NEWS

The below communications are released by USCIS and shared without any change or modifications. Pronouns refered in the publicatios do not refer to Z Immmigrations Consulting

USCIS Reaches H-2B Cap for Second Half of FY 2024 and Announces Filing Dates for the Second Half of FY 2024 Supplemental Visas

Fri 3/8/2024 4:30 PM
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has received enough petitions to meet the H-2B cap for the second half of fiscal year (FY) 2024 and is announcing the filing dates for supplemental H-2B visas for the reminder of FY 2024 made available under the FY 2024 H-2B supplemental visa temporary final rule.

H-2B Cap for Second Half of FY 2024

USCIS has received enough petitions to meet the congressionally mandated H-2B cap for the second half of FY 2024. March 7, 2024, was the final receipt date for new cap-subject H-2B worker petitions requesting an employment start date on or after April 1, 2024, and before Oct. 1, 2024. We will reject new cap-subject H-2B petitions received after March 7, 2024, that request an employment start date on or after April 1, 2024, and before Oct. 1, 2024.

We continue to accept H-2B petitions that are exempt from the congressionally mandated cap. This includes petitions for:

Current H-2B workers in the United States who wish to extend their stay and, if applicable, change the terms of their employment or change their employers;
Fish roe processors, fish roe technicians and/or supervisors of fish roe processing; and
Workers performing labor or services in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and/or Guam (until Dec. 31, 2029).
Filing Dates for Second Half of FY 2024 Supplemental Visas

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Labor (DOL) jointly published a temporary final rule on Nov. 17, 2023, increasing the numerical limit (or cap) on H-2B nonimmigrant visas by up to 64,716 additional visas for all of FY 2024. These supplemental visas are available only to U.S. businesses that are suffering irreparable harm or will suffer impending irreparable harm without the ability to employ all the H-2B workers requested in their petition, as attested by the employer on the DOL Form ETA 9142-B-CAA-8. These supplemental H-2B visas are for U.S. employers seeking to petition for additional workers at certain periods of the fiscal year.

Below are the filing start dates for each of the remaining supplemental visa allocations under the temporary final rule:

For employers seeking workers who are nationals of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Haiti, Colombia, Ecuador, and Costa Rica, regardless of whether such nationals are returning workers: USCIS will begin accepting petitions for employers requesting an employment start date from April 1, 2024, to Sept. 30, 2024, on March 22, 2024. USCIS began accepting petitions from employers with employment start dates from Oct. 1, 2023, to March 31, 2024, in November 2023. A cap count for this country-specific allocation is available on the Temporary Increase in H-2B Nonimmigrant Visas for FY 2024 page.
For employers seeking returning workers for the early second half of FY 2024 (April 1 to May 14): USCIS will begin accepting petitions for the additional 19,000 visas made available to returning workers regardless of country of nationality on March 22, 2024.
For employers seeking returning workers for the late second half of FY 2024 (May 15 to Sept. 30): USCIS will begin accepting petitions for the additional 5,000 visas made available to returning workers regardless of country of nationality on April 22, 2024.
USCIS will stop accepting petitions under this temporary final rule received after Sept. 16, 2024, or after the applicable cap has been reached, whichever occurs first.

USCIS has already announced that we have received enough petitions to reach the cap for the additional 20,716 H-2B visas made available for returning workers for the first half of FY 2024 with employment start dates on or before March 31, 2024.

Additional information on the FY 2024 supplemental visas is available on the Temporary Increase in H-2B Nonimmigrant Visas for FY 2024 page.

Reminder: Upcoming Changes in Required Fee and Form Editions for H-2B Petitions

On Jan. 30, 2024, USCIS announced a final rule, published in the Federal Register, that adjusts the fees required for most immigration applications and petitions. The new fees will be effective April 1, 2024. There will be no grace period for filing the new version of Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker, because it must include the new fee calculation.

H-2B petitions postmarked on or after April 1, 2024, must include the new fees and be filed on the 04/01/24 edition of the form or we will not accept them. USCIS has published a preview version of the 04/01/24 edition of Form I-129.

Certain Updated Forms Take Effect on April 1 with No Grace Period

Fri 3/1/2024 3:36 PM
With the new fee rule that goes into effect April 1, 2024, you must use the new 04/01/24 editions of the following forms:

Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker;
Form I-129 CW, Petition for a CNMI-Only Nonimmigrant Transitional Worker;
Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers;
Form I-600, Petition to Classify Orphan as an Immediate Relative; and
Form I-600A, Application for Advance Processing of an Orphan Petition, and the form’s supplements.
Although we usually provide a grace period when publishing new forms, the forms listed above include changes necessary for us to administer the new fees. We have published preview versions of each of these forms on each form’s webpage linked above. Beginning April 1, 2024, applicants and petitioners must submit the 04/01/24 edition of these forms with the appropriate fee listed on the USCIS Fee Schedule G-1055. We will reject prior versions of the above forms.

****We will only accept the 04/01/24 edition of these forms if they are postmarked on or after April 1, 2024.****

More Information

For more information about USCIS, please visit uscis.gov or follow us on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Adjustment to Premium Processing Fees Takes Effect Today (2/26/24)

Mon 2/26/2024 11:20 AM
As previously announced, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ new inflation-adjusted premium processing fees take effect today, increasing the filing fee for Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing. USCIS published a final rule announcing the change on Dec. 28, 2023.

The USCIS Stabilization Act established the current premium processing fees and the authority for the Department of Homeland Security to adjust the premium fees on a biennial basis. After leaving these fees unchanged for the three years following passage of the Act, DHS is now increasing the premium processing fees USCIS charges for all eligible forms and categories to reflect the amount of inflation from June 2021 through June 2023 according to the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers. The adjustment increases certain premium processing fees from $1,500 to $1,685, $1,750 to $1,965, and $2,500 to $2,805.

If USCIS receives a Form I-907 postmarked on or after Feb. 26, 2024, with the incorrect filing fee, we will reject the Form I-907 and return the filing fee. For filings sent by commercial courier (such as UPS, FedEx, and DHL), the postmark date is the date reflected on the courier receipt.

DHS will use the revenue generated by the premium processing fee increase to provide premium processing services; make improvements to adjudications processes; respond to adjudication demands, including reducing benefit request processing backlogs; and otherwise fund USCIS adjudication and naturalization services.

The full table of adjusted fees is:

FormPrevious FeeNew Fee

Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker

$1,500 (H-2B or R-1 nonimmigrant status)

$2,500 (All other available Form I-129 classifications (E-1, E-2, E-3, H-1B, H-3, L-1A, L-1B, LZ, O-1, O-2, P-1, P-1S, P-2, P-2S, P-3, P-3S, Q-1, TN-1, and TN-2))

$1,685 (H-2B or R-1 nonimmigrant status)

$2,805 (All other available Form I-129 classifications (E-1, E-2, E-3, H-1B, H-3, L-1A, L-1B, LZ, O-1, O-2, P-1, P-1S, P-2, P-2S, P-3, P-3S, Q-1, TN-1, and TN-2))

Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker$2,500 (Employment-based (EB) classifications E11, E12, E21 (non-NIW), E31, E32, EW3, E13 and E21 (NIW))$2,805 (Employment-based (EB) classifications E11, E12, E21 (non-NIW), E31, E32, EW3, E13 and E21 (NIW))

Form I-539, Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status$1,750 (Form I-539 classifications F-1, F-2, M-1, M-2, J-1, J-2, E-1, E-2, E-3, L-2, H-4, O-3, P-4, and R-2)$1,965 (Form I-539 classifications F-1, F-2, M-1, M-2, J-1, J-2, E-1, E-2, E-3, L-2, H-4, O-3, P-4, and R-2)

Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization$1,500 (Certain F-1 students with categories C03A, C03B, C03C)$1,685 (Certain F-1 students with categories C03A, C03B, C03C)

You may only request premium processing for a benefit if USCIS has announced on its website that premium processing is available for that benefit.

USCIS Updates Guidance on Untimely Filed Extension of Stay and Change of Status Requests

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services today announced an update to its Policy Manual providing that USCIS, in our discretion and under certain conditions, may excuse a nonimmigrant’s failure to timely file an extension of stay or change of status request if the delay was due to extraordinary circumstances beyond the control of the applicant or petitioner.

The update clarifies that extraordinary circumstances may include, but are not limited to, where the delay was due to a slowdown or stoppage of work involving a strike, lockout, or other labor dispute, or where the primary reason for the late filing is the inability to obtain a certified labor condition application or temporary labor certification due to a lapse in government funding supporting those certifications.

This Policy Manual update addresses a commitment made in the report by the H-2B Worker Protection Task Force (see p. 6-7 of the report – Action 1.1.). The report requires that DHS clarify that a worker who has remained in the United States after the expiration of their period of admission identified in their Form I-94 due to a workplace labor dispute will not be negatively affected solely for these reasons when applying for “a subsequent visa” or a change of immigration status.

While USCIS does not issue visas, we do adjudicate extension of stay and change of status requests. Generally, certain nonimmigrants present in the United States who are admitted for a specified period, or their petitioners, may request an extension of their admission period in order to continue to engage in those activities permitted under the nonimmigrant classification in which they were admitted. Also, certain nonimmigrants present in the United States, or their petitioners, may seek to change their status to another nonimmigrant classification if they meet certain requirements.

In general, USCIS does not approve an extension of stay or change of status for a person who failed to maintain the previously accorded status or where such status expired before the filing date of the application or petition. If certain conditions are met, however, USCIS, in its discretion, may excuse the failure to file before the period of authorized stay expired.