Ramineni & Shepard, LLC

10/24/2022

USCIS Further Extends Flexibility to Respond to Various Requests, Notices, and Decisions

On October 24, 2022, USCIS announced that it has further extended the flexibility for Petitioners and their counsel to respond to agency requests. USCIS will now consider a response received within sixty (60) calendar days after the established response due date for certain requests, notices, or decisions issued between March 1, 2020, and January 24, 2023, inclusive. The prior flexibility only applied to requests, notices, or decisions issued before October 23, 2022. This extended flexibility will apply to all of the following:

Requests for Evidence;
Continuations to Request Evidence (N-14);
Notices of Intent to Deny;
Notices of Intent to Revoke;
Notices of Intent to Rescind;
Notices of Intent to Terminate regional centers; and
Motions to Reopen an N-400 Pursuant to 8 CFR 335.5, Receipt of Derogatory Information After Grant.

Additionally, USCIS will consider a Form N-336 or Form I-290B received between March 1, 2020 and October 31, 2021, inclusive up to sixty (60) calendar days from the date of the decision as timely before taking any action on the case. USCIS will also now consider a Form N-336 or Form I-290B received between November 1, 2021 and January 24, 2023, inclusive, up to ninety (90) calendar days from the date of the decision as timely before taking any action on the case.

If you have any questions about upcoming deadlines or how the extended flexibility will affect your filings, please reach out to our office to schedule a consultation.

10/04/2022

USCIS to Implement Next Phase of Premium Processing for Certain Previously Filed EB-1 and EB-2 Form I-140 Petitions

On September 15, 2022 United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) announced that it is implementing the next phase of the premium processing expansion for certain petitioners who have a pending Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers, under the EB-1 and EB-2 classifications. Petitions in these categories filed in premium processing will be allotted forty-five (45) days for adjudication.

Similar to the previous two (2) phases of the premium processing expansion, this phase 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). Beginning on September 15, 2022, USCIS will accept Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing Services for:

E13 multinational executive and manager petitions received on or before January 1, 2022; and
E21 NIW petitions received on or before February 1, 2022.

USCIS clarified that it will reject any premium processing requests for these Form I-140 classifications if the receipt date is after the dates mentioned above for each classification or if the request is made for a classification that is not yet eligible for premium processing services under the expansion. Further, USCIS will not accept new or initial Forms I-140 with a premium processing request at this time.

As previously announced, USCIS anticipated expanding premium processing to additional form types as part of efforts to increase efficiency and reduce burdens to the overall legal immigration system. No further updates have been provided by USCIS as to the availability of premium processing or potential timelines for additional Form I-140 petitions, Form I-539, Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status applications, and Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization applications. Ramineni and Shepard is closely monitoring the premium processing expansion and will provide updates as they develop. If you are interested in upgrading your filing to premium processing or have questions about the process, please contact our office to schedule a consultation.

08/31/2022

September 2022 Visa Bulletin

U.S. Department of State (“DOS”) has released the September 2022 Visa Bulletin. Similar to the last four (4) Visa Bulletins, USCIS has stated that they will be utilizing the Final Action Dates Chart for employment-based and Dates of Filing for family-based immigration for September 2022. Please see the below dates for India under the Final Action Dates of employment-based applications:

EB-1 - Current
EB-2 - December 1, 2014
EB-3 - February 15, 2012

Please see the below dates for India under the Dates of Filing of family-based applications:

F-1, unmarried sons and daughters of U.S. Citizens - August 8, 2016
F-2A, spouses and children of permanent residents - Current
F-2B, unmarried sons and daughters (21 years of age or older) of permanent residents - January 1, 2017
F-3, married sons and daughters of U.S. Citizens - November 8, 2009
F-4, brothers and sisters of adult U.S. Citizens - February 22, 2006

The processing of determining when to file an I-485 and/or interfiling is complex and often requires experienced legal counsel to assist. Please feel free to schedule a consultation with Attorney Shepard to discuss how to proceed with your filing.

08/23/2022

USCIS Reaches Fiscal Year 2023 H-1B CAP

On August 23, 2022, USCIS announced that it had received a sufficient number of petitions needed to reach the congressionally mandated 65,000 H-1B visa regular CAP and the 20,000 H-1B visa U.S. advanced degree exemption, known as the Master’s CAP, for fiscal year 2023. USCIS further completed sending non-selection notifications to registrants’ and counselors’ online accounts. The status for registrations properly submitted for the FY 2023 H-1B numerical allocations, but that were not selected, will now show:

Not Selected: Not selected – not eligible to file an H-1B cap petition based on this registration.

USCIS will continue to accept and process petitions that are otherwise exempt from the CAP. Petitions filed for current H-1B workers who have been counted previously against the CAP, and who still retain their CAP number, are exempt from the FY 2023 H-1B CAP. USCIS will continue to accept and process petitions filed to:

Extend the amount of time a current H-1B worker may remain in the United States;

Amend the terms of employment for current H-1B workers;

Allow current H-1B workers to change employers; and

Allow current H-1B workers to work concurrently in additional H-1B positions.

Ramineni and Shepard will alert clients whose cases have been updated to show “Not Selected” status in the coming days. If you have questions about the CAP or would like to file for your employees in the FY2024 CAP and want to get the process started, please feel free to schedule a consultation with our office.

07/25/2022

USCIS Further Extends Flexibility to Respond to Various Requests, Notices, and Decisions

On July 25, 2022, USCIS announced that it has further extended the flexibility for Petitioners and their counsel to respond to agency requests. USCIS will now consider a response received within sixty (60) calendar days after the established response due date for certain requests, notices, or decisions issued between March 1, 2020, and October 23, 2022, inclusive. The prior flexibility only applied to requests, notices, or decisions issued before July 25, 2022.

This extended flexibility will apply to all of the following:

Requests for Evidence;
Continuations to Request Evidence (N-14);
Notices of Intent to Deny;
Notices of Intent to Revoke;
Notices of Intent to Rescind;
Notices of Intent to Terminate regional centers; and
Motions to Reopen an N-400 Pursuant to 8 CFR 335.5, Receipt of Derogatory Information After Grant.

Additionally, USCIS will consider a Form N-336 or Form I-290B received between March 1, 2020 and October 31, 2021, inclusive up to sixty (60) calendar days from the date of the decision as timely before taking any action on the case. USCIS will also now consider a Form N-336 or Form I-290B received between November 1, 2021 and October 23, 2022, inclusive, up to ninety (90) calendar days from the date of the decision as timely before taking any action on the case.

If you have any questions about upcoming deadlines or how the extended flexibility will affect your filings, please reach out to our office to schedule a consultation.

06/27/2022

USCIS Transfers Certain H-1B Petitions to the California Service Center

On June 16, 2022 United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) announced that certain H-1B petitions and fiscal year (FY) 2023 H-1B CAP petitions awaiting intake at the Vermont Service Center (“VSC”) are being administratively transferred to the California Service Center (“CSC”) for data entry and adjudication. USCIS is transferring these cases in response to the H-1B receipt issuance delays at the VSC, which have extended beyond sixty (60) days in some cases. USCIS is in hopes that the workload transfer will help them issue receipt notices for properly filed H-1B petitions more quickly. They have noted that it will take time for the CSC to process the transferred cases and that Petitioners may continue to experience delays in receiving receipt notices for those cases affected.

USCIS has clarified that Petitioners and their counsel should continue to file new H-1B petitions based on the addresses provided on the Direct Filing Addresses for Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker page. Further, they state that Petitioners should not submit duplicate petitions out of concern that a previous submission did not arrive or has been misplaced.

If a petition is transferred, neither Petitioner nor their counsel will receive a transfer notice; however, USCIS has stated that a Receipt Notice will be issued using the normal procedure once the petition is receipted by the CSC. Transferred petitions will be completed at the CSC once receipted.

If you have questions about the transfer of cases to the CSC or if a case you have filed has been affected and you would like to discuss your options, please feel free to schedule a consultation with our office.

https://www.raminenilaw.com/uscis-transfers-certain-h-1b-petitions-to-the-california-service-center/

06/13/2022

On Friday, USCIS announced they were issuing revised EAD receipt notices for certain cases.

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)). We have 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.

https://lnkd.in/eSqXJQZQ

If you have any questions regarding the newly implemented, temporary 540-day extension relating to EADs, please reach out to our office for a consultation. We would be happy to speak with you!

This page is also available in Ar

06/13/2022

On Thursday, June 9 - DOS released the July 2022 Visa Bulletin. USCIS has now announced that they will be accepting cases for July 2022 VB Under Final Action Dates!

Final Action Dates (India):
EB-1: Current
EB-2: December 1, 2014
EB-3: January 15, 2012

Please reach out to Ramineni & Shepard if you are now eligible to submit an I-485 application and/or you wish to interfile to take advantage of the "exceptionally high" number of EB-2 visas available in the current FY.

06/10/2022

DOS has released the July 2022 Visa Bulletin. For Indian foreign nationals in EB-2 or EB-3, USCIS has moved FAD to 12/01/2014 in EB-2 preference. USCIS has not announced whether they will use DOF or FAD. Follow our team for more updates as they become available.

06/01/2022

USCIS has reached the H-2B CAP for Additional Workers in FY2022. If you are interested in learning more about the H-2B Visa Program, please feel free to reach out to our office.

June 2022 On May 31, 2022, USCIS announced that it has received enough petitions to reach the cap for the additional 23,500 visas made available for returning workers under the H-2B Visa Program. The recently announced H-2B supplemental CAP temporary final rule increased the annual CAP by up to 35,0...

05/12/2022

Department of State has released the June 2022 Visa Bulletin. At this time, they have not announced whether USCIS will adhere to Final Action Dates or Dates of Filing. Ramineni & Shepard will continue to monitor USCIS' announcement in this regard.

05/05/2022

ALERT: On May 4, USCIS announced that for certain EAD renewals, they will now permit up to 540-days automatic work authorization extension where the EAD extension was timely filed. You can review the link below to see if your category qualifies. The additional extension period will apply to all extensions filed on or before October 27, 2023. We welcome this additional extension period and thank AILA National for their efforts in pursuing relief for the qualifying individuals. See here for more information: https://www.uscis.gov/eadautoextend

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 EADs while their