UNITED STATES VISA AND IMMIGRATION NEWS

Table of Contents

Over 200,000 Green Cards Wasted in 2021 as Backlog Triples
Visa Backlog Blocks Nursing Help in U.S., but Progress Seen
US allows automatic work authorisation permits to spouses of H-1B visa holders
Indian students flock back to US Universities
US Immigration Reform Prospects
President Biden Gives Boost to U.S. Immigration
US resumes accepting Student Visas from China
US to begin processing suspended worker visas
Biden Administration Revokes Immigrant Visa Ban
H-1B Visa Registration In US For 2022

1 January 2022

Over 200,000 Green Cards Wasted in 2021 as Backlog Triples in Two Years

According to USCIS, the agency had a net backlog of 2.5 million cases at the end of FY2019. By the end of FY2020, USCIS’ own Forms and policies, fiscal and staffing problems, pandemic-related office closures, and an inability to receive or process most application types electronically resulted in an explosion in the backlog, which more than doubled to 6.1 million pending cases in the space of a year.

2021 saw the USCIS backlog continue to grow, though not at the astronomical rate seen in 2020. Roughly 69% of the 8.84 million immigration applications submitted to USCIS in FY2021 were approved, while a little more than 808,000 were denied. However, despite USCIS completing nearly 80% of the cases it received in FY2021, the processing backlog at the agency grew to more than 8 million pending cases at the end of FY2021. This means that in just two years the backlog has more than tripled: from 2.5 million to more than 8 million pending cases.

Despite the pandemic, 2020 was a busy year for USCIS, and 2021 saw an even larger number of applications and petitions received by the agency — an increase of 18 percent. The approval rate across all Forms showed a marked increase in the fourth quarter of 2021, rising from less than 58% in the third quarter to just over 81% in the fourth. The denial rate across all Forms also rose somewhat in the fourth quarter, gaining around three percentage points in the fourth quarter to land at 10.75%, or 251,700 out of more than 2.3 million.

On the other hand, the overall approval rate fell from 85% last year to only 69% at the end of September 2021, with overall denials also falling from 11.5% in FY2020 to only 9% in FY2021. The first quarter of FY2021 saw the lowest number of Forms received by USCIS all year — 1.73 million. Since then the agency has received 2.18 million, 2.58 million, and 2.34 million Forms each quarter, to end the year with 8,837,718 Forms received and 6,138,799 Forms approved. Even so, an additional 8,036,142 cases remain pending in the backlog.

08 December 2021

Visa Backlog Blocks Nursing Help in U.S., but Progress Seen

Observers say they’ve started to see progress on efforts to streamline the immigration visa process to allow more internationally trained health professionals to work in the U.S. and help address widespread nursing shortages amid the COVID-19 pandemic. But they also say more needs to be done.

The pandemic has slowed the pace at which U.S. officials have conducted interviews with visa seekers, which is one of the final steps needed to gain permanent residency. As of November, only 28,964 out of more than 490,000 qualified immigrant visa applicants were scheduled for interview, according to figures from the Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs.

An estimated 10,000 foreign-trained nurses have been on the waiting list for an interview, with the average wait time anywhere from 12 to 18 months, according to Sinead Carbery, brand president of O’Grady Peyton International, the international division of leading health care staffing recruitment firm AMN Healthcare.

Carbery and others contend a contributing factor to the delays in processing immigration visas for nurses has been a four-tier system the U.S. Department of State established late last year to prioritize cases. While the system was intended to work through the backlog by granting higher priority to petitions filed by immediate family members, for example, it placed employment-based visa petitions, which includes visas sought by health care professionals, among the last in line to be processed.

12 November 2021

US allows automatic work authorisation permits to spouses of H-1B visa holders

The United States has allowed providing automatic work authorisation permits to the spouses of the H-1B visa holders. It must be noted that in America, a larger population of H1-B visa holders are Indian IT professionals. With this immigration-friendly move, the Joe Biden administration has made the employment process simpler, especially for Indian-American women.

A US court reached a settlement for a class-action lawsuit, directing the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to allow up to 180 days auto extension on work authorisation for spouses of L-1 and H1-B visa holders.

L-1 visa is valid for a relatively short amount of time. L-2 visa is used to enter the US by the dependent spouse and unmarried children under 21 years of age of qualified L-1 visa holders. It is a non-immigrant visa, and is only valid for the duration of the spouse's L-1 visa.

However, the L-1 spouses will get the extension without applying for it, the H-4 visa will still have to apply for the extension once their employment permit expires.

An H-4 visa is issued by the USCIS to immediate family members (spouse and children under 21 years of age) of the H-1B visa holders. The H-4 visa is issued to those who have already the process of seeking employment-based lawful permanent resident status in the US. Over 90% of H-4 applicants are Indian women.

06 September 2021

Indian students flock back to US Universities

The United States mission in Delhi, in fact, had a surprise announcement earlier this week of more student visa applications having been approved in India in 2021 than ever before, through its embassy and consulates, despite the global Covid-19 pandemic. This announcement of more than 55,000 students and exchange visitors visas already issued to students in India even as more were getting approved every day, comes amid reports of students in many other countries facing difficulties and delays in getting US visas approved for the Fall term of 2021.

For students in India too, plans for joining US universities in 2021 have been challenging. With the second wave of the pandemic in India during April/May, all US consular operations remained shut with no certainty about when they would resume.

Many universities in the US that have recently opened their doors to in-person classes, are still crunching the numbers on international student enrolments. "We call this the add/drop week when students register for courses and/or drop them -it appears that we have a high number of students from India for Fall 2021, perhaps higher than any previous year," says Kiki Caruson, interim vice president, USF World, University of South Florida. While this validates the statement of the US Embassy in India on having issued a record number of visas for Fall 2021, Caruson adds that some of these will be students who deferred their Spring 2021 admission to Fall 2021. "These students made their plans to come to the United States pre-pandemic because of the excellence, diversity of programmes and the flexibility of the higher education system and the promise it offers for professional and personal success," she said adding that though universities in India were yet to start face-to-face classes, the US had opened its doors to international students

01 August 2021

US Immigration Reform Prospects

A measure to grant permanent legal status to young people brought to the United States illegally years ago would be perfectly appropriate in a proposed $3.5 trillion federal budget package.

More than 80,000 young undocumented immigrants who hoped to gain legal protections through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program had their dreams dashed in July when a federal judge in Texas closed the program to first-time applicants.

The judge’s unfortunate ruling has prompted Democrats to redouble their efforts to create a more permanent legal-status solution for these young people, often called “Dreamers,” who were brought to our country illegally as children and call no other nation home.

This time, advocates for the Dreamers, including the Chicago City Council Latino Caucus and Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, are putting their hopes in a proposed $3.5 trillion federal budget plan, supported only by Democrats on Capitol Hill, to finally achieve this fundamental immigration reform. Because it is a budget bill, Democrats could push it through by a simple majority vote, bypassing Republican opposition.

President Joe Biden last Thursday made clear he supports including immigration reform — specific steps to protect Dreamers from deportation and possibly give them a clear path to citizenship — in the budget package. But Biden did not spell out exactly what changes he has in mind. And Republicans, for their part, wonder what immigration reform has to do with the budget.

02 July 2021

President Biden Gives Boost to U.S. Immigration

The USAFIS Organization reports a significant improvement in the attitudes expressed by foreign nationals regarding U.S. immigration since Joseph Biden became President of the United States. "The change to a more positive attitude about America and U.S. immigration is 'like night and day' now that Joe Biden is in The White House," noted Elsie Crisman, Public Relations Manager at the USAFIS Organization.

"For the past two decades, USAFIS has been helping thousands of people around the world to correctly apply for various immigrant and non-immigrant U.S. visa programs," she explained, "so we are quite familiar with the trends and definitely noticed a big difference between the attitudes indicated by many potential immigrants during the previous four years and the renewed enthusiasm foreign nationals are currently expressing." The USA is the top destination for immigrants, attracting over one million newcomers each year, and it also has the most foreign-born residents of any country (approximately 45 million).

During the 2016 presidential campaign, former U.S. Senator Joe Biden had a pro-immigration platform and he chose as his running mate former U.S. Senator Kamala Harris, the daughter of immigrants, who is the first woman, and first American of Black and Asian heritage, to become Vice-President of the United States. His first day in The White House, January 20, 2021, President Joe Biden signed an order ending the previous president's travel ban for people from several mainly Muslim countries, plus he sent to the Congress his U.S. immigration reform bill which offers a pathway to American citizenship for millions of immigrants and would increase the number of Diversity Visas authorized to be granted through the Green Card Lottery from 55,000 to 80,000 per year.

Furthermore, President Biden signed another order on February 24, 2021, which cancelled the previous president's temporary Green Card suspension. Besides his pro-immigration rhetoric and actions, President Biden's compassion has set a more positive tone in America, while his traditional style of governing and diplomacy has reassured parties at home and abroad.

Thus, the United States is once again viewed by potential immigrants as a country that welcomes newcomers and offers them freedom, equality, economic mobility and the opportunity to live the American Dream. In a sign that the USA is returning to normal, there is once more a major shortage of workers who are needed to fill a record 9.3 million U.S. job vacancies, according to the Department of Labor.

4 May 2021

US resumes accepting Student Visas from China

The U.S. Embassy and consulates in China are scheduled to resume visa appointments for students, starting May 4, after Washington lifted travel restrictions on Monday for students from China and several other countries.

More than 1,000 visa officers will meet students in person to process their applications, William Bistransky, acting consul general at the U.S. Embassy in China, said Friday at a news conference.

On May 4, visa officers at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing will wear sweatshirts with logos of the universities they graduated from to send a signal to Chinese students that Americans "welcome foreign students into our homes or communities or universities," Bistransky said.

By mid-May, the embassy will be able to conduct 2,000 student visa appointments a day, Bistransky said. Within one hour after the U.S. Embassy's website opened for online visa appointments for students, it received more than 3,000 applications, he said.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Embassy and consulates in China canceled the vast majority of in-person appointments for immigrant and nonimmigrant visa processing more than 13 months ago.

Chinese students planning to go to American schools in the fall must apply for a U.S. visa 120 days before the start of their academic program and enter the U.S. 30 days before, Bistransky said.

Whether Chinese students need to complete a 14-day quarantine upon arrival will be subject to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local authorities' policies, he said.

Starting in January, the CDC has required all passengers arriving in the U.S. from abroad to have COVID-19 tests no more than three days before their flight and to present negative results to the airline before boarding. The requirement still applies to students going to the U.S. this fall, Bistransky said.

China is the largest source of foreign students for the U.S. In 2020, 382,000 Chinese students with F-1 and M-1 visas studied at American schools, accounting for 31% of all international students, but that was a 20% decline from 2019.

2 April 2021

US to begin processing suspended worker visas

The Biden administration will resume issuing visas to overseas workers after allowing a Trump-era ban to expire on 31st March 2021, in a further easing of coronavirus pandemic immigration restrictions.

Former president Donald Trump banned new issuance of worker visas commonly used by multinational businesses last year in a bid to force companies to hire US workers as unemployment levels soared during the pandemic.

The state department confirmed on Thursday that it would begin processing applications for the previously suspended visas, and asked people who had been rejected because of the presidential ban to reapply.

It added, however, that US embassies and consulates were only providing mission-critical visa services, which were being offered on a post by post basis.

Trump's visa ban affected a range of visas including categories J, which are used by au pairs, L and H-1B, which are widely used by technology companies. The ban was opposed by US business groups, which criticised it as harmful to the economy.

1 March 2021

Biden Administration Revokes Immigrant Visa Ban

On February 24, 2021, the Biden administration issued a proclamation immediately revoking the prior administration’s Proclamation 10014 of April 22, 2020, that blocked individuals from entering the United States on immigrant visas. Note that the proclamation provides relief to the ban on immigrant visas only. The Trump administration's ban on certain nonimmigrant visa categories, such as H-1B, J-1, and L-1 visas, still remains in effect and is currently set to expire on March 31, 2021.

The Biden administration indicated that the immigrant visa ban does not advance U.S. interests and, in fact, harms industries in the United States that utilize talent from around the world, and prevents immigrants from realizing their dreams in the United States. The immigrant visa ban was set to expire on March 31, 2021.

The proclamation further directs the secretary of state, the secretary of labor, and the secretary of homeland security to review any regulations, orders, guidance documents, policies, and any other similar agency actions developed pursuant to Proclamation 10014 and, as appropriate, issue revised guidance consistent with its revocation, as necessary.

The revocation will allow a U.S. consulate or embassy abroad to issue an immigrant visa to eligible individuals. Note, however, that many consulates and embassies are closed or operating on limited capacity due to COVID-19.

06 February 2021

H-1B Visa Registration In US For 2022

The registration process for the H-1B visa application for the next fiscal year will begin on March 9 and the successful applicants through a computerised draw of lots would be notified by March 31, a federal agency has announced.

The notification by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on Friday came a day after US President Joe Biden's administration announced that it will continue with the traditional lottery system to issue the much sought-after work visa to foreign professionals.

The USCIS announced that the initial registration period for the fiscal year 2022 H-1B cap will open at noon Eastern on March 9 and run through noon March 25.

The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise.

During the registration period, prospective petitioners and representatives will be able to fill out petitioner and beneficiary information and submit their registrations, the USCS said.

The agency said if it receives enough registrations by March 25, it will randomly select registrations and send selection notifications by March 31.

The successful applicants would be able to join their new jobs in the US on October 1, when the American fiscal year starts.

As mandated by the Congress, USCIS can issue a maximum of 65,000 H-1B visas in a year. It can also issue another 20,000 H-1B visas to foreign students who have completed higher studies from a US university in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects.