Visa Lawyer Blog

Articles Posted in EAD

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Last week, we reported to our readers that on September 25th the Department of State and USCIS re-issued the October Visa Bulletin and changed the date of filing chart drastically, rolling back the ‘Dates of Filing’ for heavily used visa categories, including employment based and family-sponsored petitions. The American Immigration Lawyers Association, along with policymakers, and immigration advocates, are urging Congress, the White House, USCIS, and Department of State to restore the initial dates of filing that were authorized and released on September 9th 2015 with the October Visa Bulletin.

If you would like to pressure the government to honor the initial dates of filing, released on September 9th, we invite you to sign the White House petition by clicking here. We must hold the government accountable for their actions by advocating for the restoration of the initial dates of filing. With the release of the October Visa Bulletin, the DOS introduced a dual chart system for the first time in history which included a new ‘date of filing’ chart. The new date of filing chart would have allowed thousands of foreign nationals to file their adjustment of status and employment authorization applications, before a visa became available to them. This action was made by the DOS in an effort to modernize and streamline our immigration system as part of President Obama’s Executive Actions on Immigration announced on November 20th of last year. Due to the recent drastic changes that have been made to the date of filing chart, we encourage you to become involved by signing the petition or writing to your local Congressman/Congresswoman. Thousands of foreign workers and family members of foreign nationals have been impacted by the recent changes, given that the majority of applicants who would have been eligible to file for their green card applications and employment authorization cards, will no longer be able to do so. They must continue to wait until their priority date becomes current on the date of filing chart.

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USCIS has published statistics concerning the volume of Deferred Action of Childhood Arrivals applications received from fiscal year 2012 through fiscal year 2015.

In fiscal year 2012 USCIS accepted 152,424 applications out of 157,819 applications received. That year, 5,395 applications were rejected during initial intake. 1,685 applications were approved during case review at the end of the fiscal year. Remaining applications either remained pending at the end of the fiscal year or were denied.

In fiscal year 2013 USCIS accepted 427,601 applications out of 443,953 applications received. That year, 16,352 applications were rejected during initial intake. 471,196 applications were approved during case review at the end of the fiscal year. Remaining applications either remained pending at the end of the fiscal year or were denied.

In fiscal year 2014 USCIS accepted 238,895 applications out of 263,784 applications received. That year, 24,889 applications were rejected during initial intake. 158,188 applications were approved during case review at the end of the fiscal year. Remaining applications either remained pending at the end of the fiscal year or were denied.

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DACA Update

On July 15, 2015 USCIS announced that it mistakenly issued approximately 2,100 employment authorization cards to DACA recipients that were printed with a three-year validity period instead of a two-year period, following a court injunction prohibiting USCIS from doing so.

To correct the error, USCIS sent these recipients a notice of intent to terminate deferred action and employment authorization. The letter describes that the three year employment authorization cards received after the injunction, are no longer valid and must be returned to USCIS by July 27, 2015 due to a federal court order Texas v. United States, which prohibits USCIS from issuing deferred action for a period exceeding 2 years.

USCIS also issued about 500 three year EAD cards to DACA applicants who were approved before the court order was enforced. These cards had been returned to USCIS as undeliverable by the United States Postal Service and were re-mailed to an updated address after the injunction went in effect on February 16, 2015. Due to this, these 3-year EAD cards are also deemed invalid.

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