Weekly Immigration News Recap (December 5-11)
USCIS Updates Policy to Automatically Extend Green Cards for Naturalization Applicants
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is revising its Policy Manual as of December 12, 2022, to enable USCIS to automatically prolong the validity of Permanent Resident Cards (also known as Green Cards) for lawful permanent residents who have submitted naturalization applications. Because they will receive an extension of their legal permanent resident (LPR) status and might not need to submit Form I-90, Application to Replace Permanent Resident Card, this modification is anticipated to assist naturalization candidates who experience longer processing times (Green Card). Regardless of whether they submitted Form I-90, LPRs who properly file Form N-400, Application for Naturalization, may be granted this extension. For these applicants, USCIS will modify the language on Form N-400 receipt notices to extend Green Cards for up to 24 months.
USCIS Announces Important Filing Information for Upcoming FY 2023 H-2B Supplemental Cap Petitions
Important filing revisions are being made public by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for petitioners who will be submitting more H-2B worker requests for fiscal year 2023 in accordance with the approaching temporary final rule. For the benefit of petitioners who start putting together their petitions in advance, we are disclosing these updates prior to the rule being published in the Federal Register.
USCIS Releases New Data on Effective Reduction of Backlogs, Support for Humanitarian Missions, and Fiscal Responsibility
In its Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 progress report, USCIS included fresh data illustrating how it decreased backlogs in several programs and helped humanitarian missions (PDF, 1.08 MB). In the report, a number of actions done by USCIS are summarized, including initiatives to improve the agency’s financial stability, adopt adjudicatory efficiencies, policy changes, and reduce backlogs across the board. While doing so, USCIS has kept up its promise to uphold America’s reputation as a country of opportunity and welcome by continuing to satisfy the tremendous demands on its humanitarian programs.
Senators have proposed a bill to strengthen border security and protect “Dreamers.”
An immigration agreement that would legalize DACA recipients and provide billions of dollars to strengthen border security has been proposed by a bipartisan pair of senators. After Congress consistently failed to approve immigration reform, Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Democratic Senator Krysten Sinema of Arizona came to an accord.
The agreement’s specifics are still being worked out, and any legislation would require at least 60 votes to pass in the Senate.
