In the latest Weekly Wright Report:

Immigration Update: July 2024

By: Jan Pederson

Round Two of H-1B Lottery For this Fiscal Year Announced!

USCIS announced on July 30, 2024 that it will conduct a second round for the H-1B lottery for this fiscal year (24-25).  The second lottery is being conducted from existing H-1B registrations for this year as USCIS did not receive sufficient H-1B petitions to reach the annual limit of 65,000 H-1B slots.  No further lottery selections will be made for the advanced degree numbers, 20,000 of which are selected each year.  However, the second random lottery selection will include both those who indicated they were filing under the master’s degree cap, along with regular H-1B registrations.  USCIS will update the attorney’s online account to advise if an H-1B petition was selected in Round 2 of the H-1B lottery.

Please contact us for a consultation if you are not an existing client.  If you are an existing client, we will notify you if you are selected.

USCIS Grants Deferred Enforced Departure and Work Permission to Some Citizens of Lebanon!

Due to the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian conditions in southern Lebanon resulting in horrific conditions for civilians, USCIS announced on July 26, 2024 that Lebanese citizens present in the United States to grant deferred departure for eighteen months, until January 25, 2027, to persons who meet the below criteria:

1. Must not have voluntarily returned to Lebanon after July 26, 2024;
2. Must have continuously resided in the United States since July 26, 2024;
3. Must not have been convicted of any felony or two or more misdemeanors committed in the United States;
4. Must not be inadmissible or deportable on security grounds;
5. Must not be subject to extradition;
6. Must not be a danger to public safety or contrary to public interests of the United Stats;

These are the main grounds.  Those who qualify will also be eligible for work permission for the period remaining in the initial grant of Deferred Enforced Departure.

Note that an applicant who is otherwise eligible for DED may be out of status or unlawfully present or may be in valid status.

Please contact us legalassistant@wcslaw.com for a consultation of whether Lebanese DED is a good option.  Note you may hold both DED and another nonimmigrant status at the same time.

USCIS Permits Certain Spouses of American Citizens to Obtain Green Cards Without Leaving the United States!

USCIS is scheduled to implement a most welcome humanitarian action which will permit up to an estimated 500,000 spouses of American citizens to adjust status in the United States, eliminating the need to travel abroad for an unlimited period of time to await an immigrant visa, which can often drag on for years, causing extreme hardship to American citizens spouses.  Noncitizen stepchildren of the USC may also qualify.  USCIS intends to open the program during August 2024 and to advise application procedures at the time.  Qualifying applicants will also be granted employment authorization.  It is critical to consult with competent legal counsel regarding eligibility, documentation requirements and filing requirements.  This is a benefit where Notarios and other non-attorneys will attempt to prey on the undocumented foreign nationals.

The announced eligibility requirements are:

1. The noncitizen spouse must have been married to a United States citizen no later than June 18, 2024;
2. The noncitizen spouse must have been continuously present without admission or parole in the United States for at least 10 years;
3. The noncitizen spouse must have to criminal convictions which are a bar to admissibility.  [Note:  It is not yet clear whether an inadmissible conviction which can be waived will permit the noncitizen spouse to participate in this program].

Please contact us for a consultation at legalassistant@wcslaw.com.

State Department Eases Work Path for Narrow Class of DACA Recipients!

In a gesture of good will, the Department of State has taken steps to somewhat reduce the risks to DACA and other Dreamers in leaving the United States and applying for work visas at an American Embassy or Consulate.  Most DACA recipients and Dreamers are ineligible to change to a nonimmigrant status in the United due to the unlawful presence bar and this has caused harm to their prospective employers, given the delays in DACA renewals and work permits.

In order to be eligible for the D-3 Waiver program, the applicant must have earned a degree at an accredited U.S. institution of higher education and have received an offer of employment from a U.S. employer in a field related their degree.  The benefit is limited to the Department of State encouraging consular officers to expedite waivers, but does not require a consular officer to recommend a waiver or to expedite the waiver request.

The Department of State at 9 FAM 305.4-3C, as revised, states “In general, you [consular officer] should consider cases where the applicant has graduated with a degree from an institution of higher education in the United States, or has earned credentials to engage in skilled labor in the United States, and is seeking to travel to the United States to commence or continue employment with a U.S. employer in a field related to the education that the applicant attained in the United States, to have a positive effect on U.S. public interests…This language as added means consular officers are encouraged to be generous with waiver recommendations, but there is no mandatory requirement that a waiver be requested or that the Admissibility Review Office of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which is not bound by a consular officer’s request to expedite or a recommendation for a waiver.

In practice, the CBP grants a very high percentage of waivers requested by consular officers. The risks of departing the United States still remain as always and an expert immigration attorney should be consulted before a DACA or a Dreamer considers leaving the United States and applying for an nonimmigrant visa abroad. Client should always feel free to get a second opinion in this scenario to determine if there are other grounds of inadmissibility in the case or other issues.

Also noted is that this benefit is not just limited to DACA and Dreamer applicants, but would apply to many situations where an applicant has fallen out of status and if, for some reason, is ineligible to extend current status or change to another non-immigrant status in the United States.

We will post updates as they are released.