Immigration News ' February 2024

• Published date: 06 March 2024
• Law Firm: Brown Immigration Law
• Author: Brown Immigration Law

At Brown Immigration Law, we strive to be your company's partner in growth and innovation, on a global scale. We continue our commitment to demystifying the complex immigration laws of the United States and Canada to provide efficient d effective immigration and global mobility support. Please find this month's business immigration news below.

U.S. BUSINESS IMMIGRATION UPDATES

FY 2025 H-1B Cap Lottery - Registration and Important Reminders

As we have previously reported, USCIS announced that the initial registration period for the FY 2025 H-1B cap will "open at noon Eastern on March 6, 2024, and run through noon Eastern on March 22, 2024." Notably, the registration fee during the registration period starting in March 2024 will remain $10 but increase to $215 starting next year's lottery in 2025 for FY 2026. Because of this dramatic increase in cost, we recommend our clients register as many employees as possible into this year's lottery to take advantage of the $10 fee while applicable.

Until the close of the current FY 2025 H-1B cap registration period on March 22, 2024 (noon EST), our team will be evaluating each case to ensure eligibility to participate in the H-1B cap lottery. As such, we recommend clients to notify their BIL attorney of H-1B cap registrants as soon as possible to ensure qualification and timely registration into the H-1B cap lottery. For more information on the H-1B Cap Season, we encourage you to review our H-1B Cap Memo for a detailed understanding of the lottery system and what to expect going forward. We will continue to monitor developments and will be updating our Resources page with latest news alerts and upcoming webinars on the topic as updates materialize.

USCIS Fee Increase - Updates Included!

As we reported previously, USCIS released a final rule for fee increases, effective April 1, 2024. We reported on an initial list of the fees available, and we now provide an update on the finalized list of fees. There are notable updates below and we provide the following overall changes as well:

• Starting April 1, the timeline for premium processing will change from calendar days to business days.
• USCIS will release new editions of form I-129 and I-140 required for all filings received on/after April 1 (no grace period applicable).
• There are no changes to the ACWIA (aka Education and Training fee) or Fraud Fee amounts; these fees still apply for certain H-1B and L-1 filings, as noted below.
• Notable Updates to the Previously Reported Fees
  • Asylum Program Fee: All petitioners (except non-profits) will be required to pay this fee for I-129 and I-140 petitions.
  • Updated fees for EAD/AP applications (with the same applying to renewals). Note that applicants who file I-485 before April 1, 2024 may continue to renew their EAD/AP at no cost while the AOS remains pending.
  • Reduced filing fees for small companies and nonprofits
    • A small company is defined as companies with 25 of fewer full-time employees in the United States, including affiliates and subsidiaries.
  • Slightly reduced fees for online filing; however, please note it remains advantageous to file by paper, as the online platform provided by USCIS for digital filing has yet to introduce any APIs or other features to ensure a seamless process. We have also been made aware of the platform experiencing many issues and bugs, such as not being able to retrieve previously submitting filings.

Please see the table of relevant fee changes below:

A full schedule of the fees may be found at the Federal Register update, HERE.

We will continue to monitor for any updates to the fee schedule as they become available.

USCIS Updates Policy Manual Guidance Regarding Untimely Filed Extensions

On January 24, 2024, USCIS announced an update to its Policy Manual providing the agency, in their discretion and under certain conditions, may excuse a nonimmigrant's failure to timely file an extension of stay or change of status request if the delay was due to "extraordinary circumstances" beyond the control of the applicant or...