Immigration Settlement Clears the Way for Thousands of H-1B and L-1 Spouses to Work in the US
Immigration Insights Podcast: International Entrepreneur Parole Program & Biometrics Requirement
It’s that time of year again when employers have to decide who they are sponsoring for an H-1B visa. For a brief background, H-1B work visas are the most common work visas for foreign nationals in professional positions...more
On January 19, 2023, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reached a settlement in Edakunni v. Mayorkas. As a result of the settlement, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has agreed to resume its...more
In the recent legal settlement of Edakunni v. Mayorkas, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has agreed to resume adjudicating H-4 and L-2 dependent and H-4 employment authorization petitions at the same time...more
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced several important changes this week: expansion of premium processing for several employment-based categories; resumption of concurrent processing of spousal...more
On January 20, 2023, as part of a settlement agreement with the plaintiffs in Edakunni v. Mayorkas, USCIS agreed to adjudicate Forms I-539 and I-765 for extensions of H-4 and L-2 spouses and employment authorization documents...more
Effective January 25, 2023, USCIS resumed concurrent processing of I-539 applications to extend/change nonimmigrant status and I-765 applications for employment authorization filed by H-4 and L-2 spouses and minor children...more
As the result of a settlement of a class action lawsuit (Edakunni, et al. v. Mayorkas) challenging H-4 and L-2 adjudication delays, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on January 20, 2023, that it has...more
In response to a Lawsuit (Edakunni v. Mayorkas) filed on behalf of Spouses of H-1B and L-1 Visa Holders, USCIS has reached a settlement agreement which it will implement effective today, January 25, 2023....more
In a settlement, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has agreed to return to processing dependent H-4 and L-2 applications at the same time as the H-1B or L-1 petition when filed concurrently. This...more
Federal immigration officials just agreed to streamline the process by which certain nonimmigrant dependent spouses are able to secure employment, reverting to a previous method that should reduce processing times and...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Starting January 25, 2023, USCIS will adjudicate I-539 and I-765 applications for H-4 and L-2 dependents when those applications are filed concurrently with the I-129 petition. The bundling of those...more
On January 19, 2023, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reached a settlement in Edakunni v. Mayorkas, which restructures U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) adjudication policies for H-4 and L-2...more
In an excellent development, as of January 25, 2023, the U.S. government agreed to resume the process of “bundling” H-4 and L-2 dependent applications, – including I-765 work permission applications, with the H-1B and L-1...more
On May 4, 2022, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that effective immediately, it would increase the automatic extension period for employment authorization documents (EADs) for certain EAD renewal...more
Effective May 4, 2022, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will increase the automatic extension period for employment authorization and Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) to a maximum of 540 days for...more
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath, backlogs for immigration benefits have been at an all-time high, with some benefits—such as the L-2 Spousal EAD—taking up to 12 months or longer. ...more
Following the Shergill, et al. v. Mayorkas settlement, U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP) started issuing I-94 forms on January 30, 2022, with new Class of Admission (COA) codes for certain E and L spouses as evidence of...more
As previously reported, pursuant to a policy announced on November 12, 2022, USCIS will consider E and L nonimmigrant dependent spouses to be employment authorized incidental to their status. On January 30, 2022, USCIS and...more
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently issued policy guidance addressing the automatic extension of status for H-4, L-2, and E dependent spouses in response to the settlement of a class action lawsuit. ...more
As previously reported, under a new policy, USCIS will consider E and L nonimmigrant dependent spouses to be employment authorized incidental to their status. This means that upon admission and issuance of a valid I-94...more
On November 19, 2021, the Quarles & Brady team issued an alert detailing U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service’s (USCIS) policy changes regarding work authorization for L-2, H-4, and E dependent visa spouses....more
On November 10, 2021, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reached a settlement in the class action Shergill v. Mayorkas. As part of the settlement, USCIS agreed to update its policy relating to H-4 and L-2...more
Employment Authorization Document (EAD) processing times have been severely delayed in recent years, rendering certain dependent nonimmigrants temporarily ineligible to work and causing gaps in some U.S. employers’...more
The USCIS (US Citizenship & Immigration Service) announced a new rule to aid in the recent dilemma many foreign national families and US employers have confronted; namely addressing the gap in work authorization and...more
Since the publication of our November 12, 2021 alert, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued policy guidance following the November 10, 2021 settlement agreement and updated the I-9 Handbook providing for...more