Law Offices of Gloria D'Souza, P.C.

03/25/2024

Extension and redesignation of Burma for Temporary Protected Status for 18 months, from May 26, 2024, to November 25, 2025.

An 18-month TPS extension and redesignation are warranted because conditions that support Burma’s TPS designation are ongoing. Burma’s democratically elected civilian government was overthrown in a military coup on February 1, 2021, giving rise to further widespread violence that continues to put individuals in Burma at significant risk. Burma also continues to face challenges in the provision of food, access to health care, and economic stability.

The extension of TPS for Burma allows approximately 2,300 current beneficiaries to retain TPS through November 25, 2025, if they continue to meet TPS eligibility requirements. The redesignation of Burma for TPS allows an estimated 7,300 additional nationals of Burma (or individuals having no nationality who last habitually resided in Burma) to file initial applications to obtain TPS, if they are otherwise eligible and if they established residence in the United States on or before March 21, 2024, and have continued to reside in the United States since then.

03/18/2024

H-1B Initial Registration Period Closes March 22

The initial registration period for the FY 2025 H-1B cap closes at noon Eastern on March 22, 2024. During this period, prospective petitioners and legal representatives must use a USCIS online account to register each beneficiary electronically for the selection process and pay the associated registration fee for each beneficiary. Online account users will also be able to collaborate on registrations and petitions with enhanced organizational account features in their online accounts.

USCIS will begin accepting online filing of the forms for H-1B cap petitions on April 1.

03/16/2024

H-1B Cap Registration

The initial registration period for the FY 2025 H-1B cap is now active and will run through noon Eastern on March 22, 2024. During this period, prospective petitioners and their representatives, if applicable, must use a USCIS online account to register each beneficiary electronically for the selection process and pay the associated registration fee for each beneficiary.

03/16/2024

USCIS Streamlines Process for Refugee Employment Authorization Documents

Under U.S. law, refugees are legally authorized to work as soon as they arrive in the United States.

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. With this new process, USCIS will digitally create a Form I-765 for arriving refugees and begin adjudicating it as soon as they are admitted into the United States. After USCIS approves a refugee’s Form I-765, refugees will generally receive their EAD within one to two weeks. USCIS will mail their EAD via U.S. Postal Service Priority Mail to their address of record.

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 under this new process.

USCIS will also electronically provide the Social Security Administration with the information required to assign a Social Security number and mail a Social Security card to the refugee.

03/01/2024

USCIS service centers will no longer accept Form I-129 petitions requesting H-1B Specialty Occupation Worker or H-1B1 (HSC) Free Trade Agreement Worker in a specialty occupation from Chile and Singapore classification.

Beginning April 1, 2024, all paper-filed Form I-129 petitions requesting H-1B1 (HSC) or H-1B classification, including those with a concurrent Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing Service, and those with concurrently filed Form I-539 and/or Form I-765, must be filed at a USCIS lockbox facility.

In March, USCIS will launch online filing of Form I-129 and associated Form I-907 for non-cap H-1B petitions. On April 1, USCIS will begin accepting online filing for H-1B cap petitions and associated Forms I-907 for petitioners whose registrations have been selected.

USCIS will reject paper filed H-1B or H-1B1 (HSC) petitions received at a USCIS service center on or after April 1, 2024. There will be no grace period provided.

02/28/2024

New and Upgraded USCIS Online Accounts

Today, USCIS officially launched new organizational accounts that will allow multiple people within a company or other organization to collaborate and prepare H-1B registrations, H-1B petitions, and associated requests for premium processing. A new organizational account is required to participate in the H-1B Electronic Registration Process starting in March 2024.

02/27/2024

Eligible Ukrainians Can Now Apply for Re-Parole

Beginning Feb. 27, 2024, certain Ukrainian citizens and their immediate family members displaced by the Russian invasion and paroled into the United States on or after Feb. 11, 2022, will be able to apply for a new period of parole (also known as re-parole) for up to two years. USCIS will consider these applications on a discretionary, case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit.

02/27/2024

Adjustment to Premium Processing Fees is in Effect now. The new fee structure has increased certain premium processing fees from $1,500 to $1,685, $1,750 to $1,965, and $2,500 to $2,805.

02/21/2024

Are religious workers allowed to immigrate to or adjust their status in the USA?

Yes, there is a pathway for Ministers and non-ministers in religious vocations and occupations to immigrate to or adjust their status in the U.S. for the purpose of performing religious work in a full-time compensated position. However, the minister EB-4 non-minister special immigrant religious worker program will end on Mar. 8, 2024. Special immigrants entering the U.S. solely to carry on the vocation of a minister and their accompanying spouses and children are not affected by the sunset date.

02/19/2024

https://news.yahoo.com/cost-u-citizenship-rise-101311342.html?

Nine million legal residents are eligible to become U.S. citizens. The cost of becoming a naturalized U.S. citizen is about to rise.

02/14/2024

Lawmakers could put a dent in the U.S. economy if they move forward with proposals to cut immigration, experts warned. A bipartisan Senate deal to tighten border security and reduce immigration has…

02/09/2024

USCIS Increases Filing Fees Starting April 1, 2024

This fee increase will allow USCIS to recover a greater share of its operating costs and support more timely processing of new applications.

For a complete list of USCIS fee changes effective April 1, 2024
visit

On Jan. 30, 2024, we published a final rule to adjust certain immigration and naturalization benefit request fees for the first time since 2016. With the final rule, USCIS can recover its operating costs more fully and support timely processing of new applications.