The Social Security Administration (SSA) has quietly hit pause on a key program that streamlined Social Security number (SSN) issuance for nonimmigrant and immigrant applicants. As of March 19, 2025, the Enumeration Beyond...more
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) may no longer be simultaneously adjudicating dependent status and work permit applications after January 18, 2025....more
Long processing times for renewal Employment Authorization Documents has resulted in the loss of work authorization for many individuals because their EAD cards expired before new cards could be issued. Individuals who filed...more
We would like to share the following recent U.S. immigration-related updates announced by United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in April 2024. Automatic Extension of EAD Cards From 180 Days to 540 Days ...more
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will increase premium processing fees for a number of immigration benefit applications due to inflation. The fee increases, outlined below, will take effect on February 26,...more
On September 8, 2023, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced it was extending the re-registration period for beneficiaries of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) under the designations of El Salvador, Haiti,...more
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently announced the expansion of the myProgress tool to include Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, and Form I-131, Application for Travel Document....more
On Wednesday, July 12, 2023, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it is expanding myProgress (formerly known as personalized processing times) to Form I-765, Application for Employment...more
OVERVIEW As previously forecasted, USCIS has now expanded premium processing service to I-765, Applications for Employment Authorization, filed by certain F-1 students seeing work authorization in connection with Optional...more
Effective January 25, 2023, USCIS resumed concurrent processing of I-539 applications to extend/change nonimmigrant status and I-765 applications for employment authorization filed by H-4 and L-2 spouses and minor children...more
Federal immigration officials just agreed to streamline the process by which certain nonimmigrant dependent spouses are able to secure employment, reverting to a previous method that should reduce processing times and...more
On January 19, 2023, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reached a settlement in Edakunni v. Mayorkas, which restructures U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) adjudication policies for H-4 and L-2...more
Earlier this year, federal immigration officials announced concrete measures to reduce the massive backlog of petitions and applications currently pending at the agency’s National Service Centers – but has this promise been...more
On Wednesday, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services issued a Temporary Final Rule to address the long delays in the approval of Employment Authorization Document renewal applications. Hundreds of thousands of foreign...more
Effective May 4, 2022, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will increase the automatic extension period for employment authorization and Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) to a maximum of 540 days for...more
The Department of Homeland Security has published a final rule to expand premium processing service to expand premium processing service for certain immigration benefit requests. The rule takes effect May 31, 2022....more
Following months of crisis-level processing times for Form I-765 Applications for Employment Authorization on behalf of dependent spouses in L-21 and H-42 nonimmigrant visa status, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service...more
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) intends to suspend collecting biometrics for individuals requesting E, H-4 and L-2 status on Form I-539, Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status. The policy,...more
On April 12, 2021 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that F-1 students seeking optional practical training (OPT) can now file Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, online if they are...more
The USCIS is modernizing its processes and moving towards electronic filing for student work documents. On April 12, 2021, USCIS announced that it will begin accepting Form I-765 Application for Employment Authorization...more
Employers who accept certain Form I-765 Approval Notices specifically approved during the pandemic for I-9 documentation purposes must reverify the employees presenting such documents no later than December 1, 2020. Delays in...more
COVID-19 has caused unprecedented delays in the production of certain employment authorization documents. Both the DHS and ICE have continued with their department's flexibility relative to I-9 documentation and completion......more
As we noted in a recent post, on August 21st, on August 18, 2020 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced that as a result of EAD (“employment authorization...more
I-765 Approval Notices from December 1, 2019 through August 20, 2020 Permitted for Form I-9 - Citing the COVID-19 Pandemic, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) announced on August 19, 2020 that...more
On February 14, 2018, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it will accept credit card (Visa, MasterCard, American Express or Discover) payments for forty-one fee based forms. Notably, the I-129...more