YOUR MONTHLY IMMIGRATION GUIDE

YOUR TRUSTED GUIDE TO THE AMERICAN DREAM_®

April 2021

Dear Friends and Colleagues:

We were able to achieve successful outcomes for many clients this month. However, we are still facing significant challenges at the Embassies and Consulates abroad. Due to the pandemic, hundreds of thousands of immigrant visa cases are still waiting for appointments at the Embassy and nonimmigrant visa appointments are taking months if we are even able to schedule them. At Garvish Immigration Law Group, we never give up. We will continue to push cases forward and do all that we can to provide creative alternative solutions. We cannot guarantee timing or ultimate results, but we believe in the certainty of positive outcomes for cases. Doing away with fear, doubt and negativity surrounding your immigration matter and surrending to the certainty of the desired positive outcome helps us brave the prolonged storm and aftershocks we continue to feel on this immigration journey. Trust us as your guide. We NEVER GIVE UP!

Yours in Certainty,

Elizabeth xo

New USCIS Policy Encourages Officers to Defer to Previous Decisions When Adjudicating H-1B Extensions

The guidance instructs officials to generally defer to prior determinations of eligibility when the same parties and facts are involved as in the H-1B initial petition. Nevertheless, if there is a material error, material change, or new material facts adversely impacting the petitioner’s, applicant’s, or beneficiary’s eligibility the officer may decide not to defer a previous approval.

Further, USCIS said that the update in its policy has been made in accordance with US President Joe Biden’s executive order titled ‘Restoring Faith in Our Legal Immigration Systems and Strengthening Integration and Inclusion Efforts for New Americans’.

This new policy is part of several other policies adopted by the Biden Administration in order to undo many restrictive immigration policies proposed and enforced by the Trump Administration.

Click the following link for more information:

Article: US agency revokes Trump-era memo for smoother H-1B visa extension

Biden Administration Increases

Temporary Worker Visas By 22,000

DHS has announced a supplemental increase of 22,000 visas for the H-2B Temporary Non-Agricultural Worker program. The additional visas will available in the coming months via a temporary final rule in the Federal Register. Furthermore, to expand lawful pathways for opportunity in the United States consistent with the President’s Executive Order 14010 on “Creating a Comprehensive Regional Framework to Address the Causes of Migration, to Manage Migration Throughout North and Central America, and to Provide Safe and Orderly Processing of Asylum Seekers at the United States Border,” 6,000 of these visas will be reserved for nationals of the Northern Triangle countries of Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala.

Employers seeking H-2B workers must test the U.S. labor market and certify in their petitions that there are not enough U.S. workers who are able, willing, qualified, and available to do the temporary work for which they seek a prospective foreign worker; and that employing H-2B workers will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed U.S. workers. The supplemental increase will require businesses seeking H-2B workers to engage in additional recruitment efforts for U.S. workers.

Under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), as amended, Congress has set the H-2B visa cap at 66,000 per fiscal year, with 33,000 visas available to workers who begin employment in the first half of the fiscal year (Oct. 1 - March 31) and the remaining 33,000 (plus any unused visas from the first half of the fiscal year) available for workers who begin employment in the second half of the fiscal year (April 1 - Sept. 30). Unused H-2B numbers from one fiscal year do not carry over into the next fiscal year.

Click the following link for more information:

DHS to Make Additional 22,000 Temporary, Non-Agricultural Worker Visas Available

Update on the Southern Border Wall Construction

On January 20, 2021, President Biden issued Proclamation 10142 that fully rescinded the Trump administration’s national emergency at the southern border.

In April, President Biden made clear through his discretionary budget request for FY 2022 that his administration will not build the wall along the southern border. Therefore, the request asks for $1.2 billion for border security and infrastructure but also specifies that “The discretionary request includes no additional funding for border wall construction and proposes the cancellation of prior-year balances that are unobligated at the end of 2021.” It remains to be seen if Congress will oblige this request, but it seems likely as the president’s party in control of both chambers of Congress.

Click the following links for more information:

President Biden’s First 100 Days: Swift Action to Change Immigration Policy

May 2021 Visa Bulletin

The May 2021 Visa Bulletin is out! EB-1, EB-2 and EB-3 for “rest of the world” (except China and India) remains current.

EB-1 India remains current
EB-2 India moves up to 01AUG10
EB-3 India also moves up to 01FEB11
EB-1 China remains current
EB-2 China moves ahead to 01 DEC16
EB-3 China moves ahead to 15MAY18

Click here to see May's visa bulletin

Garvish Immigration

Law Group

ADDITIONAL NEWS

Click the titles to access the information

Updated Guidance on P-1A Internationally Recognized Athletes

The US Adds Several Countries to ‘Do Not Travel’ List

Article: Biden’s Immigration Plan Exists on Paper, Not in Reality

Relevant Events of the Month

LeGALS - Drinks and Debate

Elizabeth Garvish, Amna Shirazi, Lorena Saedi and Alyssa Maloof Whatley

Do not miss next Friday's meeting! The LeGALS will host Nicole Smith, a lifetime mortgage banker with over 20 years of experience. Nicole is the VP of National Sales at Flagstar Bank. Nicole is ranked among the top 1% professional nationwide and honored to be within the top 200 women in her industry.

Follow LeGALS on Facebook!