USCIS announced a temporary final rule (TFR) that increased the automatic extension period for EADs available to certain EAD renewal applicants from up to 180 days to up to 540 days. This change is not retroactive; all previous up to 540-day automatic extensions will remain in place.

As announced in the 2022 TFR, automatic extensions of employment authorization and EAD validity will be the original up to 180-day period for those eligible applicants who timely file a Form I-765 renewal applications on or after Oct. 27, 2023.

For individuals who received an increased automatic extension period under the TFR, the increased automatic extension will end when they receive a final decision on their renewal application or when the up to 540-day period expires (counted from the expiration date of the employment authorization and/or their EAD), whichever comes earlier.

DHS’ proposed rule to modernize H-1B program

On October 20, Department of Homeland Security (DHS), through U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that would modernize the H-1B specialty occupation worker program by streamlining eligibility requirements, improving program efficiency, providing greater benefits and flexibilities for employers and workers, and strengthening integrity measures.

The proposed rule would change how USCIS conducts the H-1B registration selection process to reduce the possibility of misuse and fraud. Under the current process, the more registrations that are submitted on behalf of an individual, the higher chance that individual will be selected in a lottery. Under the new proposal, each unique individual who has a registration submitted on their behalf would be entered into the selection process once, regardless of the number of registrations submitted on their behalf. This would improve the chances that a legitimate registration would be selected by significantly reducing or eliminating the advantage of submitting multiple registrations for the same beneficiary solely to increase the chances of selection. Furthermore, it could also give beneficiaries more choice between legitimate job offers because each registrant who submitted a registration for a selected beneficiary would have the ability to file an H-1B petition on behalf of the beneficiary.

Among additional provisions, the proposed rule would improve the H-1B program by:

Streamlining eligibility
Improving program efficiency
Providing greater benefits and flexibilities for employers and workers
Strengthening integrity measures

The 60-day public comment period starts following publication of the NPRM in the Federal Register.

APPLICATION FINAL ACTION DATES FOR DECEMBER 2023

FAMILY	India	Pakistan/Bangladesh
1st	01Jan15	01Jan15
2A	08Feb19	08Feb19
2B	22Sep15	22Sep15
3rd	**08Jan09**	**08Jan09**
4th	08Oct05	22Apr07

EMPLOYMENT	India	Pakistan/Bangladesh
1st	01Jan17	Current
2nd	01Jan12	15Jul22
3rd	**01May12**	01Dec21
Other	**01May12**	01Aug20
4th	01Jan19	01Jan19
5th	15Dec18	Current1B

DATES FOR FILING VISA APPLICATIONS - DECEMBER 2023

FAMILY	India	Pakistan/Bangladesh
1st	01Sep17	01Sep17
2A	01Sep23	01Sep23
2B	01Jan17	01Jan17
3rd	01Mar10	01Mar10
4th	22Feb06	01Mar08

EMPLOYMENT	India	Pakistan/Bangladesh
1st	01Jul19	Current
2nd	15May12	01Jan23
3rd	01Aug12	01Feb23
Other	01Aug12	15Dec20
4th	01Mar19	01Mar19
5th	01Apr22	Current1B