Headlines:

FY 2025 H-1B Cap Registration Interval Opens Quickly; USCIS Points Reminders for Employers About On-line Submitting, Different New Necessities for Cap and Non-Cap Petitions – The preliminary registration interval for the FY 2025 H-1B cap season will open at midday ET on March 6, 2024, and run via midday ET on March 22, 2024. A USCIS on-line account is required to register every beneficiary electronically for the choice course of and pay the related $10 registration payment.

Sure Up to date Kinds Take Impact April 1 With No Grace Interval – Below the brand new payment ultimate rule efficient April 1, 2024, the brand new 04/01/24 editions of a number of kinds shall be required.

Reminder: Premium Processing Charges Have Elevated – U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Providers reminded employers that charges for Type I-907, Request for Premium Processing, elevated as of February 26, 2024.

Eligible Ukrainians Can Apply for Re-Parole – Eligible Ukrainian residents and their rapid relations who have been paroled into the USA on or after February 11, 2022, and are bodily current can apply for re-parole.

DOS Implements New Visa Restrictions for Transportation Operators Facilitating Irregular Migration – The Division of State has carried out a brand new visa restriction coverage that “targets homeowners, executives, and senior officers of constitution flight, floor, and maritime transportation firms offering transportation companies designed to be used primarily by individuals aspiring to migrate irregularly to the USA.”

ABIL World: Canada –Québec reopened its Immigrant Investor Program on January 1, 2024.

Particulars:

FY 2025 H-1B Cap Registration Interval Opens Quickly; USCIS Points Reminders for Employers About On-line Submitting, Different New Necessities for Cap and Non-Cap Petitions

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Providers (USCIS) reminded employers that the preliminary registration interval for the FY 2025 H-1B cap season will open at midday ET on March 6, 2024, and run via midday ET on March 22, 2024. A USCIS on-line account is required to register every beneficiary electronically for the choice course of and pay the related $10 registration payment. USCIS additionally introduced:

• Beginning with the FY 2025 preliminary registration interval, USCIS would require registrants to supply legitimate passport info or legitimate journey doc info for every beneficiary. The passport or journey doc offered have to be the one the beneficiary, if or when overseas, intends to make use of to enter the USA if issued an H-1B visa. Every beneficiary should solely be registered underneath one passport or journey doc.
• On February 28, 2024, USCIS launched new myUSCIS organizational accounts to permit a number of individuals inside a corporation, in addition to their authorized representatives, to collaborate on and put together H-1B registrations, H-1B petitions, and any related Type I-907, Request for Premium Processing Service. A brand new organizational account is required to take part within the H-1B Digital Registration Course of as of March 2024.
• In response to stories from practitioners about issues with organising myUSCIS accounts, USCIS stated:

We’re working expeditiously to deal with any technical points that will come up for authorized representatives whose accounts migrated after they logged into their on-line account on or after Feb. 14, 2024, together with impacts on circumstances apart from H-1B filings. In case you beforehand skilled points upon logging in to your on-line account after migration, please log again in to see in case your points have been resolved by our ongoing technical fixes. For added info and assets, please evaluation up to date info on the Organizational Accounts Often Requested Questions web page.

• In March, USCIS will launch on-line submitting of Type I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Employee, and related Type I-907 for non-cap H-1B petitions. Those that are submitting Type I-129 alone or with Type I-907 can also file on-line.
• On April 1, 2024, USCIS service facilities will not settle for Type I-129 petitions requesting
  H-1B Specialty Occupation Employee or H-1B1 (HSC) Free Commerce Settlement Employee (specialty occupation from Chile and Singapore) classification. USCIS will reject such H-1B or H-1B1 (HSC) petitions acquired at a USCIS service heart on or after April 1, 2024. There shall be no grace interval Starting on April 1, 2024, all paper-filed Type I-129 petitions requesting H-1B1 (HSC), or H-1B classification, together with these with a concurrent Type I-907, Request for Premium Processing Service, and people with concurrently filed Type I-539 and/or Type I-765, have to be filed at a USCIS lockbox facility.
• USCIS will present the lockbox submitting addresses for paper-filed kinds in late March by way of internet alert and on its Type I-129 Direct Submitting Addresses
• USCIS is internet hosting a number of Tech Talks to reply questions on organizational accounts.

Particulars:

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Sure Up to date Kinds Take Impact April 1 With No Grace Interval

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Providers (USCIS) issued a reminder that underneath the brand new payment ultimate rule efficient April 1, 2024, the brand new 04/01/24 editions of a number of kinds shall be required, together with:

Notice: USCIS will solely settle for the 04/01/24 version of those kinds if they’re postmarked on or after April 1, 2024.

USCIS defined that though it normally offers “a grace interval when publishing new kinds, the kinds listed above embrace modifications mandatory for us to manage the brand new charges.” Starting April 1, 2024, candidates and petitioners should submit the 04/01/24 version of those kinds with the suitable payment listed on the USCIS Payment Schedule G-1055. USCIS stated it’s going to reject earlier variations of the above kinds.

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Reminder: Premium Processing Charges Have Elevated

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Providers (USCIS) reminded employers that charges for Type I-907, Request for Premium Processing, elevated as of February 26, 2024. The brand new charges are:

• $2,805 in case you are requesting premium processing of Type I-129 requesting E-1, E-2, E-3, H-1B,
  H-3, L (together with blanket L-1), O, P, Q, or TN nonimmigrant classification.
• $1,685 in case you are requesting premium processing of Type I-129 requesting H-2B or R nonimmigrant classification.
• $2,805 in case you are requesting premium processing of Type I-140 requesting EB-1, EB-2, or EB-3 immigrant visa classification.
• $1,685 in case you are requesting premium processing of Type I-765 with eligibility class (C)(3)(A), (C)(3)(B), or (C)(3)(C).
• $1,965 in case you are requesting premium processing of Type I-539 looking for change of standing to F-1, F-2, M-1, M-2, J-1, or J-2 nonimmigrant standing.

USCIS stated that if it receives a Type I-907 postmarked on or after February 26, 2024, with the wrong submitting payment, it’s going to reject the Type I-907 and return the submitting payment. For filings despatched by business courier (e.g., UPS, FedEx, and DHL), the postmark date is the date mirrored on the courier receipt, USCIS stated.

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Eligible Ukrainians Can Apply for Re-Parole

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Providers (USCIS) introduced on February 27, 2024, that eligible Ukrainian residents and their rapid relations who’re bodily current in the USA can now be thought-about for re-parole to proceed to quickly stay in the USA.

Ukrainian residents and their rapid relations who have been paroled into the USA on or after February 11, 2022, can apply for re-parole underneath this course of, USCIS stated. The company will take into account these functions “on a discretionary, case-by-case foundation for pressing humanitarian causes or vital public profit,” as with every parole software.

If USCIS approves the re-parole software, the applicant might then file Type I-765, Utility for Employment Authorization, in class (c)(11) to use for a brand new Employment Authorization Doc as proof of employment authorization per the re-parole interval.

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DOS Implements New Visa Restrictions for Transportation Operators Facilitating Irregular Migration

The Division of State (DOS) has carried out a brand new visa restriction coverage that “targets homeowners, executives, and senior officers of constitution flight, floor, and maritime transportation firms offering transportation companies designed to be used primarily by individuals aspiring to migrate irregularly to the USA.”

The brand new coverage expands and supersedes the Nicaragua coverage on constitution flights issued in November 2023.

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ABIL World: Canada

Québec reopened its Immigrant Investor Program (QIIP) on January 1, 2024.

The QIIP is the one investment-based immigration program in Canada that doesn’t require the international investor to point out proof of lively enterprise administration in Canada on the time of submission of the appliance, together with proof of beginning or establishing a enterprise or hiring employees or workers in Canada.

The Québec authorities seeks to keep up a excessive degree of francophone financial immigration within the Province of Québec. Proof of French language capability on submitting the appliance accepted by Québec Immigration are a Certificates of Check Outcomes or Diploma for a acknowledged French language check such because the TEFAQ, TEF Canada, TCF, TCFQ, or DELF/DALF, confirming that the applicant has reached a B2 degree or larger in oral French (talking and listening) and/or written French (studying and writing).

On the time of submission, candidates should additionally display that they meet the next standards:

• They’re a minimum of 18 years outdated;
• They’ve a highschool diploma at minimal (equal to a secondary diploma in Québec);
• They’ve a minimum of two years of administration expertise within the five-year interval earlier than submitting the appliance; and
• They’ve a minimum of CAD $2,000,000 of web property (just below USD $1,500,000), accompanied with proof that the web property have been amassed legally.

As well as, candidates should signal and conform to an Funding Settlement with a Québec government-authorized monetary middleman. As soon as the appliance is permitted, they need to make a CAD $1,000,000 five-year funding with IQ Immigrants Investisseurs Inc. (IQII), a Québec crown company. The funding is assured and bears no curiosity. Candidates additionally should make a non-refundable monetary contribution of CAD $200,000 to the Québec authorities.

As soon as the candidates have fulfilled the monetary necessities of the Québec Immigrant Investor Program, they are going to be directed to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to use for a three-year Canadian Work Allow. The principal applicant and their partner, if relevant, should meet a residency requirement of a minimum of 12 months in Québec throughout the first two years of being issued their Canadian Work Permits. The principal applicant should reside in Québec for no less than six months, whereas the remaining six months of residency required will be happy by both the principal applicant or their partner. As soon as they’ve happy this residence requirement, the applicant and the partner can then apply for a Certificat de Sélection du Québec (CSQ) from Québec and, as soon as the CSQs are acquired, apply for Canadian everlasting residence with IRCC.

There isn’t a quota for this system or deadline for the submission of functions.

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