US Travel Association pushed authorities to work on cutting visa wait time since that affects the FIFA World Cup, a major sports event scheduled for 2026. The average wait time for a US visitor visa in Colombia is around 725 days, similar to those in India and Mexico. The Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill is seen as a potential factor that could accelerate the visa processing process.

A lawsuit filed in Colorado challenges recent increases in US immigration fees, including those for EB-5 investment visas. The lawsuit argues that the fee hikes were imposed without proper legal procedure and unfairly targeted certain groups, like EB-5 investors. The plaintiffs also claim the government failed to justify the increases with a required fee study. They are seeking a court order to block the fee increases while the case proceeds.

Congress has set aside $50 million for the U.S. State Department to help “reduce passport backlogs and reduce visa wait times” in a bill signed into law by U.S. President Joe Biden on March 30, and praised by the travel industry this week. The law gives the State Department some discretion. It doesn’t specifically restrict the spending for any visa category, such as for business and leisure rather than education. It also doesn’t mention any specific country for which the State Department should cut wait times.

USCIS has begun implementing a streamlined process for Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, to provide Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) more efficiently to eligible refugees after they are admitted into the United States. This streamlined process shortens the wait time for an EAD to approximately 30 days instead of several months. All individuals admitted into the United States as refugees on or after Dec. 10, 2023, will receive EADs pursuant to this new process.

In 2023, Indian students in the United States were issued a total of 130,839 F-1 student visas, marking a 14% increase from the previous year, according to an Education Times report. This makes it the second consecutive year where Indians received more US student visas than any other country. Additionally, the total number of F-1 student visas issued in the US in 2023 reached approximately 446,000, an 8.5% rise from 2022 and the highest in a single year since 2016.

USCIS has reached the cap for new H-2B temporary nonagricultural worker petitions for the latter half of FY 2024. March 7, 2024, was the final receipt date for such petitions seeking employment between April 1, 2024, and October 1, 2024. However, exemptions from the cap will still be accepted, including petitions for current H-2B workers seeking extensions or changes in employment terms, as well as those involved in fish egg processing roles.

The US has prolonged the validity period of new US tourist visas and business visas for Kyrgyz citizens to ten years. The $20 reciprocity tariff for B1, B2, and B1/B2 visa applications for holders of Kyrgyz passports has been removed. In January of this year, the US issued 587 B1/B2 visas to Kyrgyzstani nationals.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is updating guidance in the USCIS Policy Manual to further clarify existing policy on providing mobile biometrics collection services to benefit requestors residing in remote locations within the United States. While the standard procedure involves scheduling biometric appointments at local Application Support Centers (ASCs), USCIS recognizes the challenges faced by individuals residing in remote locations. In response to this, USCIS has introduced mobile biometrics collection services to ensure accessibility for all applicants, irrespective of their geographic location.

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 the new cap-subject H-2B worker petitions requesting an employment start date on or after April 1, 2024, and before October 1, 2024. The agency 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 October 1, 2024.

The application submission procedure for the H-1B temporary work visa for fiscal year 2025 started on March 6, 2024. The United States Citizenship and Immigration System (USCIS) has initiated the initial registration process, which will run until March 22. This process allows employers to register beneficiaries and pay the required fees electronically.

A report by the Tampa Bay Times revealed that the R-1 visa, which is granted to foreign-born religious workers for up to five years, is facing a severe backlog. Experts said that as many as 33,000 religious workers are in the queue for permanent legal status, with around 25% of those from Latin America, according to estimates based on the State Department’s records.

On January 31, 2024, USCIS announced a fee adjustment for immigration applications and petitions, effective April 1, 2024. Applications postmarked after this date must include updated fees to avoid rejection. Notably, there’s no grace period for Form I-140 submissions; only versions dated April 1, 2024, will be accepted from that date onwards. USCIS released a preview of the updated form and instructions on March 1, 2024, emphasizing that submissions should occur on or after April 1, 2024, to be considered valid.