As of January 2021, the Administration has extended an order suspending the issuance of certain types of work visas for another three months, citing the ongoing effects of the coronavirus pandemic. The extension means hundreds of thousands of foreigners looking to work in the United States will continue to have to wait until at least the end of March before having another chance to attain coveted visas to enter the country. The halt was set

President-elect Joe Biden announced this week he intends to nominate Alejandro Mayorkas to head the Department of Homeland Security, the first immigrant and Latino to do so. The Cuban American was deputy secretary of DHS under former Secretary Jeh Johnson and the director of USCIS during former President Barack Obama’s term. If he is confirmed by the Senate, Mayorkas will also oversee other agencies that include Customs and Border Protection, the Coast Guard, and the

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has announced it will replace the H-1B visa lottery, in which foreign citizens with college degrees compete for limited slots. According to the Department’s announcement, “Prioritization and selection based on wage levels better balances the interests of petitioners, H-1B workers, and U.S. workers. The changes proposed would maintain the effective and efficient administration of the H-1B cap selection process while providing some prospective petitioners the ability to potentially improve

The U.S. Senate passed a Bill on Wednesday which, among other things, allows its immigration agency to quickly process more visa categories, including employment authorization documents and certain green card categories. As an emergency stopgap measure, this bill would temporarily forestall the need for furloughs by immediately increasing USCIS “premium processing” revenues. Premium processing is a special service currently available as an option to entities and individuals seeking employment-based immigration benefits. By paying the optional

USCIS announced in late August that it will begin rejecting all initial or first-time applications from immigrants who have never previously received DACA, with the ability to reapply when they begin accepting requests sometime in the future. The memo stated it will continue to accept requests from those who had been granted DACA at any time in the past, considering requests for advance parole that are properly submitted only on a case-by-case basis. The memo