Visa Lawyer Blog

Articles Posted in Work permits

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Welcome back to Visalawyerblog! We hope you had a wonderful weekend.

In this blog post, we share with you some exciting news for Venezuelan nationals receiving benefits under the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program.

The Biden administration has made the decision to extend Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelan nationals currently receiving protections under the program until March 10, 2024. In addition, the re-designation means that certain eligible Venezuelan nationals will be able to apply for TPS protections for the first time.

The main benefit of applying for this program is that those who are approved for Temporary Protected Status can remain in the country on a lawful basis, will receive protection against deportation (deferred status), and are eligible to apply for employment authorization and travel permission by filing, Form I-765 Application for Employment Authorization, and Form I-131 Application for Travel Document, with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

How did this all happen?

Extension of Designation of Venezuela for TPS

On July 11, 2022, the Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, announced an 18-month extension and redesignation of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for the country of Venezuela. This extension and re-designation will be in effect from September 10, 2022, through March 10, 2024 (an 18-month period).

Secretary Mayorkas made this decision after consulting with government officials and taking into consideration the ongoing conflict in Venezuela, lack of access to food, water, healthcare, and other conditions.

Mayorkas found that these circumstances ultimately prevented Venezuelan nationals from safely returning to their home country stating, “After careful consideration, and in consultation with the Secretary of State, today I am extending that designation. This action is one of many ways the Biden administration is providing humanitarian support to Venezuelans at home and abroad, together with our regional partners. We will continue to work with our international partners to address the challenges of regional migration while ensuring our borders remain secure.”

Currently, there are an estimated 343,000 individuals potentially eligible for TPS under the existing designation of Venezuela. The program’s extension will mean that these beneficiaries can re-register for benefits and retain TPS status through March 10, 2024, so long as they can demonstrate that they continue to meet the TPS eligibility requirements.

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Are you a national of Cameroon interested in applying for Temporary Protected Status (TPS)?

Then you may be interested to know that the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will be hosting a webinar on Thursday September 8, 2022, from 2 to 3 pm Eastern Time all about the application criteria. As previously reported, beginning April 15, 2022, DHS designated Cameroon for TPS benefits for a period of 18 months. The registration period is set to close on December 7, 2023.

Individuals eligible for TPS under Cameroon’s designation must have continuously resided in the United States since April 14, 2022 and demonstrate continuous physical presence in the United States since June 7, 2022.

Any nationals of Cameroon who attempt to travel to the United States after April 14, 2022, will not be eligible for Temporary Protected Status.

TPS applicants must meet all eligibility requirements and undergo security and background checks to gain approval.

What will be discussed during the webinar session?

During the webinar, USCIS will provide an overview of the designation of Cameroon for TPS and then hold a question-and-answer session. USCIS cautions the public that it will not be addressing case-specific questions, questions outside the scope of the engagement, or issues under active litigation.

To Register for the Webinar:

  1. Individuals must visit the registration page.
  2. You will be asked to provide your email address and select “Submit.”
  3. On the next screen, you will see a notification that you successfully subscribed to this event.

Once your registration is complete, you will receive a confirmation email with additional details.

If you have not received a confirmation email within three business days, you may email at public.engagement@uscis.dhs.gov.

For more information about Cameroon’s TPS designation please click here.

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Welcome back to Visalawyerblog. We kick off the start of a brand-new week with unfortunate news for asylum-based applicants for I-765 employment authorization.

New data from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) indicates that the agency has been woefully inadequate at processing work permits, failing to meet the 30-day required processing time for employment authorization cards, also known as EADs, filed by asylum seekers.

By law, USCIS must process work permits (EADs) within 30 days of receipt of an asylum seekers I-765 application for employment authorization. However new data shows that USCIS has not been meeting this required timeline throughout 2022, and processing has been declining to a record low.

Data released by USCIS, as part of ongoing litigation, shows that during the last three weeks of February 2022, 93 percent of I-765 applications had been pending for at least 30 days. In March 2022, this figure plummeted to just 68 percent of I-765’s being processed within the 30 days.  Sadly, in recent months, the data shows that processing of EADs has been getting worse and worse on a monthly basis. For instance, in April of this year, this figure dropped to 41 percent of I-765 applications being processed within 30 days. In May the drop continued to just 21 percent, and in June to just 6 percent. Finally, this past month of July, the agency processed less than 5 percent of EAD applications within the required 30-day window. This trend puts on full display the asylum visa processing crisis with no end in sight.

The drop in EAD processing coincides directly with a court ruling handed down in February. USCIS appears to be clearing out the backlog by first processing work permit applications pending the longest, creating substantial delays for more recent applications for employment authorization.

The data indicates that the vast majority of applications USCIS processed over the past three months had been pending for more than 120 days (nearly 4 months).

Due to the EAD processing crisis, USCIS now faces a backlog of more than 77,000 pending work permit requests received by the agency within the past three months alone.

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In this blog post, we share with you the latest immigration updates from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

I-589 Application for Asylum and Withholding of Removal Receipt Notice Delays

More blunders are being made at USCIS service centers. On July 28, USCIS announced delays in the issuance of receipt notices for Form I-589, Applications for Asylum and for Withholding of Removal, stating that applicants may not receive their notices in a timely manner.

With respect to the 1-year filing deadline for asylum, the filing date will still be the date that USCIS received your properly filed Form I-589 (not the date it was processed).

Applications that were not properly filed will be rejected and deficiencies will be noted in the filing. USCIS reminds applicants that if they have not received their receipt notices in a timely manner, they should not submit multiple Forms I-589, as it will result in case delays.

USCIS has provided the following reminders to help applicants determine whether their form I-589 was properly filed to prevent further delays:

  • You must submit your application for asylum within one year of arriving in the United States (one-year filing deadline), unless you can establish that there are changed circumstances that materially affect your eligibility for asylum or extraordinary circumstances directly related to your failure to file within one year.
  • You must type or print all of your answers in black ink.
  • You must provide the specific information requested about you and your family and answer all the questions on the form. If any question does not apply to you or you do not know the information requested, answer “none,” “not applicable,” or “unknown.”
  • If you file your application with missing information, we may return it to you as incomplete.

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Welcome back to a brand-new week of immigration news. In this blog post, we share some exciting news for nationals of Venezuela.

Today, Monday July 11, 2022, the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, announced the extension of the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation for Venezuela for a period of 18 months.

Mayorkas made clear that the circumstances which resulted in Venezuela being designated for Temporary Protected Status continue to exist, and therefore extension of the designation was warranted. It is also a move that has been made to continue to provide humanitarian relief to the people of Venezuela.

According to the announcement, the 18-month extension of TPS for Venezuela will be effective from September 10, 2022, through March 10, 2024.

Who can benefit from the extension?

Only beneficiaries under Venezuela’s existing designation, and who were already residing in the United States as of March 8, 2021, are eligible to re-register for Temporary Protected Status under Venezuela’s extension. Venezuelans who arrived in the United States after March 8, 2021, are not eligible for TPS. Approximately 343,000 individuals are estimated to be eligible for TPS under the existing designation of Venezuela.

Where can I find more information?

Soon, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will release a final rule in the Federal Register which will provide instructions for re-registering for Temporary Protected Status benefits and applying for the renewal of an Employment Authorization Document (EAD).

Venezuelans who are currently eligible for TPS under the existing designation, but who may not have been able to apply for benefits with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) should file their applications prior to the September 9, 2022, application deadline.

This includes Venezuelans covered under the January 2021 grant of Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) which is set to expire July 20, 2022.

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We kick off the start of a brand new week, with exciting news for nationals of Cameroon. As you may recall, on April 15, 2022, Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas first announced the designation of Cameroon for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for a period of 18 months. Today June 6, 2022, DHS published the Federal Register notice providing further information on how individuals can register for TPS under Cameroon’s designation beginning Tuesday June 7, 2022 until December 7, 2023.

What is Temporary Protected Status?

Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is a statutorily authorized program established by the United States Congress in 1990. The program allows migrants whose home countries are considered unsafe, the right to live and work in the United States for a temporary, but extendable, period of time. Though they are not considered lawful permanent residents (green card holders) or U.S. citizens, they are authorized to live in the United States without fear of deportation under temporary protected status. Applicants may also apply for employment authorization by filing Form I-765 Application for Employment Authorization with USCIS along with their application for TPS.

A country may be designated for TPS when conditions in the country fall into one or more of the three statutory bases for designation: ongoing armed conflict, environmental disasters, or extraordinary and temporary conditions.

Cameroon’s recent designation is based on both ongoing armed conflict and extraordinary and temporary conditions in Cameroon that prevent its nationals, from returning safely.

Who can apply?

Individuals eligible for TPS under this designation must have continuously resided in the United States since April 14, 2022 and demonstrate continuous physical presence in the United States since June 7, 2022.

Eligible applicants must be nationals of Cameroon or a person without nationality who last habitually resided in Cameroon.

Any nationals of Cameroon who attempt to travel to the United States after April 14, 2022, will not be eligible for Temporary Protected Status.

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In this blog post, we breakdown the Biden administration’s new Humanitarian Parole program, known as “Uniting for Ukraine,” a new initiative that will allow up to 100,000 Ukrainian nationals displaced by the Russian invasion to live and work in the United States for a period of up to 2 years.

Who is eligible for Uniting for Ukraine?

Ukrainian citizens and their immediate family members who are outside the United States may remain temporarily for a two-year period of parole.

You are not eligible for humanitarian parole under the Uniting for Ukraine program if you are currently physically present in the United States, however you may be eligible to receive Temporary Protected Status instead.

Additionally, children traveling without their parent or legal guardian are not eligible for humanitarian parole under Uniting for Ukraine.

Ukrainians participating in Uniting for Ukraine must have a “supporter,” in the United States who agrees to provide them with financial support for the duration of their stay in the United States. U.S. Supporters are required to file a Form I-134 Declaration of Financial Support with USCIS online, which states that they agree to financial support the Ukrainian national in the United States, also known as the “beneficiary.” There is no fee to file Form I-134 online.

Beneficiaries are eligible for humanitarian parole if they:

  • Resided in Ukraine immediately prior to the Russian invasion (through Feb. 11, 2022) and were displaced as a result of the invasion;
  • Are a Ukrainian citizen and possess a valid Ukrainian passport (or are a child included on a parent’s passport);
    • If not a Ukrainian citizen, are an immediate family member of a Ukrainian citizen beneficiary of Uniting for Ukraine with a valid passport;
  • Have a supporter who filed a Form I-134 on their behalf that has been vetted and confirmed as sufficient by USCIS; and
  • Clear biographic and biometric security checks;
  • Note: To be eligible for this process, children under the age of 18 must be traveling to the United States in the care and custody of their parent or legal guardian.

The supporter must complete and file Form I-134 online with USCIS and be vetted by the U.S. government to protect against exploitation and abuse, and ensure that they are able to financially support the Ukrainians they are agreeing to support.

Who is eligible to be a supporter under Uniting for Ukraine?

Individuals who file Form I-134 on behalf of a beneficiary under Uniting for Ukraine must be:

  • in lawful status in the United States or
  • a parolee or
  • beneficiary of deferred action or
  • Deferred Enforced Departure (DED)

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Today, the Biden administration unveiled a brand-new program, Uniting for Ukraine, which seeks to provide humanitarian parole to an estimated 100,000 Ukrainian nationals who have been displaced by the Russian invasion which began on February 24, 2022 for a period of up to 2 years.

What is Uniting for Ukraine?

Uniting for Ukraine is a new Biden initiative that will allow Ukrainian citizens to apply for humanitarian parole in the United States. Humanitarian Parole is a process that allows foreign nationals to lawfully enter the U.S., provides temporary lawful presence in the U.S., and protects that person from deportation during the parole timeframe that has been granted to the foreign national. Humanitarian parole is a temporary permission to remain lawfully in the United States. It does not provide law permanent residence (a green card) and does not provide a pathway to citizenship.

To be eligible, Ukrainians must have been residents in Ukraine as of February 11, 2022, have a sponsor in the United States, complete vaccinations and other public health requirements, and pass rigorous biometric and biographic screening and vetting security checks.

Ukrainians who are approved via this process will be authorized to travel to the United States and be considered for parole, on a case-by-case basis, for a period of up to two years. Once paroled through this process, Ukrainians will be eligible for work authorization.

Who can be a sponsor?

Effective Monday, April 25, 2022, U.S. based individuals and entities can apply to sponsor displaced Ukrainian citizens through the Uniting for Ukraine process, which will go live on the Department of Homeland Security website that same day.

Any U.S. citizen or individual, including representatives of non-government organizations, can sponsor Ukrainian applicants. Individuals and organizations seeking to sponsor Ukrainian citizens in the United States will be required to declare their financial support and pass security background checks to protect against exploitation and abuse. Eligibility requirements will include required vaccinations and other public health requirements, as well as biographic and biometric screening, vetting, and security checks.

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In this blog post, we share with you some recent updates for the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program. On March 16, 2022, Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced the designation of Afghanistan for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for a period of 18 months.

What is Temporary Protected Status?

Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is a statutorily authorized program established by the United States Congress in 1990. The program allows migrants whose home countries are considered unsafe, the right to live and work in the United States for a temporary, but extendable, period of time. Though they are not considered lawful permanent residents (green card holders) or U.S. citizens, they are authorized to live in the United States without fear of deportation under temporary protected status. Applicants may also apply for employment authorization by filing Form I-765 Application for Employment Authorization with USCIS along with their application for TPS.

A country may be designated for TPS when conditions in the country fall into one or more of the three statutory bases for designation: ongoing armed conflict, environmental disasters, or extraordinary and temporary conditions.

Afghanistan’s recent designation is based on both ongoing armed conflict and extraordinary and temporary conditions in Afghanistan that prevent Afghan nationals, from returning safely.

Who can apply?

Individuals eligible for TPS under this designation must have continuously resided in the United States since Tuesday, March 15, 2022. Eligible applicants must be a national of Afghanistan or a person without nationality who last habitually resided in Afghanistan.

Any Afghan nationals who attempt to travel to the United States after Tuesday, March 15, 2022, will not be eligible for Temporary Protected Status.

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We have some breaking news for Ukrainian nationals. In a swift and unprecedented move, the Department of Homeland Security, today announced the designation of Ukraine to receive Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for an 18-month period.

What is Temporary Protected Status?

Established by the U.S. Congress in 1990, temporary protected status (TPS) is a program that allows migrants whose home countries are considered unsafe, the right to live and work in the United States for a temporary, but extendable, period of time. Though they are not considered lawful permanent residents (green card holders) or U.S. citizens, they are authorized to live in the United States without fear of deportation under temporary protected status. Applicants may also apply for employment authorization by filing Form I-765 Application for Employment Authorization with USCIS along with their application for TPS.

A country may be designated for TPS when conditions in the country fall into one or more of the three statutory bases for designation: ongoing armed conflict, environmental disasters, or extraordinary and temporary conditions.

Ukraine’s designation is based on both ongoing armed conflict and extraordinary and temporary conditions in Ukraine that prevent Ukrainian nationals, and those of no nationality who last habitually resided in Ukraine, from returning to Ukraine safely.

Who can apply?

Individuals eligible for TPS under this designation must have continuously resided in the United States since Tuesday, March 1, 2022. Eligible applicants must be a national of Ukraine or a person without nationality who last habitually resided in Ukraine.

Any Ukrainian nationals who attempt to travel to the United States after Tuesday, March 1, 2022, will not be eligible for Temporary Protected Status.

Ukraine’s 18-month designation will go into effect on the publication date of the forthcoming Federal Register notice. The Federal Register notice will provide instructions for applying for Temporary Protected Status, and an Employment Authorization Document (EAD).

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