The United States Has Taken 5 New Steps To Help Immigrants

The United States has taken a series of steps over the past few months to get visa and immigration services back on track and clear the post-pandemic backlog.

Visa and Immigration Services

From premium processing to visa extensions for international students, these are the five new changes you should pay attention to, announced by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS).

1. Work authorizations (For spouses of H, E, and L visa holders)

A new guide to work permits for H, E, and L spouses has been published.

• From now on E and L-dependent spouses will not need to apply for EAD.
• Certain H-4, E, or L-dependent spouses will qualify for an automatic extension of their existing employment authorizations plus the accompanying EAD—provided they appropriately file an application to renew them before they expire. , and an unexpired Form I-94 showing your current status.
• Automatic extension of their EAD will continue for 540 days from the date of expiry of valid status on Form I-94 till the last date, acceptance or rejection of EAD renewal application, or p.

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2. J-1 Visa Extension

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) students, including recent graduates who wish to begin academic training within 30 days after the completion of their STEM-related studies, can now extend their J-1 visas to 36 Can extend up to a month.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has also added 22 new areas of study to the STEM Optional Practical Training (OPT) program.

3. O-1 Visa Guidelines

An expanded guideline for O-1 work visas has been published for people with notable qualifications in certain fields, such as science, education, business, athletics, the arts, or motion picture or television production.

It is important that the applicant “demonstrates exceptional ability by sustained national or international acclaim, or a record of exceptional achievement in the motion picture and television industry, and must be temporarily immigrating to the United States to continue work in the field of exceptional ability.”

The new guideline focuses on presenting evidence that is of equal importance to that criterion, to establish continued appreciation and recognition if an applicant demonstrates that a particular criterion does not immediately apply to their business.

4. Premium Processing (For EB-1 and EB-2 Holders)

A premium process has been introduced for 140 petitioners with pending petitions under EB-1 and EB-2 categories.

The expansion will work in phases:

• Beginning June 1, 2022: Form I-907 requests will be accepted for E13 multinational executive and manager petitions (received on or before January 1, 2021).
• July 1, 2022, onwards: Form I-907 requests for E21 NIW petitions (received on or before June 1, 2021, and E13 multinational executive and manager petitions received on or before March 1, 2021) will be considered.

Premium processing availability of additional Form I-140 employment petitions, status I-539 forms, and I-765 EAD forms will continue to change during several phases of expansion.

5. Extension of period of authorized work

Some renewal applicants who have filed Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, qualify for an automatic extension of their terminated employment authorization and/or EAD while their application is pending. This includes family, employment, specialty, TPS, asylum, and diversity applicants.

It increases the applicant’s authorized period of work from 180 days to 540 days. USCIS hopes this will help immigrants avoid gaps in employment due to pending EAD renewal applications.

Source: Economictimes Indiatimes

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